The Power to Dismantle Debt Culture

Amber Duncan is the founder of Reduce My Debts and Life After Debt..

By Amber Duncan

When a bankruptcy attorney looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll see you back here again,” something shifted in me. I was humiliated, broke, and a mother of five—but at that moment, I became dangerous. I thought, The hell you will, and walked out of that office with a mission: to make sure no one else would be spoken to like that again.

That moment birthed my life’s work. I built one of the largest debt settlement companies in the U.S., then walked away to launch Life After Debt—a movement to help people break free from financial shame, one clarity call at a time. Our approach is radically different: we don’t sell. We listen. Our free 15-minute clarity calls give people a safe space to share their truth, often for the first time, and we guide them from chaos to calm without judgment.

Financial inequity is woven into the system—predatory collection tactics, misinformation, and a culture that glorifies credit scores over mental health. But I’ve learned that when you flip the power dynamic, people don’t just pay off debt—they reclaim their confidence, their marriages, their futures. I’ve watched women confess $20,000 in hidden credit card debt to their partners after our call—and come back saying it saved their relationship.

I’m no longer trying to fix broken systems from the inside. I’m building new ones. Training debt advisors across the U.S., designing free resources to fight financial misinformation, and showing up every day with hard truths wrapped in compassion. The goal? Empower a generation of Americans—especially women—to stop living in fear of their finances and start taking control.

Because the truth is: once you know the rules, you can stop playing their game—and start rewriting your own.

Amber Duncan is founder of Reduce My Debts and Life After Debt. http://reducemydebts.com