Beverly Harzog from The Debt Escape Plan

Beverly Harzog is a consumer finance analyst and credit card expert at U.S. News and author of The Debt Escape Plan, she paid off $20,000 of debt in only 2 years and now inspires others to do the same.Beverly Harzog is a consumer finance analyst and credit card expert at U.S. News and author of The Debt Escape Plan, she paid off $20,000 of debt in only 2 years and now inspires others to do the same.

Welcome!

[:] First off can you tell us a bit about your debt payoff journey? What motivated you to tackle all that debt and what was the debt from?
● When Beverly was young she knew nothing about personal finance, she was a CPA
● Getting out of College, she got a ton of offers for credit cards
● She spent a ton of money on her image (she was self-conscious)
● She took things seriously and really cut back to get rid of her debt

[:] Debt, debt, debt! We’ve seen a whole bunch of rate hikes this year, debt’s like one of those things that you should be using responsibly. When do you think it’s a good time (if any) to go into debt and what are some things to look out for?
● There is good debt and bad debt, 
● Good debt is something like debt on a home
● Bad debt is credit card debt

[:] It it’s always easy, some people have bad credit. What advice do you have for people with bad credit and do you have any good resources they can use?
● Don’t feel terrible
● Get a secured credit card; US News is a great resource
● Some credit card have fees
● If you are against a credit card, you could try get a credit builder loan.

[:] You wrote a post about whether you should get a credit card or a loan, do you want to give us your view of when you’d want to choose either option?
● People often reach for their credit card if they have big purchases
● If something is much more long term, then you might want to look at a loan
● Get a 0% intro APR on purchases if you have good credit
● You should always be careful of taking out any debt, get online and do research about the companies

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[:] What is your saving or retirement plan?
● Emergency fund - a year's worth of expenses in the fund
● IRAs as self employed

[:] Do you have any other books or podcasts you can recommend?
● Beverly’s book - The Debt Escape Plan

[:] Favorite Quote?
● Do or do not, there is no try

[:] Parting piece of advice?
● If you have debt do whatever you have to do