Paying Off $83K of Debt in 18 Months!

When Prentice and Dionne Motley married in 2004, they both had good jobs. They also had $30K in student loans and credit card debt. But that didn’t stop them from spending more on wants than needs.

Prentice said, “A lot of the discretionary income that we would have, we would spend it on material things and we weren't looking at the big picture."

Before long the Motley’s were living paycheck to paycheck.

Dionne said, “It was definitely frustrating. You find yourself in a bind and you're looking for a solution to get out of it as quickly as possible.”

Their solution was to use payday loans to get by, but as the interest piled up, they found their financial situation started to snowball. By 2006 between a mortgage, two car payments, student loans, and credit cards, their debt had grown to $250K.

“I'd say, off-and-on, for a period of a year, we were using payday loans,” said Prentice. “And if you're familiar with payday loans, the interest rates are just astronomical. We were in over our heads.”

"We realized that, ‘Okay, this isn't working (slight laugh) for us,’” said Dionne. “This cannot be what God intended for us to do; so how do we fix this?"

Overwhelmed by their debt they finally went to God.

Prentice said, “We were in prayer. We fasted for God to give us direction as far as becoming debt-free.”

It was then they realized that tithing had fallen down the list of priorities. And that became the first item of business.

Dionne said, “So when we were able to take it back to the basics of ‘Okay, let's give God our first fruits, then where do we go from there? What is He directing us to do from there?’"

With tithing now a priority, the Motley’s wrote out a five-year-plan to get out of debt. They got control of their finances and Prentice picked up as much overtime as he could.

That’s when they noticed some blessings. Dionne got a pay raise and Prentice received two bonuses. All told, they made nearly $30K.

“It was clear that God's favor was upon our lives," said Prentice. “It was evident that we were moving in the right direction and that God blessed us.”

And they say those blessings continued to pour in. And instead of taking five years, the Motleys were debt free in only 18 months. During that time, the couple decided to take what God had taught them by creating Motley Financial Solutions, teaching millennials the biblical principals of stewardship and tithing.

Dionne said, “My heart's desire really became to show people how to avoid the mistakes that we made, but then also give them life practical ways of managing their finances, being responsible and becoming better stewards.”

Today the Motley’s are still debt-free and give God all the glory.

I know that we're favored. I know it," said Prentice. “I don't doubt for one second. And so I am just ecstatic of all the blessings that God has done.”

Dionne said, “It's all about obedience and you doing what God asks of you to do, which is to give 10%. And so what that really means is out of your obedience give me 10% and I’m going to show you how I’m going to match and add to it, but not only that, I’m going to give you overflow. How can you say no?"