Dawn Jensen needed a bit of breathing room. Some relief.
A newly divorced mom in her 40s, she was rebuilding her life from scratch. She worked hard to keep a roof over their heads, but money troubles kept pulling her down.
Between her bills, mortgage and the cost of college for both her and her daughter, Jensen couldn’t make progress on her debt. More specifically, she couldn’t even make a dent in roughly $30,000 in credit card balances.
“It felt like I couldn’t climb out of this hole,” says Jensen, a creative marketing executive and social media business strategist in Orlando, Florida. “For me, it was a lot of anxiety. It was suffocating.”
That’s when she decided to try a different approach. While searching for a fix last year, she signed up with Tally , an app designed to help people tackle credit card debt.
She didn’t know what to expect, but it’s made a significant difference.
Keeping Multiple Credit Card Balances in Order
Like many people, Jensen carries more than one credit card. She has four — a Visa business card, a Discover card, a Home Depot card and a CareCredit card for medical expenses.
Managing multiple card balances can feel chaotic. Just when you get one under control, another starts to creep back up. High interest rates and occasional late charges can make it seem like those balances will never shrink.
That was Jensen’s reality. Each month she struggled to pay more than the minimums.
“It was hard to get ahead because I was always making ‘minimum-plus’ payments, so hardly anything was reducing the principal,” says Jensen, 46.
Tally helped shift that dynamic when she downloaded the free app and scanned her credit cards with her phone camera.
Here’s how Tally supports her:
- It consolidates her credit card payments in one dashboard.
- It employs bank-grade security to protect her financial data.
- It schedules payments to go out at least two days before due dates to avoid late fees.
- It targets the most costly debts first. The app prioritizes which cards to pay down based on balances and interest rates.
When possible, Jensen will add extra payments beyond the minimum. But she appreciates the reassurance that, at minimum, she won’t miss a payment — which prevents late fees.
“Besides saving money, my credit score has improved because I’m not missing payments,” Jensen says.
Tally also has an optional “Tally Advisor,” an automated debt coach. It examines your income and spending and suggests ways to pay down debt more quickly.
A Credit Line That’s Cheaper Than Typical Cards
Users with credit scores of about 660 or higher may qualify for a “Tally credit line” with rates ranging from 7.9% to 19.9% — typically lower than many credit cards. Jensen leverages that lower rate to make payoff more manageable.
Tally says roughly two-thirds of its customers use a Tally credit line, while the remaining third just use the app to organize and automate their credit card payments — whether that’s ensuring on-time payments or helping decide how much extra to pay.
Jensen uses her Tally line to chip away at balances faster than she could on her own.
In slightly more than a year, from August 2017 to November 2018, she reduced her credit card debt from $30,000 to $24,000.
“Once I saw it working, I was pleasantly surprised,” she says.
She still has progress to make to become debt-free. But it’s preferable to staying stuck at $30,000 indefinitely.
Tally Keeps Her Moving Forward
Divorce made things difficult, and her money situation is complex.
“I’m in grad school, and I have a daughter in college,” Jensen says. “She still lives at home, and she works full-time while going to school full-time. I’m studying part-time and working full-time. It’s a lot to juggle.”
Her daughter, a college freshman, is pursuing a business degree. Jensen is taking executive MBA classes.
It’s A LOT. Tally helps her stay on course.
“There’s a peace of mind I didn’t have before,” she says. “As a single mom, 46, restarting my life and not knowing what that looks like, this has really supported me.
“It’s given me the confidence that I can do this on my own. I can handle it by myself,” she says, her voice thick with feeling.
“And my daughter will be OK.”
If you want to try it yourself, download the iOS app, scan your credit cards, and if you qualify (typically with a minimum credit score around 675), Tally can extend a line of credit with rates between 7.9% and 19.9%* and use the lower rate to simplify your payments.
Tally is offered in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
*Your APR (which is your interest rate) will depend on your credit history and changes with the market based on the Prime Rate. Information accurate as of July 2018.
Mark Benson ([email protected]) is a senior writer at Savinly. He’s well acquainted with credit card debt.
