I Had To Delay My Dreams To Pay Off $10K+ In Credit Card Debt

Trying to figure out your adult life after college is tough. It’s especially complicated if you have credit card debt. A little more than three-quarters of college students have credit cards, and of those people, 27% carry a balance over $2,000, according to a 2022 survey from U.S. News and World Report. The debt doesn’t always come from international adventures, clubbing, or endless online shopping sprees. Instead, it can come from filling paycheck gaps, covering unexpected fees, or otherwise trying to live in an increasingly expensive world.

Brittney Carroll got her first credit card in college, but it wasn’t until graduation that her expenses ballooned, racking up more than five figures of debt across three cards. Now 28 and pursuing an acting career in New York City, Carroll has spent the last year chronicling how she’s been paying down her debt on TikTok. Here, she told Elite Daily how she ran up her balance — and then how she got it under control.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up as one of four kids in Montgomery, Alabama, and my mom was always working multiple jobs. I was very conscious about money, and I was pretty good at it, too. That’s why I decided to live at home during college while I majored in theater performance. I knew I’d have student loans, but I knew those loans would be even larger if I had lived at school. I had a credit card in college, but I was good about it. I would use it if I needed, and I would always pay it off at the end of the billing cycle.

But then graduation happened, and there were so many fees just to graduate. I had to pay for my cap and gown; I had to pay to receive my diploma. All these fees just to finish up school ended up being nearly $1,000. I knew how to budget, so I was able to pay it off. After graduation, I was taking on musical theater parts all around the country, and I even saved enough to have money to go out with friends. But then, six months after graduation, I had to begin paying off my student loans. I was only making about $300 a week, and they wanted $300 a month from me. I was able to take on part-time jobs to pay off my student loans, but the uncertainty of when I’d receive my income, coupled with trying to get my acting career off the ground, was a struggle. I knew something had to change, and I realized it might be a good idea to find a more permanent day job in one place rather than traveling around from gig to gig.

Every time I was close to maxing out my card, the credit companies raised my limit.

I took on some social media management jobs and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. The moving fees added up; it was about $1,000 to move and furnish my apartment. From there, I just couldn’t keep up with my credit cards. I would pay the minimums, but then I would also use my credit card each month. It wasn’t irresponsible: I was paying for things like gas and groceries. And I really needed to lean on my credit cards when I had to leave a job in April 2021.

It was the first time I had ever quit a job, but the workplace was so toxic I just had to leave. For a few months, I floated myself on odd jobs until the summer, when I landed a more permanent position. The money was good, but I was still only paying the minimums on my credit cards and auto loan. Even with monthly payments, I was barely making a dent in my balances. The next summer, when my lease was up, I sat down and took a look at where my money was going. I realized: I had $11,000 of credit card debt across three cards. Added to my student loan debt and my car loan, I realized I’d racked up $50,000 of debt by the time I was 26 — without fully realizing it was happening.

Every time I was close to maxing out my card, the credit companies raised my limit. To me, this was predatory. I hadn’t applied. I hadn’t asked. And when you’re living off your cards, it’s hard not to spend up to the limit. Because I paid my minimum payments, my credit score was fine, but I knew I would never get ahead unless I did something drastic.

One of my goals had always been to move to New York City and pursue a career in musical theater. I faced a hard truth: I couldn’t move with this amount of debt. So I put myself on a six-month plan. I moved in with my parents, and I began putting all the money I had paid toward rent toward my credit card debt instead. I also worked with a credit union and got a personal loan to consolidate my debt. This accomplished two things: I would have a lower interest rate on my debt than I did on my cards, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my interest rates rising, the way I knew they could on my credit cards. The terms of my loan came with a $200 monthly payment for a five-year period, but I tried to put at least $500 a month toward my loan. I also sold my car and was able to use the money from the sale to help pay down my balance, too.

I didn’t fully pay off my loan after those six months. But I did hit my savings goal of $4,000 and felt comfortable enough with my loan repayment plan to move to New York City. As of January 2023, I still have a little more than $4,000 left to pay off on the personal loan. I also wanted to save money for my move, and I had a few unexpected medical expenses that knocked me off my plan a bit. But I’m on track and I feel good. I still have five figures of student loan debt, and to be honest, I feel like I might be paying that off forever. But paying down my consumer debt gave me some peace of mind.

If people have debt, I would say: Consider a personal loan and see how that might save you money.

I also think it’s important to sit down and see what all your balances are — not just on your credit cards, but on all of your loans, including your student loans. The number can be really scary, but when you see it, you can do something about it. For me, I knew that total was holding me back from my goal, which was a career in New York. You need that thing that’s more important than going out or living on your own or whatever it is that your credit card lets you do. It’s important to have something to work toward.

Finally, it feels shameful and embarrassing to admit to having debt. But it’s not. And that’s why I wanted to go public with my debt on TikTok. At first, I thought, Let me record videos and then share them once my debt is gone, so the story would be “I can do it and you can too.” But I wanted people to see me in the middle. I want to try and help people in the process. It’s vulnerable, but it’s real.