MONTCALM COUNTY, Mich. — Student debt can be a lot; for one man, it’s well over $200,000.
Paying all that off is going to take time, but he’s taking a unique approach, so one day, he’ll be free of all that debt.
“I have no credit cards, no personal loans, no car payments, nothing. All $219,279.82 all student loan debt,” Jake Croft told FOX 17. “It's a very heavy weight. It has halted any and all plans for my family. So, I was just trying to figure out a way that I could attack this differently."
Croft has taken up the trade-up challenge with TikTok. He’s calling it TradingforFreedom, where he takes an item and trades it for equal or greater value.
“He wanted trade an iPad for that used massage gun. Then someone wanted to trade a Versace watch for the iPad, which I did,” Croft explained.
He traded that watch for quite an experience, and he now hopes someone in Michigan would also trade for it—a wedding at the Hilltop Memory Makers.
“We'll trade a date on the calendar for this wedding venue package. She's also an experienced wedding photographer, and so she's also a trader, including in the trade a one hour photography session that she'll provide. And so it's a value of about $6,450,” Croft said.
He spent years of schooling to become a chiropractor, but it put him in this hole. It had been a dream of his since he was a teenager.
“I was so ambitious, I was one of the few people out of my class who were opening up a private practice directly out of college,” he added.
The practice ended, though, not long after COVID-19 started. He’s since become a teacher.
“If I were to jump back into a non-income driven repayment plan, my payments would probably be around $2,500 to $2,600 a month,” Croft said.
Croft says his student debt is in forbearance, but he’s staying up to date, watching for any potential changes.
“If it does happen and those payments arise, I have to do something, and I think this project is that something for me,” he said.
A project he’s going to be strategic about.
“My plan in my head right now is to continue to trade so long as I can trade something with any month, and at the end of the month, if I cannot trade that thing, I will sell that thing and I will restart,” Croft said.
Croft isn’t the first person to take on the trade challenge. In 2005, a Canadian blogger went from a paperclip to a house.
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