Woman shares 3 things she wish someone told her before paying off her credit card debt

Embracing financial responsibility brings a plethora of benefits while growing up. From reducing stress to enabling long-term goals, prudent money management fosters stability and security, especially for adults. Fallon Moran, a business strategist—who goes by @fallonmoran on TikTok—paid off a significant debt of $25,547 in 2023 and discussed three lessons she wished she knew before paying off her debt. Her video has become quite popular on the platform, garnering over 914K views, 28.5K likes and 332 comments.

Moran begins the video by saying, "Here are the three lessons I wish I knew before I paid $25,547 of credit card debt in 2023 and I want to share them with you, so you know going into your debt payoff journey." She mentions that the language individuals use about their money has a massive impact on their financial situation. She provides an example by sharing, "Before 2023, I would say something like, 'I used to be so good with money, I don't know what happened.'" In making such statements, she reveals how she is sending a message to her brain that she used to be good with money, but that is not the case anymore.

Her second tip is for people who are trying to spread out their debt. The business strategist states that this technique is beneficial but that sometimes people can spread themselves too thin. She utilizes the example of 0% balance offers as an example. Moran highlights how transferring debt across different cards may seem like an excellent workaround because people do not have to pay interest. However, if they do not eventually pay off their debt on other cards, they will still end up with a lot of debt over time. She explains, "The idea is to pay off the 0% card as quick as you can so that you can take another 0% offer and get the balance off of the high-interest credit card."

Moran's final point is more philosophical as she clarifies, "And finally, the last point is that even though you're in so much less credit card debt than you were before, that doesn't mean that it's going to make you happier." According to her, people have a misconception that an increase in net worth or a decrease in debt means that their life would change quickly, but that is simply not true. She states, "You are responsible for your happiness and you are responsible for taking the action and doing the things that are going to make you happy."

She insists that when people start engaging in such meaningful actions, it will ultimately make them happy. "The money at the end is not gonna be the thing that makes you happier," she says. People found her video insightful and shared their thoughts in the comment section. @sakiahamere7 said, "I'm on the road to paying off my credit card debt now and it's been a journey." @drewtawiahesq shared, "This is so good! I'm 1 month away from being credit card debt free and loved hearing how you said it doesn't necessarily make you happier."

You can follow Fallon Moran (@fallonmoran) on TikTok for interesting tips for running an online business.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 18, 2024. It has since been updated.