Jackson Couple Pays Off $92,000 In Debt: Couple Chose Not To File For Bankruptcy
Ruth Spencer/WDIV-TV 4 (NBC/Detroit)
29 September 2011 – 6 pm news
1:15 total running time
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling recently honored Jerry and Sue Bailey, in San Francisco, because they paid off more than $92,000 in debt.
"We felt like throwing up. We felt sick to our stomachs that we owed that much, that we had gotten ourselves into debt that deeply," remembered Jerry Bailey.
Jerry and his wife, Sue, had accumulated more than $92,000 in debt on 17 different credit cards.
"When you have a little bit here, a little there you don't really get the big picture without looking at it all that at a single time," Jerry Bailey said.
They were forced to confront that number when they went to
GreenPath Debt Solutions for help.
But, instead of filing for bankruptcy, the couple decided to pay off the entire amount.
"We believe that the Bible says that you take responsibility for what you do, personal responsibility. So we didn't want to the bankruptcy route," Jerry Bailey said.
"We did it together. We got out together. And we're going to stay together. When you do your marriage vows before God, richer or poorer, sickness and health and I take that seriously," Sue Bailey said.
Jerry and Sue spent five and a half years paying off the debt, making sacrifices along the way.
They sold a vehicle. Jerry, a pastor, took on some additional part-time duties. Sue, a visiting nurse, asked for some additional patients.
"Going through this program I couldn't buy the stuff I wanted to for my grandchildren for Christmas that was painful. Not going on trips, not going on vacation," Sue Bailey said.
"We learned to do without sometimes and that's a hard lesson to learn when you haven't ever done that before. It's a reality check and humbling," said Jerry Bailey.
The Jackson, Michigan couple hopes sharing their story will help others to know if they can do it, other people can too.
"I hope that by sharing our story that we can show our story through God and through Greenpath you can go through it together," said Sue Bailey.
For more information on
GreenPath Debt Solutions, click
here.
To watch the video from WDIV-TV (NBC/Detroit), click
here.