**As part of USA TODAY’s Financial Diet, five families or individuals are working with members of the Financial Planning Association to improve their financial pictures. Today, reporter Mindy Fetterman profiles Juanda Smith and outlines advice from her planner. We’ll return to her in three months to see how she’s doing.

Smith has a good education and a good job. At 28, she earns about $60,000 a year working for a consulting firm in Atlanta.

But the credit card debt and bad credit score she accumulated during her years as a computer sciences student at Spelman College “are things that haunt me.”

So much so that she’s had trouble renting apartments and getting utilities hooked up. “You know how it is when you’re in school. You get a credit card for $500, and before you know it, the late fees and charges add up, and they increase your limit, and then you’re really in debt,” she says.

“I didn’t understand the big picture of credit. I’d say, “Oh, I forgot to pay this week.’ Then, a week turns into a month, and a month turns…more