In this YouTube reaction, host Denzel Rodriguez introduces Amber, a full‑time working mom of four who is documenting her effort to pay off $72,700 in credit‑card debt using daily self‑funded micropayments tied to TikTok engagement metrics and occasional community contributions. Amber breaks down her daily payment calculation (new followers, likes, comments, shares, saves) and shows a $113.46 payment that reduced her Capital One balance from $2,033.93 to $1,920.47, bringing her total debt down to $52,207.33. The conversation then shifts to broader themes: the psychology of asking for help, the mechanics of splitting credit‑card payments into multiple smaller installments to lower interest and improve credit‑score reporting, and the role of platforms like Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, GoFundMe, Zelle, and Cash App in receiving unsolicited support. Denzel shares his own experience of earning over $100k via Patreon and highlights how community contributions can become a quasi‑subscription model that fuels debt‑free journeys. The participants also exchange light‑hearted banter about phone ecosystems, but the core focus remains on practical, data‑driven strategies for accelerating debt repayment through micro‑level financial behavior and community‑driven funding.
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So let's check out our next. This is Amber.Accountability. I love that word, accountability. Let's listen to what she's got.
90% of our first card. Make a micropayment with me. If you're new here, my name's Amber and I'm a full-time working mom to 4 boys. I'm on a journey this year to try and pay off over $72,700 worth of credit card debt. And every day I make a self-funded micropayment using the engagement of a previous day's video. And after our payment today, our first card, which was almost at $20,000 when we started, will be 90% paid off. So let's get into the numbers. First and foremost, yesterday we gained 2,873 new friends. Hi, welcome, thank you so much for being here. I'm really excited to continue to share my journey with you. And at a quarter of a penny per new friend, that is going to add $7.18 to our micropayment today. Next, our post yesterday had engagements totaling 6,612 in the form of 4,519 likes, 691 comments, 923 shares, and 479 saves. And at an 8th of a penny per engagement, that is going to add $8.27 to our micropayment, bringing our total self-funded micropayment to $15.45. But y'all said that wasn't enough. And through the generosity of friends here on TikTok, we did receive contributions totaling $98.01. These contributions are never expected. They are very greatly appreciated. Your watching and engaging will always be more than enough, but thank you so much. Taking into consideration our contribution and our self-funded micropayment, our total payment today is going to be $113.46. We're paying off our Capital One credit card first. At the beginning of the day, our balance was $2,033.93, and after our payment today, our new balance is $1,920.47. If I'm being completely honest with you guys, when I started this journey, it was a dream and goal and to really just get this one card paid off this year. The fact that this card is almost paid off and it's only been 3 months is Mind-boggling to me still to this day. Anyhow, our overall credit card debt is now down to $52,207.33. And because we're making an aggressive goal this month, we do have a goal to have the Capital One credit card paid off by the end of April. And over the next 29 days, that's going to break down to $66.22 per day in self-funded micropayments. Now, every day I do ask an engagement question to boost the comment section on this video and drive it out a little bit further, to learn a little bit more about you and to learn a little bit more about me. And I'm kind of curious because I saw this as a comment on my video yesterday, but how many of you are using an Apple phone? How many of you are using a Samsung? And how many are using other? And what even is other? I feel like it's really just two major phone companies out there anymore. I personally have an iPhone. My husband has a Samsung, and let me tell you, those green text messages are really annoying. I like the blue ones. I'm just kidding. I'm actually really thankful that they've changed it over, so now there's red receipts and bubbles regardless of if it's iPhone or Samsung. So I know that he's got my message and if he's responding because I'm nosy. Anyhow, I hope you're having an amazing day. And I can't wait to share more with you tomorrow. We've paid off.
Wow.
Can you feel the emotion on?
Yeah, man. Lots to unpack. First, starting with I have a Samsung, and I've never understood the hate. Never understood the hate. I don't care about your bubbles.
Yeah, it's it's a weird. So I used to be Samsung in high school. And like I got bullied. I really did by all the girls. All the girls bullied me, and then it wasn't, and I was like, I don't care how you feel. And then it wasn't until I met my now wife when we first started dating. She made it known, like she felt disrespected every time I. I'm like, what is this? So I was like, hey, I really like you. So if I gotta hop over to iPhone.
That's so funny.
Let's, let's, let's make it happen. And ever since then, I converted. So I'm like, I used to not understand it. Now that I have iPhone, I see the green come in. I'm like, ah, they don't understand. They don't get it yet.
Yeah. I mean, now it does have that, like the bubbles. I see my— everybody in my life has an iPhone and I'm the only one with the Samsung, but it all—
Because you're holding it.
Now.
So whatever.
You're holding, you're holding it.
I, I love the idea of micropayments. When I was paying off my debt, I did Transfer Tuesday. I don't know if you remember that. And that started from like one of my YouTube friends at, at the time we weren't friends. Now we're friends, but she started it and making more frequent payments helps speed up the process. You save on interest, all the things. It feels good mentally. Um, What she's doing is like making these own rules. So her likes and comments equals— what did she say— like an 8th of a penny. So she's just funding— she's not making money from TikTok necessarily, it's just using her income and making these rules, and then that's how she's making the payments and then getting direct support. Which, yeah, it's pretty— I had a lot of support too from my audience when, when I was paying off my debt, which is so nice and generous. People still will send me money randomly because like, oh, we love your videos, or, you know, whatever it may be. And it's like, that is so cool. I appreciate it. I don't need it whatsoever. Um, like, watching is enough, liking is enough. But yeah, people are so nice.
So yeah, so I, I didn't, I didn't comprehend it the way you just explained it. When she was saying it, I was like, oh, maybe she's like kind of calculating her potential Revenue on TikTok and then saying like, okay, when that comes in, I'll make this payment. But yours made more sense because I'm like, yeah, how are you even calculating CPM to like figure that out? That's probably way, way too much math.
Yeah.
But what you said sounds like that makes way more sense. And the most underrated thing that people can do when they're in debt is ask for help. And this woman, like, this is like a mama bear, like, right here. I don't know, I, I was getting mom, like, care vibes. And like, she's not in it to like be an influencer. She's like, here's my situation. $52,000 of credit card debt is not something that happens overnight.
Mm-hmm.
For sure. Yeah. So I know that she has a story with that. She's 91 days into knocking off credit card debt. And then I saw at the beginning it started at $72,000. So now she's at like $52,000.
Yeah.
That's insane. I love the micropayment idea. And just to take it a step further for you guys watching, one thing I do with my clients when they have a credit card balance. Let's just say you owe $10K, and let's say your monthly minimum payment is $250, right? And I tell them, if possible, depending on how your paychecks are set up, if you can divide this into 3 and basically make 3 individual payments. And I tell them, So you have obviously the due date. So you would you would start after you make one payment. So it's April first, right? As we're recording this video, it's April Fool's Day, so we don't have any pranks for you guys. But so April first, let's say that's the due date of this credit card. So you're gonna pay your two fifty. Then what I tell my client is okay, fifteen days later, fifteen days. After the due date, make a payment, a third of $250. Then 3 days before, make another payment. And I tell them, when you do this, you're not only improving your credit score, your credit behavior is going to improve quite a bit because the credit bureaus track this as you making multiple payments. So you are a more reliable borrower for future credit. So not only that, but your 2 payments that you make before the due date, 100% of that is principal to the balance. So by the time you get to the due date, The interest you would have paid if you waited to make the $250 payment would have been higher than if you made smaller payments, these micropayments to your, to your credit card. And then hopefully by the due date of that card, say May 1st, not only will you make that third payment But if you had extra cash flow, that's where you pile on that extra money. And what's cool is that extra cash flow, 100% of that will be principal because technically you've already satisfied the majority of your credit card payment.
Mm-hmm.
So that's just a little quick gem there that, that I've literally seen people pay off their debt even faster without necessarily putting more money in. It's like this sort of like the person who pays their mortgage monthly or the person who breaks it up into bi-monthly payments. You're technically making—
Yeah.
You're technically making 13 payments, 13 mortgage payments in a year than 12. So you Obviously pay your house off like 4 years sooner if that's all you did, right? You could obviously do more, but kind of the same method. But with credit cards, because the interest rates are so high that you literally can like clip it throughout the month and dramatically reduce that. So good stuff there. And yeah, to your point, you had people— so going to the point about the Having people help you. I don't know why more people don't ask for help, because there's literally, I would argue, hundreds of millions of people on this planet that want to give to something. And if they feel emotionally invested in your journey and your success and they want to participate in that, say, here's $50, here's $5, have a way of receiving that. The easier you make it, whether it's Buy Me a Coffee— I think that's what you used, um, that, that app. There's obviously GoFundMe. There's so many platforms. There's obviously— there's just like Zelle, Cash App, where you just get 100% of that money directly to you.
Yeah.
I did that. I used Patreon when I first started. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but I started Patreon in 2018. From August of 2018 to December of 2019, I specifically remember receiving over $100,000+ of people just sending money my way.
Wow.
And in increments of $10 a month, $50 a month, and $150. A month. And then some people would do like lump sums.
Like, I'm—
someone sent me a check in the mail for like $2,000. It was a mom.
Wow.
Uh, someone sent me a check in the mail for $1,000. I received the check in the mail for $500, for $300. And then on Patreon, there's an option for the customer to send whatever they want to you as like a one-time option. And obviously Patreon takes their cut or whatever. But at the time, it was money I wasn't expecting. Like, I'm building a business, trying to give value, so make money by earning my money. And then on top of that, someone's like, hey, love the work you're doing. I want to see you win. If I can help you get out of debt, you're going to show up more powerfully for others. And the skills that you have, the things that you know how to do, You're gonna be able to do it more confidently from a place of debt freedom. So that's huge. That's huge. Anything you want to add to your experience? Just like receiving help from folks and like I'm pretty much still to this day, I still have people sending me money. Like they treat it like a Netflix subscription. They're like, I'm never giving this up.
Yeah, I do too, which is very nice. I know that before it was, yeah, I think people wanted to be a part of it. I would give shoutouts to like, oh—
Yes. Whoever.
Yeah. And people appreciate that. They want to hear their name and everything. And I get it. Yeah. So I received a lot of support throughout my debt-free journey. And anything that I did receive, I put toward my debt, of course. And then same with, or toward my savings goal, depending on what I was doing. Right now, if I receive direct support, uh, I put it toward my business savings because I do like my giveaway each year or twice a year, the $1,000 giveaway. So it kind of has become a community thing now. So it's not just my $2,000 each year, it's from a lot of support too. So it means a lot because that like helps me out and it's kind of cool.
