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HandoutHandout 1: What to Bring / What to Have Handy
Handout 1: What to Bring / What to Have Handy
Managing Debt and Building Credit — Utah Community Learning
This class works best hands-on, so I need you to actually bring your stuff. Not just show up and listen to me talk. Nobody's grading you and no one's looking over your shoulder at your numbers... but you do need the numbers in front of you. Here's what to grab before week one.
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Budget Tier (free or nearly free — this is really the whole list)
- A notebook or a few sheets of paper. I still print things out. I know it's old fashioned but seeing it on paper instead of a screen changes how you read it, I promise.
- A pen that works. Sounds dumb, I know, but half the room is always digging through their bag for one.
- Your last 2-3 credit card or loan statements. Paper or printed from the app, whichever. We're going to actually read the fine print together in class.
- A free credit report. Go to annualcreditreport.com — that's the real one, the government-mandated free one, not one of the ones that tries to sell you a subscription. Pull at least one of the three bureaus before week one if you can.
- Your phone, mostly for the calculator, and because some of you will want to call and ask about a fee live in class. No worries at all if that's not you yet.
- A list of what you owe, even a rough one. Card, balance, interest rate if you know it. If you don't know the rate, that's fine, that's actually a thing we'll fix in class.
That's genuinely most of it. This class doesn't require you to spend money to learn how to stop losing it, that'd be a little ironic.
Nice-to-Have Tier (not required, but some people like these)
- A dedicated folder or accordion file for statements. I keep mine in a cheap plastic one from Costco, the kind meant for taxes. Doesn't need to be fancy.
- A budgeting app if you already use one — Mint's gone now but there are a handful of free ones. I'm not going to tell you which one to use, that's a personal preference thing, I use a spreadsheet because I'm apparently a person who enjoys spreadsheets.
- A second pen, a highlighter. For marking up the fine print. I feel like highlighting the APR line on your own statement does something psychologically that just reading it doesn't.
- A printed copy of one loan agreement — car loan, personal loan, whatever you've got — if you have one sitting somewhere. Not required, but if you want the "read the actual terms, not the payment" exercise to hit home, bring the real document.
Shopping / Getting-It-Together Notes
- The credit report pull is free, it should not cost you anything, if a site asks for a credit card number to "verify identity" for the free report, back out. That's not the real one.
- If you're printing at home and your printer's out of ink (mine always is), the library up the road will print for cheap, a few cents a page. Worth it just to have paper copies you can write on.
- Don't buy a notebook special for this if you've already got a half-used one from something else. Genuinely doesn't matter. I've taught this whole class out of the same battered spiral notebook for two years.
- If you've got statements buried in email, take ten minutes before class to just forward them to yourself somewhere findable, or print them. Digging for them live in class eats time we don't have a ton of.
No worries if you show up with less than this list. We'll figure it out together in the room. But the credit report — try to get that one done ahead of time if you can. That's the one thing I really want you to have already pulled when we sit down.
HandoutCheat Sheet: Debt & Credit, the Quick-Reference Version
Cheat Sheet: Debt & Credit, the Quick-Reference Version
Print this, stick it on the fridge, whatever. This is the stuff I'd want in front of me if I were sitting back at that kitchen table with three statements printed out. No worries if you don't remember all of it — that's what the handout's for.
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The Two Payoff Methods
Snowball (what I actually did, and usually recommend): List your debts smallest balance to largest. Pay minimums on everything, throw extra money at the smallest one. When it's gone, roll that payment into the next smallest. Repeat.
Avalanche (the "mathematically correct" one): Same idea but order by highest interest rate first instead of smallest balance. Saves you more money over time, genuinely.
I feel like people need to hear this: I tried avalanche first because the math said to, and I quit after two months because nothing felt like it was moving. Snowball got me actual momentum. Do the math both ways if you want, but pick the one you'll stick with. That's not a cop-out, that's the whole game.
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Reading a Statement Without Panicking
- APR — the real cost of carrying a balance. Not the monthly payment. The payment is marketing, the APR is the truth.
- Minimum payment — designed to keep you paying interest as long as possible. Not a conspiracy, just the design. Don't build your plan around it.
- Statement closing date vs. due date — two different dates, easy to mix up, worth knowing which is which.
- Read every line once a month. I still find stuff — had a $9.99 subscription sitting on my statement for two years for something I used twice. I'm not exempt from this advice, I just also forget it sometimes.
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Utilization (the "keep it under 30%" thing)
Rough rule of thumb: try to use less than about 30% of your available credit on any card, lower is better if you can manage it. This affects your score more than people expect.
Full disclosure, the exact math across multiple cards versus your total limit — I have to look that up every time, there's edge cases. The rule of thumb gets you 90% of the way there though.
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Disputing Something on Your Report
- Pull your report (there's free ways to do this, we'll cover it in class).
- Find the thing that's wrong. Errors happen more than people think — my sister had a $60 medical bill in collections that she'd never even received.
- Dispute it directly, in writing if you can, with whoever's reporting it.
- It can take a few weeks. Hers came off in about a month.
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The "Just Call and Ask" Rule
Fees, interest rates, payment plans — way more of this is negotiable than people believe. Worst answer you can get is "no," and that costs you nothing. My first win ever was a $40 fee, gone, because I called and asked, politely, while low-key shaking on the phone. They said yes in about ninety seconds.
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Autopay — Set It AND Put It on a Calendar
Autopay is good. Autopay alone is not foolproof — I set mine up, felt very responsible about it, and then it pulled from an account I'd already moved money out of. Overdrafted anyway. So: autopay, plus a reminder somewhere you'll actually see it.
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The One Thing I Want You to Remember
The score is a side effect. Build the habits — pay down debt, keep utilization low, don't miss payments, check your report — and the number takes care of itself. Chasing the number directly is how people end up opening cards they don't need.
No worries if this feels like a lot at once. That's what next week's session is for.
WorksheetHandout 3: Your Debt & Credit Action Sheet
Handout 3: Your Debt & Credit Action Sheet
This is the one I actually want you to keep — pin it on the fridge, stick it in a drawer, whatever. Fill it out as we go through class, not all at once. No worries if some boxes stay blank for now.
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Part 1: The Real Numbers
(Remember my $1,800 gap story. Write down what's actually true, not what you think is true.)
Account Balance Interest Rate (APR) Minimum Payment Total debt (add it up, all of it): ________________
How does that compare to the number you had in your head before today? ________________
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Part 2: Pick Your Payoff Order
List your accounts smallest balance to largest (snowball) OR highest interest to lowest (avalanche). I lean snowball — momentum kept me going when the math-optimal way didn't — but it's your call, you know yourself better than I do.
Order I'm choosing: ☐ Snowball (smallest balance first) ☐ Avalanche (highest rate first)
- ________________
- ________________
- ________________
- ________________
Extra amount I can put toward the first one this month: ________________
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Part 3: The "Call and Ask" List
Anything here you've never questioned — a fee, a rate, a due date that doesn't work with your paycheck. Worst answer is no. That costs you nothing.
- ________________
- ________________
- ________________
Script, if it helps: "Hi, I've been a customer for [x] years, I noticed a [fee/rate] on my account, is there anything you can do about that?" That's basically the whole thing. It took me like ninety seconds the first time and I was shaking on the phone for no reason.
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Part 4: The Subscription Check
Pull up last month's statement. Read every single line, once, slowly. I still find stuff I forgot about — there's a $9.99 charge on mine that sat there two years before I noticed. Don't skip this one just because it feels small.
Things I found that I don't need anymore: - ________________ - ________________
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Part 5: Autopay AND a Backup
Autopay is good. Autopay alone is not enough — mine pulled from an account I'd already drained and I overdrafted anyway, felt very responsible right up until I wasn't.
☐ Autopay is set up on: ________________ ☐ Calendar reminder set for the few days before, to double check the money's actually there
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Part 6: One Thing I'm Doing This Week
Not five things. One.
________________________________
That's the sheet. Bring it back next week, we'll check in on it — no grades, no judgment, just want to see where you landed.
HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems
Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems
So this is the "okay but what do I actually do when—" handout. Every class I've taught, these same eight or nine things come up. No worries at all if you're staring at one of these right now, that's the whole point of the list.
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Problem: "I started the snowball but I don't feel like anything's moving." Fix: check that you're paying more than minimum on your target card, not just spread thin across all of them. The snowball only works if one card is actually getting hit hard while the rest get minimums. If you're sprinkling extra money evenly across everything, it feels like nothing's happening because, well, nothing much is.
Problem: "My score dropped a few points and I panicked." Fix: normal fluctuation, usually. A new inquiry, a utilization change, a card closing... all of it moves the number a little. Don't check daily. I'd say monthly at most. Chasing the number day to day will make you a little bit insane, I feel like, and it doesn't help.
Problem: "I got hit with a late fee and I'm mad about it." Fix: call and ask if they'll remove it, especially if you've paid on time before. My first real win in this whole thing was a $40 fee, gone, in about ninety seconds, just from asking politely. Worst case they say no. That costs you nothing.
Problem: "There's a charge on my report I don't recognize." Fix: dispute it before you assume the worst. My sister thought her credit was "ruined" over a $60 medical bill that turned out to be a collections error entirely. It came off within a month once we disputed it. Don't just accept a mystery charge as truth.
Problem: "I set up autopay so I stopped thinking about it." Fix: keep a calendar reminder anyway. I got overconfident with this exact thing... set up autopay, felt very responsible, and then it pulled from an account I'd already moved money out of. Overdrafted anyway. Autopay is good. Autopay alone is a trap.
Problem: "I don't know what my utilization actually is." Fix: rough rule, keep it under 30% of your limit, lower if you can. Full disclosure, the exact math across multiple cards versus your total available credit gets fiddly and I look up the edge cases every time myself. The rough rule gets you 90% of the way there.
Problem: "I closed a card to simplify things and my score dropped." Fix: closing old cards can shrink your total available credit and shorten your account history, both of which the score cares about. Doesn't mean never close a card, just know that's usually why the number moves after.
Problem: "I read the monthly payment and it seemed fine." Fix: read the actual terms, not just that number. The payment is the marketing. The APR and total cost is the truth of it. I hiked Timp with a friend once who'd never actually read his loan, just knew the payment. We read it together in the parking lot after. Turned out the rate was fine, he'd just never checked.
Problem: "I lent my card to a family member and it got weird." Fix: don't, honestly. I did this with my brother, "just for the flight," and it took four months and one genuinely awkward conversation to get squared up. Cards and family... I'd keep those separate now. Learned that one the hard way.
Problem: "I found a subscription I forgot I was paying for." Fix: read every line on your statement once a month. I'm not exempt from this, I found a $9.99 charge on my own card I'd paid for two years for something I used twice. Still catch myself doing it. It's a habit, not a one-time fix.
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If your specific problem isn't up here, ask in class. Somebody else probably has the same one and just hasn't said it out loud yet.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —okay but that's the part I don't think people expect, that it was $1,800 off, not like fifty bucks.
DEVIN: Right, and it wasn't even that I was bad at math. I just... I didn't want to look at it. So I hadn't added it up in months. I printed all three statements out at my kitchen table because I literally could not stand seeing it on my phone screen, it felt too small for how big the problem was.
JESS: This is Devin Call, by the way, if you're just joining us. He teaches Managing Debt and Building Credit for Utah Community Learning, and I'm Jess, I run the podcast side of things for all our classes. We're doing a little recap after each session so if you missed it, or you just want the highlights again, you've got this.
DEVIN: No worries at all if you missed it, that's what this is for.
JESS: So walk people through it. Kitchen table, three statements.
DEVIN: Yeah so I was 27, three cards, I'd told myself I owed something like nine grand. Sat down, did the actual math, it was closer to eleven. That gap between what I thought and what was real, that's the whole reason I do this now. Not because I'm some finance guy, I want to be clear about that every episode probably. I just got tired of being scared of my own numbers.
JESS: You said in class tonight that fear is kind of the enemy more than the debt itself.
DEVIN: I feel like... yeah. I mean the debt's real, the debt's a problem, I'm not gonna pretend it isn't. But so much of what people bring into that first conversation with themselves is dread, and dread makes you avoid the mail, avoid the app, avoid the whole thing. And avoiding it is what let my gap get to eighteen hundred bucks in the first place.
JESS: Okay, give me the one thing. Somebody's driving home right now, didn't take the class, what do they do tonight.
DEVIN: Pull up every statement you've got open right now and just read every line. Not the total, the lines. I found a $9.99 subscription on mine a while back I'd been paying for two years for something I used twice. Two years! I'm not proud of that, I tell people that story specifically because I still do dumb stuff like that.
JESS: That's a good one to end on honestly.
DEVIN: I mean it's not glamorous, it's not a hack, it's just — read the lines once a month. Takes ten minutes.
JESS: Alright, so, next session. What are we doing.
DEVIN: So next week is the report itself, we're pulling actual credit reports up on people's laptops, in class, together. Which, fair warning, can hit different than you expect. I had someone start crying last time we did this, not because hers was bad, just because nobody had ever sat with her and shown her how to read it.
JESS: That's a big thing to warn people about.
DEVIN: I want people to know it's normal if it's emotional. It's your whole financial history kind of staring back at you. So bring your laptop, or your phone's fine too, and we'll go through it line by line same as the statements. No worries at all if you've never looked at it before, that's most of the room honestly.
JESS: Perfect. Okay, that's episode one, we'll be back after next week's session.
DEVIN: Sounds good. Read your statements, everybody.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —okay but did she actually cry, though, or is that a figure of speech?
DEVIN: No, she actually cried. Genuinely wasn't ready for it. I thought we were just gonna pull up her report and look at it together, like, ten minute thing.
JESS: This is a neighbor?
DEVIN: Yeah. Sweet lady, lives a couple houses down. She'd mentioned she'd never actually seen her own credit report, not once, and I said, oh, that's easy, let's just do it right now on my laptop. And we pull it up and she just... starts crying. And I panicked a little because I thought it was bad news.
JESS: But it wasn't?
DEVIN: It wasn't bad at all. Totally fine report. She was crying because nobody had ever sat with her and shown her how to read it. Like, ever. In her whole life. She said she'd get letters about it and just feel this dread and shove them in a drawer.
JESS: Oh, that's...
DEVIN: Yeah. I wasn't ready for that, I'll be honest. I thought this class was gonna be about numbers and it kind of is, but it's also just... a lot of people carry shame around this stuff that has nothing to do with the actual math. I tell the class that now, on day one. I say, this might hit you harder than you expect, and no worries at all if it does. That's normal. That's most people.
JESS: So is that basically what tonight was?
DEVIN: That's the spirit of it, yeah. Tonight was pulling reports, walking through what's actually on there, what's a real problem versus what's just... a line item that looks scary but isn't. We had a couple people in the room go quiet on me and I just circled back to them later, gently, when they were ready.
JESS: I love that you do that.
DEVIN: I mean, I remember what it's like to not want to look. I did the printed-statements-at-the-kitchen-table thing, we talked about that last time.
JESS: Right, the eighteen hundred dollar gap.
DEVIN: That gap. Yeah. So I get it.
JESS: Okay, give the podcast people something they can actually use tonight. Something outside the class.
DEVIN: Sure — okay, here's one. Call whoever you owe money to and just ask. That's it. Ask if there's a fee they can waive, ask if the rate's negotiable, ask if there's a payment plan. I got a forty dollar fee removed one time just by calling and asking nicely, and I was shaking on the phone, which is embarrassing to admit, but they said yes in like ninety seconds.
JESS: Ninety seconds.
DEVIN: Ninety seconds. And the worst thing that happens if you ask is they say no, and then you're exactly where you started. Costs you nothing. People think it's not negotiable and a lot of it is, way more than folks believe.
JESS: See, I like that one because it doesn't require, like, a spreadsheet.
DEVIN: No spreadsheet required. Just a phone call and being willing to feel a little awkward for two minutes.
JESS: Okay, so next session — what are we building toward?
DEVIN: Next time we're doing the debt part properly. Snowball versus avalanche, we'll do the actual math both ways so people can see it, and then I'll tell them which one I use and why, even though I know the math argument against me.
JESS: Tease it a little.
DEVIN: I'll just say... the mathematically smarter method and I broke up after two months, and it wasn't the math's fault.
JESS: Oh, that's a good one, we're saving that.
DEVIN: Save it. And bring a statement if you've got debt sitting somewhere, we're gonna actually use it in the room, not just talk in the abstract.
JESS: Perfect. Alright, that's episode two, we'll see you at the next session, and Devin—
DEVIN: Yeah?
JESS: Bring tissues, apparently.
DEVIN: [laughs] No worries at all if you need 'em.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —wait, say the number again, because I don't think I heard it right.
DEVIN: Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. For two years. That's like, do the math, that's almost two hundred and forty bucks for something I used twice.
JESS: What was it even for?
DEVIN: Some photo storage thing. I signed up for a free trial to back up pictures from a trip and then just... never looked at my statement close enough to notice it renewed. Every single month. Ninety-nine, nine ninety-nine, right there next to my phone bill.
JESS: Okay but this is Devin, the guy who teaches the debt class, telling us he got got by a subscription.
DEVIN: I know. I know. I tell people to read every line of their statement once a month and I'm the cautionary tale for why the habit matters. I'm not gonna pretend I'm above it. I still catch myself doing this stuff.
JESS: I kind of love that though. Makes it less "guru on a stage" and more...
DEVIN: Yeah, no, I'm not a guru, I keep saying that. I just got obsessed with the mechanics of it because I was scared of my own statements for a while and figuring out how it worked made the fear go away. That's it. That's the whole qualification.
JESS: So for people listening who aren't in the room with their statements pulled up right now — what's one thing they could actually do today, this week, no class required?
DEVIN: Call and ask. Whatever the fee is, whatever the rate is. I got a forty dollar fee refunded years ago just by calling and asking, real politely, if they'd take it off. I was shaking a little on the phone, not gonna lie, felt like I was asking for something I wasn't allowed to have.
JESS: And?
DEVIN: They said yes in like ninety seconds. And I remember hanging up and feeling kind of dumb, like, why didn't I do that two years ago. The worst thing they say is no, and a no costs you nothing. That's the whole tip. More stuff is negotiable than people think — late fees, sometimes rates, definately payment plans if you're struggling. You just have to ask a human.
JESS: I feel like people assume the answer's already no before they even pick up the phone.
DEVIN: Totally, and I get why, the whole system's built to feel like a locked door. But there's a person on the other end whose job is partly to say yes sometimes. Worth the ninety seconds of being uncomfortable.
JESS: Okay, that's the practical one people can use tonight. What about class — where'd we land this week?
DEVIN: We pulled reports. Actual reports, on people's actual laptops, which — I always forget how that lands for folks until it's happening in the room.
JESS: What do you mean?
DEVIN: I had a neighbor once, this was before the class even existed, I helped her pull hers and she just... started crying. Not because it was bad, it wasn't even bad. Just because nobody had ever sat down and shown her how to actually look at it. She'd been avoiding it for years out of this vague dread and then we're looking at it together and it's just numbers on a screen. I wasn't ready for that reaction, honestly. Didn't see it coming.
JESS: Did that happen again this week?
DEVIN: Not crying, no worries at all, nobody cried. But I saw a couple people get real quiet staring at their screens and I just... I let it sit for a second before I said anything. I think the report can hit different than people expect, even when it's fine. Even when there's nothing wrong on it. It's just the first time some folks have looked straight at it instead of around it.
JESS: That's kind of the whole point of the class though, right? Looking straight at it.
DEVIN: That's the whole point. The score's a side effect. Once you can actually see the thing, it stops running the show in your head.
JESS: Okay, so next session — give people a reason to show up.
DEVIN: Next week we're doing the snowball versus avalanche thing, paying off debt smallest-balance-first versus highest-interest-first. I'll show you the math on both, and I'll tell you which one I actually did and why I quit the "smart" one after two months.
JESS: You quit the smart one?
DEVIN: I did. We'll get into it. Bring a debt if you've got one, we're gonna do the math live.
JESS: Alright. Read your statements, everybody. Call and ask about that fee.
DEVIN: And no worries at all if you find your own nine ninety-nine. Happens to the best of us. Well — happens to me anyway.
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