40-year-old paid off $20,000 in credit card debt, then stopped using them completely: ‘I was more than happy to cut them up'

After paying off around $20,000 in credit card debt six years ago, Shonnita Leslie hasn't used a credit card since.

"I was more than happy to cut them up," the 40-year-old tells CNBC Make It.

But she didn't always feel that way.

Growing up, Leslie's mom "loathed" credit cards, she says. Leslie began receiving credit card offers in the mail before she turned 18 and recalls her mom saying it was "inappropriate" for someone her age to have one. So, following her mom's advice, she didn't sign up for one during college. She worked during summer breaks and saved up money to cover her expenses, she says.

"[My mom] did a good job of making that stick at least until I graduated college," Leslie says. "Then I kind of went crazy."

Leslie got her first credit card after earning her master's degree in 2009, she says. Since she wasn't earning much money from her first job and most of her paycheck went toward necessities like rent, she initially used her credit card to buy work clothes.

However, she eventually began using it for more expensive purchases, such as flights to see friends who lived in different states. She also began opening retail credit cards, which tend to come with lower spending limits and higher interest rates than bank credit cards.

While Leslie recognized she would eventually need to clear her credit card debt, she didn't prioritize paying off her full balance each month, which caused her debt to skyrocket due to costly interest charges.

"I didn't have a real sense of what I was doing or what I was getting myself into," she says.

Sinking into credit card debt

By 2012, Leslie's credit card debt had soared to around $20,000 and she felt it was becoming unmanageable, she says. However, she was unemployed at the time and didn't have a way to pay down her debt while managing her other expenses.

She initially tried opening new cards and not using them, which she thought would help improve her debt to income ratio. However, that began to negatively impact her credit score as lenders started reducing her spending limit on those unused cards.

"To a credit bureau, it looked like one month I had an available line of credit for $5,000 and then the next month I had an available line of credit of $1,000," Leslie says. "It would read as if I was exceeding my limits."

Getting out of the debt hole

Eventually, Leslie realized she wasn't going to be able to manage her credit card debt on her own. That's when her mom suggested using GreenPath, a financial wellness and debt counseling service.

The service consolidated the debt across her credit cards into one monthly payment of $250 and negotiated lower interest rates and minimum payments with her lenders on her behalf.

Part of Leslie's agreement with the debt management company was that she had to stop using her credit cards. This way, she wouldn't continue to accumulate debt as she was paying it down.

After getting rid of her credit cards, she focused on consistently making those payments for six years. By 2018, she had cleared her credit card debt.

"I needed to cut them up so that I didn't continue to use them and could just pay down what I owe," she says. "I just felt relieved when I was done."

Life without a credit card

Leslie decided she didn't want to risk accumulating that much credit card debt again, especially as she focuses on paying off her student loan debt.

When used responsibly, credit cards can help you build and establish a healthy credit score, and can even save you money through rewards points. But Leslie doesn't feel like she's missing out by not having one.

"I'm not a points chaser," she says. "No one's getting rich off of frequent flyer miles or other rewards."

As for her credit score, she says it's low for now, but she feels she has time to boost it to a higher level in the future. And now that things like making on-time payments on your rent can be counted toward your credit score, she plans to see how that can help improve her score. For instance, Experian Boost can help you boost your credit score by paying your rent, utilities, video streaming services and other bills on time.

Ultimately, Leslie learned not to feel guilty for struggling with credit card debt — or asking for help.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," she says. "The economy is run on debt, and we're encouraged to have it."

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