DOVER, Del.–The story of a woman who used AI to help her start paying down a credit card debt of more than $20,000 has gone viral.
Jennifer Allan, 35, a Realtor and content creator living in Delaware, told Newsweek she has “struggled with money my whole adult life. Not because I don’t make enough, but because I was never taught financial literacy. I avoided budgeting and I figured if I just kept working harder, I could out-earn the problem. That worked… until it didn’t.”
Allan told Newsweek her financial life “unraveled” after her daughter was born, and it involved time for the baby in the NICU along with her own general postpartum recovery.
‘I Shut Down’
“I shut down emotionally, and I used credit cards to keep our life afloat. We weren’t living lavishly. We were just surviving. But the debt piled up while I wasn’t looking,” Allan told Newsweek.
“Eventually, Allan knew she had to make a change—and she used AI to give her the ‘momentum’ she needed,” Newsweek reported.
After being inspired by online 30-day challenges, she decided to challenge herself to use ChatGPT every day for 30 days to “help me pay off debt—whether that was brainstorming side hustles or just giving me a little structure,” according to the report.
Daily Advice From Bot
“Each day, the bot would suggest one challenge for Allan to save or earn money, from cancelling one subscription, selling items on Facebook Marketplace, filing for any unclaimed money, and even searching for coins in old purses and between couch cushions—which earned Allan over $100,” Newsweek reported. “A major win for Allan was the bot suggesting she look through every app and account—and between a brokerage account she wasn’t aware she had, and finance apps such as Venmo, Allan discovered more than $10,000.”
In June, Allan shared a clip to her TikTok account @_jenn.allan, revealing she had hit day 30 of her challenge—and over the past month had paid off $12,078.93
Allen said she has saved almost $600 in a month, having previously spent around $800 a month on groceries.
‘No Financial Hack’
“It wasn’t some big financial hack,” Allan told Newsweek. “It was the act of facing it every day—of tracking it, talking about it, looking at it every day. I stopped being afraid of my numbers. I built a debt tracker. I started sharing my journey publicly. And for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel ashamed. I felt empowered, like I could conquer anything.”
