12 Days of Giving Day 6: 'We Almost Lost Everything' - How One Couple Rebuilt Their Credit & Created Generational Wealth

When Sue and Dan faced losing their dream vacation home, their world felt like it was crumbling. Despite a beautiful property worth millions, credit challenges and financial struggles had them thinking there was no way out. Their story proves that financial hardship doesn't discriminate - even those who seem "successful" from the outside can feel trapped and hopeless.

In Day 6 of our '12 Days of Giving' series, Sara from TruFinCo (https://trufinco.com/) shares how this couple's 18-month journey went from near-disaster to an inspiring story of transformation. You'll learn why common beliefs about credit repair are often wrong, how to shift your mindset when facing financial challenges, and what concrete steps you can take today to start rebuilding - no matter how impossible your situation feels.

Most importantly, you'll discover why you're not alone in your financial struggles and how finding the right support can completely change your family's financial trajectory for generations to come.

Key takeaways:

• The truth about credit repair and common misconceptions
• Why mindset matters more than money when rebuilding your finances
• How to find trustworthy help when you feel stuck
• Practical first steps to assess and improve your credit situation
• The importance of having a clear vision for your financial future

Whether you're facing credit challenges, feeling overwhelmed by debt, or simply want to build a stronger financial future, this episode offers both hope and actionable guidance for your journey forward.

As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!

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DISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Financial Empowerment
• 3:09 The Journey of Sue and Dan
• 5:59 Overcoming Credit Challenges
• 8:48 The Importance of Mindset
• 12:06 The Role of Financial Education
• 14:56 Taking Action: Understanding Your Credit
• 18:01 Conclusion and Call to Action

Transcript

Stoy Hall, CFP® (00:00.766)
Another day of 12 days of giving and our special guest Sarah wanted me to wear the hat. So here we are putting it on just for her. And as always you in the description, you can go to her episode more about her and true Finco and everything that she does. But we always want during this series for you to be able to understand the situation and know that you're not alone or someone you know is in their similar situation. They're not alone. There's resources for you. And Sarah's here to tell us another story about what

she does and how she helps clients what those clients go through in order to take that next step going forward. So Sarah, thank you for making me wear this. It's actually not too bad. It's actually pretty comfortable. don't you get, why don't you get us going.

Sara (00:44.233)
Well, I love the hat story. I mean, it gets me in the Christmas spirit. So thank you. So I definitely want to share a great story. This has to be my all time favorite story. You you and I are both in an industry that for many people, there's so much fear, unknown confusion. And when it comes to borrowing money, most of us are uneducated. And so we're fearful because we feel like

There's no way out of this. I'm stuck in this forever. No one's going to help me. No one cares. And it really isn't the case. You just have to know who to reach out to and realize there are people that actually do want to help and do care about your wellbeing. So this story, I think, will always be my favorite. It's an ongoing story. It began about a year and a half ago. So we, actually, these clients started with my partner Rick.

It was a couple. I will call them Sue and Dan for the sake of privacy. They were at the risk of losing a very beautiful vacation rental home that they had put a lot of time, effort and money into. And the reason they were at risk of losing it is because they were having some credit issues. They were out of extra funds and they just felt like they were drowning and they didn't know where to turn.

So, you know, Rick started diving in a little and getting to the core of what's really going on. And he realized, wait a second, these guys don't need to lose this home. They're sitting on a ton of equity. They just aren't sure how to do it. They don't know about fixing credit. They don't know about private lenders. And thus began this beautiful journey with Sue and Dan. I got to remember what names I used. And so he turned them over to me. And right away, I loved these people.

dearly, which, which always helps, you know. And I started hearing so much despair, you know, they, they were just feeling like there was just no way to get out of this. And so I started dissecting everything. And the first thing we started with is credit, because they thought, I'm stuck with all these issues. And we had a heart-to-heart, and I said, I can help you. Got a great partner to help you. It's not going to be overnight, but let's get started.

Sara (03:09.555)
And they listened and they began a very long credit repair process that literally just wrapped up. It's been long. And then the house, you know, this was their baby. And they really just felt like there's no options and their bank wasn't helpful. Nobody was helpful. And really, you could just hear the despair in their voice. So I got to work and said, you know what? You've got that home in your personal name. Let's create an LLC.

let's refinance it into your LLC to protect you. But also then let's take advantage of that asset because you're sitting on, I mean, this is a home worth several million dollars. Let's then take some of that money, get you in a better spot financially, and let's start building you a portfolio, an empire that you could leave your children. And they are mind blown because they came to us thinking we're just lost at sea. There's no hope.

And so we began working. And I will tell you, because of the value of the property and because of the credit issues, we went through, I think, five lenders before we got it done. And they kept expecting me to shut the door on them and say, this is ridiculous, I give up. And I kept expecting them to say, Sarah, this is too much work, we're done. Because they were having to call their

bank, they were having to fight some inaccurate late payments due to COVID. And so neither of us gave up on each other. And it went on and on and on and on. And throughout this, we actually formed what I would like to call like a family bond. Like we joke that we're family now, but we got it done. And the day of closing, I wasn't there, it was in Colorado, I had them send me a picture of themselves at the closing table. And

I cried because I just felt like they had overcome the impossible. They had started feeling so hopeless, and now they were like completely transforming their life. And to this day, you know, they still tell me, Sarah, you have changed our trajectory. You have changed our kids' lives. And it didn't stop there. We are now about to close property number three.

Sara (05:31.675)
We have since even refinanced that property one more time and pulled out a little more equity for them to utilize in such a way. And they've taken advantage of all my knowledge. I share it freely with them. They've, they've gotten into capital stacking. So they're learning how to invest without using their own money. And, you know, not everyone listens to me that's fine. They're a good example of someone that does listen and their credit's great.

you know, my, partner that does credit repair, him and I just are always giving each other high fives on their accomplishments, because they really had a lot to overcome with credit. And, you know, it just, it goes to show that, you know, you're not stuck in your situation. And a lot of times, especially with challenged credit, you feel stuck. You put your head in the sand and you think, There's no way I'm going to fix this. No one's going to help me. Everyone's going to judge me. Let's just let it be this, and I'm stuck forever. It's not

case? Is it going to be easy? No, it's going to be hard, and it's going to take time and patience. But if you have the right people that are willing to put in the time and help you, you can get it done, no matter how challenged it is. And they were just the perfect example of, you know, feeling despair, feeling challenged, but then reaching out for hope and grasping my hand and together was just, we accomplished so much. And I just, I

I look at them now like they're my children, and I'm watching them proudly do all these things. you know, it's, it's beautiful. And they're not stopping here. I know they're going to do so many amazing things. This is just the beginning. But that's, that's my beautiful story. I think that's going to be my favorite client probably forever. So,

Stoy Hall, CFP® (07:19.326)
old Dan and Sue, right? I want everyone to not take it for because they have a million dollar few million dollar rental, right? Don't worry about the numbers in this conversation. I know a lot of you are going, well, they have money, they'll be fine. They'll figure it out. It doesn't matter how many zeros someone has. If they don't know what they're doing or get stuck because of credit. It's going to happen to anyone.

Sara (07:20.894)
Yes, Dan and Sue.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (07:46.548)
in anyone listening, right? It might be less zeros that you have, but it's still the same impact because you still feel despair, you still feel like there's no way out. And truly there isn't. When you are that burdened, you got to think, crap, this is it. Like this is the end. When you talk about credit,

can you highlight some of the misnomers that people have of like being able to get out of credit because like right like we all think if I'm in the four or five hundreds I have late payments forever like I there's just no way to get out of this situation can you highlight some of those things and give some some hope and effort to that

Sara (08:20.649)
Yeah. So even if you're in the 400s, there is a way out. It's just going to be long. And that's the piece you have to understand because there's a lot of people out there that are like, yeah, yeah, I can fix you in 24 hours, Misconception. It's going to take a long time. Lates are a challenging one, but it can be done. The biggest thing with a late payment, if the account is still open and active, it's going to be far more challenging to remove those lates.

However, if the account is closed, that's a lot easier. What I often advise people, because we're all guilty of this, it's easy to overlook a payment and get a late. I have a lot of people that are like, just based on that. If it's your first one, I always suggest call that credit card company or that creditor and explain the situations. And I have seen where they will reverse it if you have good payment history. So don't be afraid to do that, because it's far worse to just let that late sit there.

because it can be like a ball and chain. But definitely that's one misconception. Another one is, you know, people think, you know, I'm, I'm overutilized. I'm never going to get out of this. Let's just, let's just stay buried in this sand, where there are solutions, you know, whether it's, there's, there's consumer credit counseling that can help you get that debt lowered and get you set up on a better payment plan. There are solutions there.

In my mind, I find it's far worse for clients to just sit in that hole, just making the minimum payments maxed out, drowning in 30 % interest. There are solutions. You just have to obviously find the right legit ones that aren't going to charge you an arm and a leg. But I would say the biggest misconception with credit is, a lot of people think it's a scam, unfortunately, because a lot of the people that do it put it out there.

It's not a scam. It is true. It is legit. It has to be done the right way. And that's important. It has to be done legally and correctly. And a lot of times those legal and correct ways are not those overnight solutions. So you got to realize you didn't get yourself into this mess overnight, right? It took some time. You can't expect to get out overnight. It's going to take some time. But I will tell you from being on the other side.

Sara (10:42.719)
There is no better feeling than getting out of it and getting to that other side and knowing I did it. I put my head down. I put in the work and now look at what I can do with that because tell you credit will affect you in every aspect of everything you do. Even if you have a business or you don't, it's going to affect you. And it is far better to be in a good position credit wise than to just try and struggle along and live in a challenged credit state.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (11:11.04)
You're talked about Dan and Sue took 18 months still ongoing, but like it took a long time. We keep talking about time, journey, and effort. The mindset of Dan and Sue, I think aligned very well. I don't know how long they've been looking. I don't know what they gone through to get to this point. But can you talk about the mentality you have to have to start down this path and talk through kind of like you've worked, I'm sure you worked with people that wanted to do this.

Sara (11:15.627)
Mm-hmm.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (11:41.036)
but mentally they were not ready for the work.

Sara (11:44.063)
Yes, I get that every day. You know, I do, I have the conversation of what we're going to do and what it will take and they're like, forget it, that's too much. Dan and Sue had a different mentality. They had a vision. They knew what they wanted to achieve and change their life and change their kid's life. And they held on to that vision.

So that even when they were in the muck and the thick of it, they kept pulling that vision up and going, okay, hang on to this. Don't let go of it, because that's going to get us through. And you have to have that mindset. You can't just go into it and think, this is going to take forever. Who cares? You have to have that goal on the other side, because in the thick of it, when it's taking months, sometimes even years, you're going to go, what's the point? Why am I bothering?

But if you have something that you've set on the other side, whether it's opening a business, you know, buying an investment property, whatever it might be, that's that what's going to get you through those tough times. And that's that mentality you have to have is that, you know, yes, it's going to take work, but there's some, there's a grand prize on the other end. And that really helps you get through that.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (12:54.71)
we talk about this a lot, you need to know who you are before you can do any of this other movement stuff. I don't care what situation you're sitting in. You need to sit down and figure out like, who am I who is story? What does he really care about? What brings him joy? So we can start to focus our decisions based upon that. A lot of people get in trouble because they they don't know what that is. It's not clear to them. And so they just make decisions based upon how they're feeling that day or, you know, squirrel, shiny object.

Sara (12:57.675)
Mm-hmm.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (13:24.776)
those happen to us all the time. But ultimately, you need to know who you are and where you want to go and what brings you joy. And just say yes to those things and start to cut out the other things. And I believe that's part of that mindset. And if you're not there, or at least working on that, doing anything, you know,

clients that we work with clients that you work with, you're not going to be able to make that successful if you don't have that in line because it's going to be hard work. It's going to be times where you're down, you're depressed to a degree. It's hard. You don't want to keep going. You don't want to keep making those decisions. It's really easy to just put a bunch more on the credit card and go buy these things. And ultimately you can say no to that because the thing that brings you joy, that thing at the end of the tunnel.

Sara (13:51.912)
Absolutely.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (14:12.646)
if you will, is most important. We obviously, I shouldn't say obviously, I know this, and so do a lot of people that you're a TikTok star, Instagram star. And cash is really the reason behind it, in my opinion, humble opinion, but the importance of continuing to talk about this, right? Why is the important part? I want to know and let everyone know why do you go through

this struggle with your clients because you get very emotional about it. You're emotional person. I love the hell out of that part of it. That's a lot to deal with with a lot of different people. Why do you go through that? And why do you then post about it? Like why? Why?

Sara (14:56.885)
Hmm. Because I've been that person that nobody would help. I've been in that hopeless spot and nobody would help me and I didn't know of any resources and I was stuck. And there's no worse feeling. I hold that feeling. I won't let go of it because that's what motivates me. So therapy helped me realize I do what I do because I want to be that person that I needed.

So I'm being that person for everybody else. And that's why I do it over and over and put myself out there and get emotionally invested. And because it's so important to me, because unfortunately, money is a big part of our life. It runs so much of what we do. And I just don't want people to be stuck or limited because of a lack of knowledge. Because unfortunately, you know just as well as I do,

financial education is missing tremendously in this world. And that's such a handicap for everybody. And so I am getting out there to give people, is it gonna solve your problems? No, but give you that hope and give you just a little bit more to think about, to broaden your horizon so that you don't feel stuck. Because I want to be that helping hand for everybody that I never had.

And I'm in a position now to do it. I've, I am constantly building my resources, building my team, finding every connection anybody could possibly need, because I don't want anybody to ever leave me and go, I don't know what to do. I'm hopeless. I want everybody to leave me thinking, I can't do this maybe today, but I have a plan of working towards it. Or I've got the resources of the person that I do need to work with, you know, and it's,

It's a strange calling. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I'd be doing this at all, but that's how life works. And I love it. I feel like I'm very privileged to be able to help people in the capacity that I do and help change that relationship with money.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (17:06.53)
And that's you being real. That's real and transparent and raw, which is why we connect so well. But I wanted everyone to hear that, not just because obviously everyone go talk to Sarah about everything they need from that perspective, but more along the lines of recognizing there are people out there like us. There are others out there that truly care about you more than they care about making the dollar off of you. And I believe in our society, we've gone way the other way where people

Sara (17:07.883)
Mm-hmm.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (17:36.476)
feel like they are alone. There is no people out there that aren't going to make money. And we see it all the time with these personal finance gurus and everything always saying that don't go hire experts. You can do it all yourself. You just can't. I'm here to tell you. Yeah, I might get paid for services, but you cannot do money. The money game alone. It's not possible. No billionaire, no trillionaire, no multimillionaire does it alone.

Sara (17:46.715)
Mm. No.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (18:01.6)
Why do you think you can? Why do you think you are in your situation can do it alone? It's not true. Doesn't work. Those people are trying to get you to buy some course or something. I guarantee it. Because there's no way you can do this money game alone. And I'm glad to have you on the team as well. As we wrap this up.

We always ask for one item topic, actionable item, something that from this episode our listeners can take home and start to implement to take that next step forward. So what could you give to us, just one thing that can give to us so that these listeners can say, I'm taking that next step forward.

Sara (18:34.592)
Mm.

Sara (18:43.679)
As simple as this sounds, most people don't do this. Go pull an accurate credit report, not credit karma. Go on one of the other sites, Experian, and pull a credit report and actually look what's on there. Because I'm always amazed when I'm working with people, they have no clue what's on there. And you don't know what to work on if you don't know what's there. So the big thing I'd give everyone, get your credit report.

Understand what's reporting, what's on there, what issues might be hindering you, because there's no point trying to go out and do all these other things if you don't know where you are to start with. So that's what I would say. That's the best thing that you can do for yourself to get started is get that credit, understand where you are. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (19:31.488)
and it's free and you can get all three of them. So we'll have that link down there too, but that's, that's, that's huge. That's an important one too.

And everybody, what I ask of you, no matter what episode is like share and comment, but not for the BS algorithm perspective. Because Sarah and I want to communicate, we want comments, we want to be able to speak to you. So DM us, do whatever you want to do within our socials, reach out to us. We're here to help you as much as we can. But we can't help you if you're not talking, right?

There's no communication. only can provide as much as we can. So please reach out. Don't be afraid. If you want a private work here for you, and we'll always be here for you as well. So Sarah, one, happy holidays. But thank you so much for coming on and making me wear the hat.

Sara (20:17.803)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Thank you.