The year of 2008 has been an incredible year for us.  Since starting the program, in late January 2008 we have gotten rid of $53,754 worth of debt.  We want to thank God first and foremost for giving us the strength and foresight to start John Cummuta’s TDIW program.  We still can’t believe that we have really reduced our debt by $53,754 in 1 year.

We have paid off 7 credit cards totaling $13,997.28, a car payment totaling $11,500, which is now paid off.  When we started we owed $29,950 on a timeshare and we have that down to $5459-WOW!  We have also paid $3756.56 towards our 2 mortgages. 

How in the world we have done this is beyond us—we we are so far ahead of our initial projections.  If you remember we didn’t even apply our 1st accelerator payment until Feb. of this year.  At first we were hoping to come up with an extra $400 per month or $4800 for the 1st year.  We had our projections for the entire year paid for in the 1st couple of months and the acceleration began and took off like a rocket.  With the help of our coaches we restructured our mortgages, home and car insurance to help increase our accelerator payment.

If it wasn’t for us needing a water purification system for our entire house we could have added an additional $5400.  We also put insulation in our attic costing $1000.00 and we bought a pick – up truck and maintenance on it had cost us $3000.00.  The total unplanned extra expense we had was $9400.  This doesn’t include our vacation we took this past summer, which was paid in full with cash for the 1st time ever for us!  No stress vacation!  We had money left over.

We only have 2 credit cards left and our timeshare.  If everything works out, we will have this paid off by June of 2009 and then we can start on our 2 mortgage payments.  We are still committed to our $400 accelerator margin.  Over the past year we have actually paid an average of $4479.62 per month extra on our debts! 

Soon, in 2009, we are planning to have about $2000 in accelerator margin.  Thank you so much for your help and guidance, we could not have done this without you and John Cummuta, and Prosper.

Ed and Fannie M
Washington Crossing, PA

This success story was recently submitted by Beth A., a student in San Mateo, California.

Prior to joining this program, my finances were completely out of control. I had incurred a lot of debt and it would have been worse now if I had not sought professional help. It was difficult to get out of the debt circle on my own. I felt hopeless and stressed out by the condition of my finances all the time. I felt too embarrassed. Frugality was a word I didn’t understand. I was living way beyond my means and helping people even if I couldn’t afford it. I realized that if I wanted to be financially independent, I had to learn to say NO to myself and to others.

I’ve learned many things in the TDIW program. One thing I will value forever is the way that my mindset has changed when it comes to spending. I’m learning to value the money I’m making for me and my future, not for show-off at the moment.

I’ve been tracking all my expenses and trying my hardest to stay within my monthly spending plans. When I go grocery shopping, I try to only get the things I need for the week and get out of the store as fast as possible. I never realized that using coupons could be fun and rewarding. A big adjustment is for me is cooking more and bringing lunches to work rather than eating out everyday. It freed up a lot of cash to add into my accelerator margin.

I’m very excited to share that I have paid off a credit card and my car! And in less than four years, I will be completely out of debt! I can’t wait!

In conclusion, I’m really glad and proud of myself that I signed up for this program. Although it’s hard being frugal now, I’m so willing to do it because I know it will bring me a brighter future. There are so many things I’d rather do with my life than working till I’m 65. There has to be a better purpose in life. I would like to be able to retire in 20-25 years. I would like to travel abroad with family and friends and help plant churches all over the world.

Beth A.
San Mateo, CA