When my daughter was in her early 20’s she moved out of state and down south. While she was living away from home for 3 years, she got herself into some financial trouble. Before she came back home, she consulted an Atlanta bankruptcy attorney for some information and guidance.
You see, while she was living out of state, she was irresponsible with her money, as most 21 year old’s tend to be. For the 3 years she was living down south she would go out and spend a lot more than what she earned. I guess all of those credit card offers that roll into your mailbox everyday, were a little too tempting for her as a young, immature adult.
As time went on she realized she was in some financial trouble as she could not afford even the minimum payments on all of those credit card bills. It got so bad that she was having difficulty even affording her apartment rent, utilities or car payment. She knew that something had to change, so she consulted a legal firm that handles debt consolidation and debt bankruptcy.
Over the course of 3 appointments with them, she decided to claim bankruptcy to end the financial nightmare that she had gotten herself into. I know this was a hard decision for her but she did find the strength to go through it.
Once she had her legal matters settled, she moved back home so that we could help her get back on track again. During the next 2 years that she lived with us, my husband spent a lot of time with her teaching her how to budget her money and how to save for her future.
Now that it has been a total of 5 years, I am happy to report that our daughter did indeed learn her lesson. She now lives within her financial means and she has worked hard to establish a good credit line once again. She has done so well the past few years, that she has even managed to save up some money to use as a down payment on a house next year.
We are very proud of her and we are positive that she has learned her lesson. It is always nice to see our children grow up and support themselves as adults. It is just sad that sometimes young adults don’t heed their parent’s warnings when it comes to using charge cards and over-spending.
I know that filing for bankruptcy is a very private and personal thing, but I felt the need today to share my daughter’s experience with all of you who may or may not have adult children who are living outside of their financial means.