Jacqueline: Building Financial Security After Bankruptcy

Jacqueline—a mother of two in Hartford, Connecticut—works for the assistant principal of a local school. Her job used to be more administrative, but since the pandemic turned the world upside down a year ago, it’s much more chaotic. 

As schools were closing and everyone started adjusting to the new distanced reality, Jacqueline herself began exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. 

“It was tough,” she said. Although she had many of the symptoms of the virus, she didn’t seek treatment. At the time, it just seemed too risky. “I didn’t go to the doctor because I was worried if I didn’t already have it, I would get it from going to the hospital.” 

Jacqueline didn’t have any sick time to use, and so she wasn’t paid for the time she had to take off to recover.

“I fell behind on bills,” she said. 

The financial setback was even more difficult because of Jacqueline’s financial situation. After being laid off in 2013, she fell behind on her mortgage payments and declared bankruptcy. 

It was after this emergency, that she developed an interest in learning how to be smarter about her financial life. She turned to a local United Way where she learned about SaverLife. 

“I visit [SaverLife} every day! So far, I’ve won $25,” she said. “That’s $25 I can keep [in savings] and let it grow.” 

Jacqueline enjoys SaverLife’s financial articles, especially the information SaverLife provides about taxes. Since joining, she’s done several challenges to save $100-200 and built a small savings fund. She plans to continue building on this savings foundation until she has a sizable emergency fund. 

“For me, it’s important to have an emergency account to cover what needs to be done,” she explained, noting that just the week before, she had to hire a plumber to make some repairs. She paid the $200 bill with money from her emergency fund. 

“I want to have the savings to be able to cover those emergencies,” she said.