Marilyn Logan was marrying the man of her dreams. She had a beautiful wedding planned, the perfect dress and engraved invitations already sent out to a couple hundred people. Then her fiancé called the wedding off. Yes, he still loved Marilyn. Yes, he still wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. But after a look at her credit report, Mr. Wonderful told her, I cant afford to marry you. You have too much debt. Marilyn was floored. She quickly put together a plan to remedy her situation, and after some tears and pleading, the wedding went off as scheduled, but not before Marilyn learned a vital lesson: When you marry someone, its not just your lives that become one, its your credit reports too.
Fast-forward a couple of years, and now Marilyn is debt-free and the author of I Cant Afford to Marry You: A Guide to Understanding the True Cost of Love. Not only that, shes become The Money Lady, a financial self-help guru appearing on the Dr. Phil show and Les Browns Chicago Speaks Radio Show. You can see her today at 4 p.m. Smith Neighborhood Library, 3624 Scott Street. For information, call 832-393-2050 or visit www.houstonlibrary.org. Free.
Sat., July 26, 4 p.m., 2008
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.