People of EarnIn: Sara Marshall

Even though Sara has gone through some hardship, that hasn’t stopped her from keeping a positive attitude and paying it forward for her community. Check out her story:

“I want to get out of debt and I would love to be a homeowner, but right now my credit is just not where it needs to be after going through my divorce. We both took our own debt, but he made more money than me so my debt to income got a little crazy. I had one or two credit card companies that I had been with for a long time but they wouldn’t work with me when I couldn't make the payments so my credit took a nosedive.

I had gotten a really good job while I was going through my divorce and was making really good money. Then last August, I lost my job. Between the last day of my old job and my new job was only eight weeks, but when you live paycheck to paycheck and you have no savings because you've been putting it on your debt, that's where I took some steps back. You wouldn’t think eight weeks would mess you up that much, but it does. Now I’m just digging myself out of a hole. Including my car, I'm about $27,000 in debt. I'm trying to pay off the cards that are charging me the most interest first so I try to put a big chunk on those. Then, I'm kind of upside down on my car so I want to get that paid down so I can refinance it and lower the interest rate.

I'd say to be where I want to be financially, it will probably take me about two more years from today. I've been very fortunate to have full-time employment. With the company I worked for now, we've still been able to hit bonuses and things like that so it's been great and I've had a great year. My goal is two years, as long as nothing crazy happens and everything goes perfectly, but you know how life is.

Honestly, when I first heard about EarnIn, it always just popped up as an aggravating ad. But the first time I actually used it was last year when I started my new job and it was right before my first paycheck. I had exhausted everything I could and I needed groceries. The ad popped up and I thought it was a sign, and it really helped me.

I think it's great that some weeks when I use it, I can afford to pay it forward for three people. Sometimes I can't, but I do what I can. I love at the end, you can see who you helped pay it forward for, or someone paid it forward for you. It just makes you feel like there's somebody else out there who's going through the same experience that you are. It does feel like a community with EarnIn.”

We’re all going through something, whether it’s trying to pay down some debt, build credit, start a family, find a new job, etc. It helps to know that we’re in this together. If you’re interested in sharing your journey with us, send us an email to stories@earnin.com.