The Ultimate Guide to Credit Cards
Friday, October 4, 2024

Former Credit Card Junkie Goes from “Rock Bottom” to Consumer Superstar

Former Credit Card Junkie Went Rock Bottom Consumer Superstar
CardRates.com Staff

Writer: CardRates.com Staff

CardRates.com Staff

CardRates.com Staff,

This article was contributed by one or more members of the CardRates.com editorial staff. Our team has more than 50 collective years of experience working with writers, editors, and experts in the finance sector. We follow rigorous editorial standards to ensure accuracy and unbiased information.

Close
Lillian Guevara-Castro

Editor: Lillian Guevara-Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro, Senior Editor

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to the CardRates team. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Gwinnett Daily News, Gainesville Sun, and The New York Times, where she covered demographics, consumer issues, and the business and financial sectors. Lillian has a degree in journalism and communications from Georgia State University and brings her fact-checking expertise to ensure Digital Brands content is accurate and engaging.

See Full Bio »
Close
Ashley Fricker

Reviewer: Ashley Fricker

Ashley Fricker

Ashley Fricker, Senior Editor

Ashley Fricker has more than a decade of experience as a finance contributor and editor, and has specialized in the credit card industry since 2015. Her credit card commentary is featured on national media outlets that include CNBC, MarketWatch, Investopedia, and Reader's Digest, among many others. She has worked closely with the world’s largest banks and financial institutions, up-and-coming fintech companies, and press and news outlets to curate comprehensive content and media. Ashley holds a bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism from Florida Atlantic University.

See Full Bio »
Close
Advertiser Disclosure

Credit cards offer a risky combination of power and convenience. For better or worse, millions of people use credit cards every day, so much so the average household credit card debt hovered around $15,607 last September.

But what happens when you let that power go to your head? Merchants start declining your cards, debt collectors call you constantly and you’re left struggling to find ways to make ends meet. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone.

Beverly Harzog

Beverly Harzog

Nationally-recognized consumer credit expert Beverly Harzog chronicled her own journey from rock bottom to credit expert in her award-winning book, “Confessions of a Credit Junkie: Everything You Need to Know to Avoid the Mistakes I Made.”

In it, readers can learn from her missteps and learn valuable tricks to proactively using credit cards.

I spoke with Harzog to learn more about her journey and how everyday consumers can avoid drowning in credit card debt.

Going broke with a Rich’s card

Harzog’s story began where many credit card fiascoes do — right after college.

“I had one credit card for a department store named Rich’s (which is now Macy’s),” she said. “I started getting all these credit card offers … I thought, ‘Oh, this is great. This is like free money.’ Over time I slowly maxed them all out.”

What many readers might find surprising about her story is in the height of her debt accumulation, Harzog actually worked in finance as a CPA after graduating with a degree in accounting.

“I was fairly financially illiterate when it came to personal finance and credit,” she said. “Personal finance is a different animal. No one is born knowing this stuff. It’s not intuitive … You can be a plumber and have a great credit score. You could be a brain surgeon and have a terrible credit score. It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have or what kind of job you do.”

“Personal finance is a different animal. No one is born knowing this stuff. It’s not intuitive.”

Her overspending came to a head one afternoon when her card was declined while trying to buy a pair of Ralph Lauren jeans at Rich’s.

“The next day I called the credit card issuer and they said, ‘Ma’am, you’re not paying your bills on time. You bounced checks. We just had to cut you off,'” she said. “That was my rock bottom moment. I realized my life was a total disaster. It was like a slap in the face and a wake-up call. From that moment on, I vowed I would get myself back in financial shape.”

Bouncing back

Harzog admits she never knew the full extent of her debt troubles. She estimates her total outstanding debt was in the ballpark of $20,000 to $30,000, but she never actually checked because, “Honestly, I was just terrified.” Constant late-night phone calls from debt collectors weren’t helping, either.

“You don’t even want to think about your debt,” she said. “I was in the land of denial for a long, long time. Once you acknowledge it and start accepting responsibility for it, then you can think a little more creatively and put energy toward getting yourself out of this mess.”

“Once you acknowledge it and start accepting responsibility for it, then you can think a little more creatively and put energy toward getting yourself out of this mess.”

She said she made significant sacrifices on her way to paying off her debts, including eating nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for weeks on end. However, young and single at the time, Harzog said she was lucky to not have a family to support while she dug herself out of her credit card hole.

“When someone’s in debt and has a family to support, it’s a lot more complicated than that,” she said.

Using credit cards for good

Credit cards still play a role in Harzog’s life today, albeit a much more positive one. In fact, several chapters of her book are dedicated entirely to teaching consumers how to financially gain from credit cards.

Her tips range anywhere from how to secure free plane tickets, saving at your favorite stores, using balance transfers to cut back on interest and even how to become a “power user.”

“Today I profit from my credit cards,” she said. “My focus with rewards is travel. I love travel in my personal life and have to travel for business. My husband and I went to Belize last year for our 25-year anniversary and much of it was paid with reward points.”

However, she warns her readers not to spend money with a credit card specifically to get rewards.

“When you’re purposefully spending [to get rewards], that’s when you get into trouble,” she said.

“When you’re purposefully spending [to get rewards], that’s when you get into trouble.”

If you’ve ever had any questions about credit cards, whether its about the rewards or the fine print, you’ll find the answers in “Confessions of a Credit Junkie.”

Photo credit: beverlyharzog.com

Advertiser Disclosure

CardRates.com is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison services to users. To keep this resource 100% free, we receive compensation for referrals for many of the offers listed on the site. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across CardRates.com (including, for example, the order in which they appear). CardRates.com does not include the entire universe of available offers. Editorial opinions expressed on the site are strictly our own and are not provided, endorsed, or approved by advertisers.