{"id":6980,"date":"2026-10-21T22:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T22:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondfinance.com\/blog\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2026-10-21T22:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T22:57:18","slug":"graduate-exclusive-melissa-l","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondfinance.com\/blog\/graduate-exclusive-melissa-l\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Exclusive! Melissa L. Drives a New Car, Treats Her Sister, and Tells Others to Ask for Help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We interviewed Melissa \u2014 executive assistant, grandmother of eight, and hobbyist painter \u2014 to learn how little things added up to over $34,000 across 16 credit cards, and how one phone call to Beyond Finance ended her years of suffering in silence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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  • Debt Amount: $34,013<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Started: February 2023<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Graduated: December 2024<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Can you tell us a bit about yourself?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I live in Pennsylvania. I work at a university here \u2014 I\u2019m the executive assistant for the vice provost. I\u2019m married with three kids and eight grandkids, and I like to read and write. I also paint! I started about 10 years ago. I have sold some commissioned pieces.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I did some giraffes for my son when they had their first baby. I painted those giraffes probably a hundred times. I hated them every single time, but I\u2019m like, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m done with those darn giraffes.\u201d They love it, though! I get a lot of compliments. People are like, \u201cOh, did you paint that?\u201d So I guess it was good. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How did you find yourself in debt?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For me, it happened gradually. There wasn\u2019t one big purchase, just little by little, just bad decisions. Little things just kept adding up. And before I knew it, I was $34,000 in debt across 16 credit cards.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    I grew up poor. I didn\u2019t have money. So then you have credit cards and it\u2019s like free money \u2014 but it\u2019s not.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Every month, juggling the rent, the electric, and the propane, then you have 16 credit cards that you\u2019re literally using one card to pay another. You\u2019re making the minimum payments and you\u2019re never paying anything off. I was drowning and I was so stressed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    I felt like this huge weight was off my chest. I didn\u2019t have to rob Peter to pay Paul. I was able to pay my bills.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    At some point it was like, \u201cI\u2019ve got to fix this. I\u2019ve got to get it together.\u201d Because I do have kids, I have grandkids. I wanted to be able to buy them gifts without worrying how I was going to buy them. There\u2019s so many birthdays and holidays and I didn\u2019t have any money for that kind of stuff because the money was always going back to all the bills.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Did you tell anyone what you were going through?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
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    \"\"
    A giraffe portrait Melissa painted for her son when he had his first child.\u00a0While she\u2019s self-critical about her own art, others (including the Beyond team) love it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    No. In my marriage, we have separate accounts, so it was like these were MY bills. I didn\u2019t even tell my husband how bad the debt was. I didn\u2019t tell my family. I didn\u2019t tell my best friend. Nobody knew. I was suffering in silence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My husband found out at tax time after I graduated from Beyond Finance. We do file taxes together and I said, \u201cHere, I had some help cleaning up my debt, so I have to report these.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We kind of put all of the cards on the table. He knows everything now and it did a lot for our relationship. Now we joke about it. He\u2019ll be like, \u201cLook, I got all these credit card bills. Maybe I should call Beyond!\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou could. They helped me!\u201d<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    What was your experience like with Beyond Finance?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I Googled online, \u201cgetting out of debt,\u201d and that\u2019s how I found Beyond Finance. I\u2019m like, \u201cI need help.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    I called Beyond in February of 2023, and I spoke with one of your representatives. She was so sweet. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. She never judged me \u2013 she told me there was a way out, told me there was a way forward. She didn\u2019t act like I\u2019d failed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She helped me understand that there was a way to move forward and to get past this. So for the first time, I felt like I could breathe a little and there was wiggle room and I wasn\u2019t drowning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I felt like this huge weight was off my chest. I didn\u2019t have to rob Peter to pay Paul. I was able to pay my bills.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Melissa\u2019s beloved goat, Buster, enjoying some goat-friendly programming. Melissa told us that one of the things she appreciates now is that she can afford to do things like taking Buster to the vet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Going through the program, it was exciting. It was like a game. You\u2019d log into the Beyond Dashboard every day and see where you were. I watched the little wheel fill in. I have pictures of the little wheel going, \u201cOkay, this one\u2019s paid off.\u201d It\u2019s freeing to watch: \u201cOkay, it\u2019s getting done.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What was graduation like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    It was amazing. Beyond Finance went in and cleaned up all those accounts quicker than I could\u2019ve done on my own. I\u2019d probably still be dealing with the debt.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It was freeing, liberating, to know that, okay, I\u2019m not there. I\u2019m never going back.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some people worry that working with a debt relief program will make it hard to get a loan later. Was that your experience?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    \"\"
    Melissa\u2019s brand new car, right off the lot. She was excited to share with our team that she was able to get a good rate to finance it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    No, not at all. I was able to get a new car since I graduated. I needed the new car, and I figured it\u2019s my last new car before retiring. I got a really good rate. No issues at all.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The car was maybe my congratulations for coming out the other side and surviving.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Whats life look like now?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Just being able to go shopping and actually having money. Going to wineries with my sister and actually being able to pay for something. Before, my sister always paid for everything. She would always treat, because I never had any money. Now I can treat my sister, because she\u2019s treated me so many times.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I haven\u2019t gone on any big trips, because I have a goat who lives in my house.<\/em> (laughs) But I had to take Buster to the vet the other day. I had money to take him! It\u2019s those things that I appreciate now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What would you tell someone else in your position before you started your program?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t be ashamed to ask for help. And don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re completely overwhelmed before you do something about it, because the problem doesn\u2019t go away, and it keeps getting worse. I know what it\u2019s like to hide problems and hope that it will somehow fix itself. It doesn\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I wish I would\u2019ve done it sooner. There is life after debt.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Calling Beyond Finance was one of the hardest things I ever did, but also one of the best decisions that I ever made because it just took a lot of pressure off of me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Real client compensated for a real story. Individual results may vary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We interviewed Melissa \u2014 executive assistant, grandmother of eight, and hobbyist painter \u2014 to learn how little things added up to over $34,000 across 16 credit cards, and how one phone call to Beyond Finance ended her years of suffering in silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nGraduate Exclusive! 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