Melissa Megason lives in South Portland, Maine, where she's worked as a medical assistant for most of her career.

We lived paycheck to paycheck, as many middle class people do here in Maine, but we were able to manage it.

For a long time, Melissa and her then-husband felt like they had a pretty good handle on their

finances.

We would use credit cards if we needed to for emergencies, especially with four dogs,

come time to go for their annual physicals and shots and all that stuff.

That would be the type of stuff we would put on there.

We never took vacations.

Actually, we shared a vehicle for the longest time.

But then, Melissa's life took a turn.

And she found herself pulling out her credit cards more and more often.

The debt started piling up.

At its peak, what was the number that you were looking at in terms of what you owed to credit card companies?

The peak would have been just a little over 20,000 for me.

Melissa makes about $65,000 a year.

So her credit card debt was almost a third of her income.

And how did you feel or what were you thinking when you saw that amount,

when it really sort of dawned on you?

I was shocked because you don't realize it.

But then you start thinking about it.

A lot of it is late fees, over-limit fees, late fees, over-limit fees,

every month that you don't pay.

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