After a particularly rough patch with her mental health, Patty accumulated $16,000 of consumer debt. In this episode of #ExperianStories, she shares her journey of overcoming financial anxiety and debt shame. Listen to her story in both English and Tagalog or read the full transcripts below.
Check out some of our other personal finance stories in a variety of languages here.
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My name is Patty, I am an employee at Experian,
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and this is my credit story.
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I am a first generation Filipino American raised by a single immigrant mother,
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and I was taught to be very frugal and smart
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with my money growing up, almost to a fault.
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By the time I turned 18 and had gotten my first job,
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I was experiencing anxiety over nearly every purchase that I was making.
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Now, I understand that all the lessons
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that my mom taught me was because she wanted me to have
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a better and easier life and that I wouldn’t
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have to experience the same hardships that she did as a struggling immigrant.
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At 20 years old, I entered a pretty severe depressive episode
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that greatly affected my physical, mental and financial health.
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I was working a job that didn’t pay a livable wage.
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I was helping my mom with her bills on top of my own,
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and I just wasn’t coping with my issues in a healthy manner.
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So I got into $16,000
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of consumer debt, unfortunately. Because I knew I was raised to know better,
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I became very ashamed with myself.
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I took on all my problems by myself, and I didn’t tell anyone what I was going through.
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I wasn’t about to enjoy my life because of my situation.
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So I just became more and more depressed, and it felt like this endless cycle,
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and it really felt like I was never going to escape it.
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Fast forward, and I finally got a job that allowed me the privilege
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to commit myself to aggressively paying down my consumer debt
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but no matter how much I paid, it didn’t feel like my debt was going down.
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So it
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felt like nothing was happening and I was stuck
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and I felt miserable and helpless,
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and it took me feeling this way to finally reach out to my mom for help.
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And she surprised me.
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She wasn’t disappointed.
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She didn’t shame me, and we worked together to find a solution.
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And it turns out that the interest rate on that credit card was obscene.
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So all of my payments were going to the interest and not my principal amount.
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And it occurred to me that if I had missed something
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as simple as interest rates, what else was I missing?
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What else should I know that I was never taught?
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I focused on educating myself.
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So I read a lot of articles, I read books, I listened to podcasts,
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I watched documentaries, and I learned so many things
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that I 100% believed I should have been taught formally in school.
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Focusing on my
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financial health became a really large priority of mine
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and after a full year of getting my finances in order
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and educating myself along the way, I was able to pay my entire debt.
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And guess what?
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I am still debt-free to this day.
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This time in my life affected my financial health
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for years to come because of all the lessons I learned.
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I never again got myself into a debt that I couldn’t get out of,
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and I now have an amazing credit score that really affords me the opportunity
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to achieve the goals that I never thought that I was going to achieve,
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especially back when I was 20 years old.
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And now I’m proud to work for a company that devotes itself
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to teaching consumers how to take control of their financial health too.
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Definitely feels like a full circle moment.
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The crazy thing about all of this is that this story used to make me feel
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so ashamed, and I never thought that I would want to share this
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with anybody, let alone a bunch of strangers on the internet. But
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I now understand it
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takes a lot of grace and patience to accept your mistakes
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and to correct them because we will be making them.
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It’s inevitable,
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but I wholeheartedly believe that we will always find a way to bounce back.
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My biggest takeaway from this experience is that financial education
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is not merely a large enough priority, especially in minority communities.
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I think we are so focused on simply surviving
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and keeping our head above the water that it feels impossible to thrive
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sometimes. There’s a problem with access to resources, tools
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and education in these communities, and I feel like once we have those,
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the barriers that we can tear down
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to financial access are limitless,
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and my hope is that the story makes you feel like this is possible for you too.
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Ako si Patty, empleyado ako sa Experian,
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at ito ang kasaysayan ko sa utang.
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Unang henerasyon akong Fil-Am na pinalaki ng solong imigranteng ina,
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at tinuruan akong maging kuripot at matalino
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sa pera sa paglaki ko nang halos sobra na.
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Noong maging 18 na ako at nakuha ko ang una kong trabaho,
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nakaramdam ako ng pagkabalisa sa halos bawat pagbili na ginagawa ko.
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Ngayon ko naiintindihan na lahat ng mga payo at aral
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na binibigay sakin ng aking mommy ay dahil gusto nya na mas maging
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maganda ay madali ang buhay ko at hindi ko
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maranasan yung hirap nya as a struggling immigrant.
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Sa edad na 20, napasok ako sa medyo mahirap na yugto na lubhang
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nakaapekto sa aking kalusugang pisikal, mental at pananalapi.
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Nagtatrabaho ako ng trabahong hindi nakabubuhay ang sahod.
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Tinutulungan ko si mama sa kanyang mga bayarin bukod sa akin,
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at di ko kinakaya ang mga suliranin sa malusog na paraan.
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Kaya napasok ako sa $16,000
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na utang ng konsumer. Dahil alam ko na pinalaki akong na
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tama nahiya ako sa sarili ko.
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Sinarili ko ng problema ko, at akong sinibihan kahit kanino ito.
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Di ko ma-enjoy ang buhay ko dahil sa ganitong situation
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Kaya mas lalo lang akong nanlumo, at ang walang dulo na ikot na ito,
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sa pakiramdam ay parang hinding-hindi ko ito matatakasan.
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Sa wakas ay nagkatrabaho ako ng nagbigay sa akin ng pribilehiyo
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na italaga ang sarili ko na agresibo sa pagbayad ng utang ko na konsumer
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pero kahit anong bayad ko, parang hindi bumababa ang utang ko.
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Kaya parang
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walang nangyayari sa pakiramdam at naipit ako at pakiramdam ay
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kahabag-habag ako at walang magawa,
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at humantong ako na magpasaklolo sa ina ko para sa tulong.
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At ginulat niya ako.
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Hindi siya nabigo.
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Hindi niya ako pinahiya, nagtulungan kami para magkasolusyon.
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At ang rate ng interes sa credit card na iyon ay labis.
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Kaya lahat ng aking mga bayad ay sa interes lang at hindi sa halaga.
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At naisip ko na kung may makaligtaan ako
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na kahit mga rate ng interes, ano pa ang kulang sa akin?
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Ano pa ang dapat kong malaman na hindi itinuro sa akin?
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Nag-focus ako sa pagaral ko.
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Kaya nagbasa ako ng mga artikulo, ng mga libro, nakinig ng podcast,
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nanood ng mga dokumentaryo, at napakarami kong natutunan
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na 100% akong naniniwala na itinuro dapat sa paaralan.
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Ang pagtuon sa aking
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pinansiyal na kalusugan ay naging napakalaking prayoridad ko
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at pagkatapos ng isang buong taon ng pag-ayos sa aking pananalapi
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at sariling pag-aaral, nabayad ko ang buong utang ko.
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At hulaan mo?
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Debt-free pa hangang ngayon.
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Ang panahong ito ng buhay ko ay nakaapekto sa aking pananalapi
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sa maraming taon dahil sa lahat ng aral na natutunan ko.
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Di na ako muling nabaon sa utang na di ako makaalis,
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at kahanga-hanga ang credit score ko na nagbibigay ng oportunidad
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upang makamit ko ang mga layunin na hindi ko naisip na makakamit ko,
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lalo na noong edad 20 pa lang ako.
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At ipinagmamalaki kong magtrabaho sa kumpanyang nakatuon sa pagturo
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sa mga konsumer na kontrolin rin ang kalusugan nila sa pananalapi.
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Talagang parang isang ganap na sandali.
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Ang nakakamangha sa lahat ng ito ay nahihiya ako noon sa kwentong ito,
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at hindi ko naisip na nais kong ibahagi ito
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sa kahit sino, lalo na sa mga estranghero sa internet. Pero
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naiintindihan ko ngayong kailangan
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ng maraming biyaya at pasensya upang matanggap ang iyong mga mali
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at maitama ang mga ito dahil magagawa natin ang mga ito.
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Hindi ito maiiwasan, pero
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ganap akong naniniwalang lagi tayong makakahanap ng paraan na makabawi.
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Ang pinakamalaking aral dito ay di lang malaking sapat na prayoridad
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ang edukasyon sa pananalapi, lalo na sa komunidad ng minorya.
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Tingin ko, masyado tayong nakatutok sa simpleng pagraos lang
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at pagpapanatiling nakaangat ang ulo na parang imposibleng umunlad.
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Minsan, may problema sa pag-access sa mga mapagkukunan, kasangkapan
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at edukasyon sa komunidad na ito, at tila kapag mayroon na tayo nito,
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ang hadlang na maaari nating masira
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sa akses sa pananalapi ay walang
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limitasyon, at inaasahan kong magawa ng kwento na posible rin ito sa iyo.