Getting out of debt is a big accomplishment. No one knows this better than David Bakke, a financial contributor for MoneyCrashers.com, who managed to get out of $30,000 in debt, and Ja’Net Adams, author of the book Debt Sucks. Adams continues the second half of our chat about how she was able to slay her debt demons and pay off $50,000 in debt in a little over two years. Let’s go back to the rest of our discussion.
Black Enterprise.com: What kind of debt did you rack up?
Ja’Net Adams: I had accumulated student loan debt and I purchased a new car ($25,000 each).
BlackEnterprise.com: What caused you to rack up this debt?
Adams: I actually graduated from college debt free with $10,000 in the bank. I had a great start, but I still ended up in debt, so that is why I try to warn college students that life happens! I got married a couple of years after graduation, but I didn’t know until after I was married that my husband had $25,000 worth of student loans from just one year of college!
BlackEnterprise.com: What was your reaction?
Adams: We were married when I found this out and common sense would have said ‘Ja’Net, you two are in $25,000 worth of debt, so get focused and pay it off quickly!’Â But that is not what I did. Instead, I
BlackEnterprise.com: Did you immediately create a plan to pay the debt?
Adams: It took me two and a half years to pay the debt off. Even though we were in debt, we would still go shopping on Black Friday. In fact, the year before, even after I was laid off and found out that we were in $50,000
Stay tuned for the third and final installment of this interview, where Adams talks about how she uses her experience to educate college students. Go here for part one of this interview.