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CNN Live Today

To Debt and Back

Aired September 24, 2003 - 10:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our next story is about making a mess and getting out of it. Karyn Bosnak racked up $20,000 in credit card debt and couldn't pay her bills, so she started a Web site called savekaren.com, to raise the money by appealing to strangers. It might sound kind of crazy, but amazingly, thousands of people contributed, and now over a year later, Karen is out of debt, and she's written a book to help other shopping souls who found themselves in trouble. She joins us live from New York to tell us about her path to shopper to saver.
Karyn, good morning.

KARYN BOSNAK, CONVERTED SHOPAHOLIC: Good morning.

KAGAN: How goes it? are you really not in the red. You are now in the black.

BOSNAK: Yes, in the black. And still broke, but just don't owe any money.

KAGAN: Still kind of ahead of the game there. And perfect strangers, you paid off all this money off just with other people's money?

BOSNAK: Yes, absolutely.

KAGAN: Now a lot of people at the time when this first came out, some people thought, oh, how creative, how innovative, and other people thought, this girl made her own mess, why is she asking people for help?

BOSNAK: You know, I guess it was my own kind of creative way to get out of debt. I did definitely make my mess, but it was kind of, like, I could sit back and not pay my bills and be forced to declare bankruptcy, or I could kind of be proactive and come up with a creative way it get out of debt, so.

KAGAN: So it was creative because you were one of the first people to think of it. Now you are trying to help your fellow debtors. It's not going to work for everybody. We can't have 20,000 Web sites, you know, save bill.com., savesam.com.

BOSNAK: Right, there's a lot out there, and they're actually not quite as successful as mine, but yes.

KAGAN: But on your Web site, now when you go on to savekaren.com, you have some advice for some folks. Just real quickly look at some other tips that you give, fatten up your bank account.

BOSNAK: yes.

KAGAN: Debt consolidation.

BOSNAK: yes.

KAGAN: Direct savings account, taking money right out of your paycheck, and if you're swimming in student loans, there are places you can go for help there.

But I'm wondering, Karen, in the bigger picture of all this, what's the lesson that you learned?

BOSNAK: I guess the lesson that I learned is don't -- I was always really confident with my job. I never faced a bad economy, and I'd always assumed that I'd have a great job and make good money, and I'd be able to pay this debt off, which is why I ran it up, but that's kind of not always the case. So you need to plan for the future. The future is kind of uncertain, and I went through a period where I lost my job and I got a job making not that much money. So you have to get plan for the future, I guess that's the biggest lesson.

KAGAN: And when you get in trouble and turn it around, make it a book and movie deal? Is that the other lesson you learned?

BOSNAK: That's the other one. Yes, absolutely. Just get creative, don't think it's the end of the world, just get creative, add up your debt, which is the biggest thing I think lot of what people don't do. I didn't realize my debt was as high as it was until I got out a calculator. I think it's something that people put off, though. You know, just have the courage to get the calculator out, add it up, put it in big letters on your wall and look at it every day.

KAGAN: Pushing that total, equal sign can...

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Well, congratulations on digging yourself out, and good luck with the book, and thanks for helping some people who are still in that kind of tough spot. Appreciate it.

BOSNAK: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 24, 2003 - 10:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our next story is about making a mess and getting out of it. Karyn Bosnak racked up $20,000 in credit card debt and couldn't pay her bills, so she started a Web site called savekaren.com, to raise the money by appealing to strangers. It might sound kind of crazy, but amazingly, thousands of people contributed, and now over a year later, Karen is out of debt, and she's written a book to help other shopping souls who found themselves in trouble. She joins us live from New York to tell us about her path to shopper to saver.
Karyn, good morning.

KARYN BOSNAK, CONVERTED SHOPAHOLIC: Good morning.

KAGAN: How goes it? are you really not in the red. You are now in the black.

BOSNAK: Yes, in the black. And still broke, but just don't owe any money.

KAGAN: Still kind of ahead of the game there. And perfect strangers, you paid off all this money off just with other people's money?

BOSNAK: Yes, absolutely.

KAGAN: Now a lot of people at the time when this first came out, some people thought, oh, how creative, how innovative, and other people thought, this girl made her own mess, why is she asking people for help?

BOSNAK: You know, I guess it was my own kind of creative way to get out of debt. I did definitely make my mess, but it was kind of, like, I could sit back and not pay my bills and be forced to declare bankruptcy, or I could kind of be proactive and come up with a creative way it get out of debt, so.

KAGAN: So it was creative because you were one of the first people to think of it. Now you are trying to help your fellow debtors. It's not going to work for everybody. We can't have 20,000 Web sites, you know, save bill.com., savesam.com.

BOSNAK: Right, there's a lot out there, and they're actually not quite as successful as mine, but yes.

KAGAN: But on your Web site, now when you go on to savekaren.com, you have some advice for some folks. Just real quickly look at some other tips that you give, fatten up your bank account.

BOSNAK: yes.

KAGAN: Debt consolidation.

BOSNAK: yes.

KAGAN: Direct savings account, taking money right out of your paycheck, and if you're swimming in student loans, there are places you can go for help there.

But I'm wondering, Karen, in the bigger picture of all this, what's the lesson that you learned?

BOSNAK: I guess the lesson that I learned is don't -- I was always really confident with my job. I never faced a bad economy, and I'd always assumed that I'd have a great job and make good money, and I'd be able to pay this debt off, which is why I ran it up, but that's kind of not always the case. So you need to plan for the future. The future is kind of uncertain, and I went through a period where I lost my job and I got a job making not that much money. So you have to get plan for the future, I guess that's the biggest lesson.

KAGAN: And when you get in trouble and turn it around, make it a book and movie deal? Is that the other lesson you learned?

BOSNAK: That's the other one. Yes, absolutely. Just get creative, don't think it's the end of the world, just get creative, add up your debt, which is the biggest thing I think lot of what people don't do. I didn't realize my debt was as high as it was until I got out a calculator. I think it's something that people put off, though. You know, just have the courage to get the calculator out, add it up, put it in big letters on your wall and look at it every day.

KAGAN: Pushing that total, equal sign can...

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Well, congratulations on digging yourself out, and good luck with the book, and thanks for helping some people who are still in that kind of tough spot. Appreciate it.

BOSNAK: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com