My name is Hussain Zaidi, and I am the CEO of Budge.

With over two decades of experience running companies helping people improve their financial circumstances, I’ve seen firsthand how our financial system has failed the majority of Americans. Now, credit card debt is emerging as a crisis, similar to the mortgage crisis of 2008.

Currently, Americans owe an overwhelming $1.2 trillion in credit card debt, a number that continues to climb rapidly. In the U.S., there are 190 million credit card holders, with more than 47% carrying revolving debt. The financial strain is made even worse by the depletion of pandemic savings, the continuation of student loan payments, and ongoing inflation. Despite these issues, the majority of people find themselves neglected by the financial industry who generally want to help people get out of debt with more debt (personal loans and balance transfer cards).

Our goal is to highlight the experiences of over 30 million Americans struggling with debt and advocate for necessary changes.

Do you relate to Maya? We’ve heard her story 1,000 times…

Maya is a motivated go-getter who strives to become debt-free. Unfortunately, the solutions the financial industry has pushed her towards simply don’t work. 

1. She explored options at her bank, her credit card company, and even on CreditKarma’s blog. Surprisingly, the only solutions they offered were a consolidation loan or a balance transfer card—both of which happen to be highly profitable for those institutions.
   
   
2. Although she previously tried a balance transfer card, she was unable to completely pay it off by the end of the promotional period. As a result, she had a cumulative interest charge  at over 23%! Again, the financial industry knows that most people will fail to pay off balance transfer cards thus continuing the debt cycle for Maya.
   
   
3. To make matters even worse, when her car broke down, she had to put more money on her old credit card. Now she is in even more debt and her minimum payment is eaten up by the bank collecting interest. 

Maya isn’t alone in her refinancing experience. We asked over 100 people who tried this debt strategy and over 70% said they were either in more debt or their debt situation had not improved. 

Maya took matters into her own hands…but the process was too complicated.

Determined to find a solution, Maya spent hours on YouTube watching videos from financial influencers like Dave Ramsey and the Budgetista. She decided to use a spreadsheet to manually organize all her credit cards, adopting the "snowball" approach by paying off debts from lowest to highest balance. She was thrilled to realize she could become debt-free 32 months sooner and save $18,000 in interest.

Despite her excitement and newfound confidence, maintaining this plan was labor-intensive. She had to manually adjust the extra contributions to the next debt, transfer the last minimum payment, and repeat this process for 43 months. Additionally, she had to manage monthly minimum payments across all her accounts, keep track of her bank balance, and coordinate with her paydays. 

However, just like before, life happened and she experienced an unexpected expense. With no accountability partner or community to support her, Maya didn't restart her payment plan. Her spreadsheet became outdated, and she found herself financially stuck again. This time, more discouraged than ever. 

People like Maya need a better path forward.

Maya's story is not unique. In fact, there are 25 million people just like her, struggling with credit card debt and finding little to no support from traditional financial services offerings. People like Maya need more than just another loan or a new credit card. They need empathy, practical advice, systems that work, and a supportive community. 

Our mission is to bridge this gap with services tailored towards one goal: becoming debt free. By focusing on this underserved market, we aim to help millions of people achieve financial stability.

We do this by taking the tedious part of Maya’s journey and simplifying it so that she has the tools and knowledge she needs to achieve her goals. From making it easier to organize and plan her debt pay-down to simplifying the way that she makes payments, we’re streamlining how Maya gets out of debt.

Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your debt-free journey. Let us know how you relate to Maya. 

About the author - Hussain Zaidi‍

I'm a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in wealth management and fintech. I began my career as a wealth manager, helping clients with holistic financial planning. After 12 rewarding years, I co-founded Advizr, a platform that simplified financial planning, which we rolled out to thousands of advisors and Fortune 500 companies. In 2019, Advizr was acquired by Orion Advisor Services, where I served as Chief Strategy Officer. Now, I'm dedicated to creating financial services for the 65 million underserved households living paycheck to paycheck. If you're passionate about this mission too, let's connect!