Meet Jonas Turner from Maumee, Ohio! He is currently in the $50K funding position! Here's his story:

Like many of you, I graduated from college with a large amount of college debt. It was not until December 2008 when I got my first letter from Sallie Mae letting me know my monthly payment was going to be over $1600 a month for the next 10 years. I was just shocked by the amount and wasn’t really for sure what I was going to do. I was already working two jobs at the time and still living at home. I remember telling my girlfriend at the time, who later became my wife, about the letter, and gave her the option to “get out” if she wanted to. She never did. She stayed by my side the entire time. That’s true love!

I started off with $112k in college loans from a college that no longer even exists. It is now 2020 and I still owe over $51k, so this will finally close out that chapter in my life. I cannot express enough my love for Givling, my wife, and everyone that continues to support each other in this group. We all started Givling with that hope that we would one day get funded, and I believe SO many more of you will. I will for sure still be doing my ads on a daily basis, participating in offers (which many I am still subscribed to) because doing that will help all of you!

I started playing Givling in September/October of 2017. I remember specifically where I was and how I found out about Givling. I was coming back from a Detroit Tigers baseball game with my wife’s head resting on my lap and I was in the back of a vehicle trying to find ways to help with my college debt while she was asleep. I remember someone posted "Givling" in a SoFi Members group, so I went to Google Play and started to try it out. I was pretty confused at the time what it was all about and how it helped college debt, but eventually, I got the hang of it. And I can’t thank enough whoever it was that posted it in the SoFi Members Group that day that led me to where I am today because of it.

Covid-19 has affected me in a few ways. For the past two to three years, I had been working three jobs trying to help pay off my college debt. I was making great progress until Covid-19 happened and I ended up losing two of them from it. I still hope to get one of them back at a later time, but for now, it’s on hold. I currently work for Dominos helping the world bring better pizza! My wife and I love to play sports. We both manage our own co-ed softball team, volleyball team, and we both play football. I also love to do woodworking. My wife is my biggest inspiration. Since my wife was a little girl, she has suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks. I see how she has to fight it on a daily basis and knowing she can overcome that gives me strength knowing I can overcome anything.

I honestly couldn’t sleep the last few days knowing the next person being funded would be from the Green Queue. Ken and I had been going back and forth and I knew one of us was going to win very soon. When I saw that I had won, not only was I excited but I was relieved. I was relieved that the stress of no longer waiting to get funded was finally here. I also can’t wait to prove to other people what Givling can do for you and how perseverance can pay off. Many people haven’t heard of Givling and this will be another great way to show people how real Givling is and how it can change your life.

First off, I want to thank Lizabeth, Seth, the tech support, and the entire Givling team for all that they have done and will do. But I also want to thank EVERY person that is reading this because without you…none of this would happen either for myself or anyone that has won or will win. I also want to thank my wife, Lindsay, for putting up with me for talking about Givling on a daily basis and never getting upset with me when I did.

Secondly, do not give up hope. When I first started Givling, I never actually thought I would get funded. There was even a point in time that I uninstalled the app but came back a few months later and gave it another shot. I am EXTREMELY glad that I did. I just remember thinking that if I could contribute, even a little bit, then I knew I was helping someone else and that to me made a difference. And so here I am today.

Thank you all again especially those that have shown love, kindness, and support towards me over the years! I know you will get there too!

n 2018, the United States was facing a grim milestone – student loan debt reached a staggering $1.5 trillion – more than credit cards or auto loans. Jonathan Perry, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnical Institute, completed his degree in Biomedical Engineering and was joining the workforce as part of the statistic. But with a plan, tenacity, and a fondness for trivia games, Jonathan was determined to set his future in the right direction.

“When graduation was approaching and I realized the reality of my student loan debt, I was looking for way to pay it off as soon as possible. That’s when I discovered Givling and knew I had to give it a try!” stated Perry.

Before securing the $50,000 crowdfunding position this week, Jonathan has won around $15,000 through Givling’s trivia award. “I’m a pretty big trivia buff. HQ trivia was getting pretty popular around the time [in 2018] but I was looking for other trivia games with better payouts. When Givling was a common result in both of those searches [student loan repayment and trivia prizes] I was hooked.”

Through the trivia awards and the $50,000 in crowdfunding, supported by generous partners like QVC, Jonathan says he can “pay off most of his private student loan and finally start saving for a house.” According to a study from Urban.org, the homeownership rate among Millennials aged 24 to 34 is 8 percentage points lower than baby boomers and 8.4 percentage points lower than Gen Xers in the same group.

In January of 2017, I literately went to Google and searched “ways to pay off student loans.” Givling popped up, so, I went for it. Having nothing to lose, I downloaded and played...for like two days...then I just stopped using the app. And to be honest, I’m not sure what prompted me to get back on the app, but I’m really glad I did.

I started interacting with Givling (again) in September of 2017. I used to be a timer-every-hour guy. I maxed out on spins nearly everyday, never missed a free-play, did as many sponsors as I could that didn’t cost a fortune, and just started climbing the orange queue. Thankfully, the app evolved into the current 30 spin model and I got some freedom back. Not doing a timer every hour was huge...especially with a very active three year old (born Christmas Day of 2016).

My education backstory is pretty simple; nothing too special. I stretched my Bachelors in Communications (Evangel University) to six years and had the student loans to show for it. After graduation in 2006, I found myself working fun/random jobs, but never really found something I wanted to do forever. In August of 2009, I decided to head back to school (Missouri State University) and begin a Masters in Student Affairs in Higher Education. And again...I took out student loans. In the moment, you really don’t think about the consequences. ‘That was future Tony’s problem,’ I thought.

From there, I’ve served as a Director of Transfer Admissions at Drury University, a small private liberal arts university; a Resource Assistant serving Missionary Kids across the globe for the Assemblies of God World Missions; and a Resident Director at my alma mater, Evangel University. Working with college students has become my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Combined with my wife Katie (a Pediatric Nurse), we had just around $125,000 in student loans in 2013. Seven years later, we are down to just over $32,000...which means this additional $40k will completely ERASE our loans. Truly an answer to prayer.

We have been consistently praying God would do something “crazy” with our finances almost our entire marriage (Star Wars Day 2013). It’s just crazy to think about how far we’ve come since totaling up that loan debt so many years ago. God is good and this is proof He can use anything and anyone to bless His people...even an app on your phone.

JustKeepSpinning

Meet Kevin Prodinski from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!

Kevin's favorite hobbies include spending time outdoors experiencing nature through hiking, camping, and gardening. He is currently working in management for a major pet store where he gets to be around animals every day and spoil his own dog.

Kevin says his biggest obstacle in life was always worrying about how to pay for college and deciding to fund it with loans. Having experienced depression and anxiety during that time he ended up taking out more loans than he should have, living beyond his means thinking things would work out in the end.

March 2019 Kevin saw an article about Givling and found it had made an impact for a lot of people, "I figured I'd give it a try even though it was before the free queues were created so I knew it would be a while before I ever made it to the top", fortunately, that day has finally come for Kevin!

This will help cut down a big chunk of Kevin's remaining debt and ultimately help him plan for retirement sooner, "With interest rates the way they are I've already been focusing more on my retirement goals but this will help reach them sooner".

Thank you, Kevin, for your continued support and belief in Givling from the start!