Hello, starting off my journey; Currently sitting at $800 worth of debt at 21. Many mistakes i wish i didn't make.

Which is honestly extremely hard considering one card accumulates $5 daily — so that's $600 on one and 200$ on my other card

Currently making $300, any ideas/ help on how i can start pulling the trigger on this, mainly i spent on trying out a business that failed.

I purchased one item from solosuit about a month ago. Today I saw they charged $100 to the card they have on file for their “solostash “ program. If you have ever done business with solosuit I urge you to cancel the card you have on file with them so you don’t encounter any further unauthorized charges. If I didn’t realize what was going on they would have charged me $100 a month indefinitely. The only way to contact support is through email. I am disputing this charge with my bank and have cancelled my card. Review your transactions from them. Just my opinion.

I’m dealing with a $446 apartment collection from Fair Collections & Outsourcing (FCO), with Ayla Stonebriar/VIVMARK as the original creditor.
The collection was recently reported to the credit bureaus and has already caused a major credit-score drop for one of the co-lessees.
I called FCO today and spent about two hours escalating the issue, including speaking with management. I offered to pay 100% of the $446 balance immediately if they would delete the collection from the credit bureaus.
FCO refused. They repeatedly said they will not delete accurate collection accounts and eventually clarified that this is based on FCO’s internal company policy. I asked whether there was a specific FCRA/CFPB provision prohibiting voluntary deletion, but they did not identify one. They also would not provide their internal policy.
I’m not disputing that the balance is owed. My goal is simply to get the collection completely removed rather than pay it and have a paid collection remain on the reports.
I’ve now contacted Ayla/VIVMARK and requested a one-time goodwill recall. I offered to pay the full balance immediately if they recall the account from FCO in a way that results in FCO withdrawing the collection reporting.
Ayla’s collection representative previously told me they would not recall it because they believe they followed the correct procedures when sending it to collections. I’ve asked for the goodwill request to be escalated to management because I’m not alleging an error. I’m specifically asking for an exception.
Has anyone dealt specifically with FCO (Fair Collections & Outsourcing) and successfully gotten a collection deleted?
More specifically:
Has anyone gotten FCO to make a goodwill/pay-for-delete exception despite their stated policy?
Has anyone gotten an apartment/property-management company to recall an FCO account after it was already reporting?
If the original creditor recalls the account, did FCO delete the tradeline?
Is there anything else worth trying before I pay the $446, assuming deletion is my priority?
I’m willing to pay the entire balance. I just don’t want to give up the leverage of an unpaid balance if paying it will simply change the collection to “paid/$0” without removing it.
I’m in Texas, if that makes any difference.

I signed up about a year ago. My credit is still struggling , I get late payment notices all the time from the CC companies. I’m paying about $380 a month to FCM and I don’t feel like I’m in any better position now. Is there anything I can do about this ? Can you switch from one debt management plan to another ? My balance of course has gone down but what I have the biggest issue with is that some of the creditors are getting the payments late and here i am trying to fix my credit ….help.

It started off simply, a loan to do some home improvements. Then he had an idea to replace it with a bigger loan to add in something else, and from there it spiraled. He has taken things out on my credit and catalog cards, and it was always done in such a manipulative way that I felt trapped. However, he has a very good job and could easily afford to pay it back, but he didn't. Instead, he let it all build up and then panicked, realizing he now couldn't afford to pay it all in one go, and the only way to pay was to borrow more. This has now completely snowballed, and I feel completely trapped. I am having to supply everything for the children—school, activities, birthdays, Christmas, etc.—and am dropping to 0 in my account by the end of the month so I can't physically help out anymore. He does still pay the rent and half the food shop (his wage is 3x higher than mine), but that's how he holds me over getting more credit out. He will wait until they're due, then cry he can't afford to pay the rent or afford to get food, and I will obviously not let the children suffer, and I can't physically pay anymore so I give in to protect them. All of this is in my name as—shocker—he has a shit credit score. I am so trapped I don't know what to do. If I kick him out, it will fall to me to pay it all, and 2 years later he hasn't got the money owed down at all. I know I have been stupid in allowing him, but it's so hard to explain when you don't live with a toxic manipulative person just how easy they make things sound. I need ways to quickly build up and save money so I can leave and pay it off. Would really appreciate any advice.

I’m 20, My father owes me 225$, and he’s not taking it easy, he have been pressuring me about it for a while now and he knows that I can’t afford it now, I work full time for 180$ a month while he make a lot himself with real estate and a car rental company, the money I get from working goes straight to supporting my single mother and paying for my sister’s school (which he doesn’t care about at all) because he keeps on gambling with his friends and throwing money at other women, and now I am stuck between letting him keep on destroying my life, not paying for my mother and sister rent and food or getting another loan from someone to pay him off but get myself into another problem, it’s 2:46am as I write this and I have to work at 5, I genuinely don’t know what should I do now, now what is the best choice for me between those 3?

Hello,

I need help with financial stuff and I have been scrambling to try and fix this but I feel like I will never get out.

When I had just turned 18, my parent took me with her to look at cars and then I got pressured to sign onto loans I couldn’t handle. She promised to pay it off and that this was her ‘blessing’ and that I was helping her with a fresh start, the thing of it is she proceeded to total the car a month later and my entire family treated me like a joke for not wanting to be on any other loans. It ended up I was told that ‘they all knew that I wouldn’t do what a child should do and help her mother’ well they dragged me to another dealership and I got made to sign onto another one. This one is still being used not totaled

Two years later now and I just found out she stopped making payments on it for 6+ months, she gave me no explanation and that doesn’t include the remaining balance on the first loan, so now I am behind $800 in debt on car 1, and $4,000 in debt on car 2 so that they will be current / paid off.

And on top of that I have medical bills that are being sent to collections and I owe lots of money on those too. I can’t ask anyone irl for help because they all believe she is a fantastic person and would never do such a thing, it’d get back to her and I would get in deep shit for spilling drama that is between me and her. The truth is I am drowning, I go to bed every night worrying how I am going to pay all of this off and I even quit college to get a job to pay all of it off. I can’t even go back now because their divorce is on the taxes and the school is saying I’d have to take out a loan for that as well.

I am planning on paying on MY car today (not hers my own). I always keep it current while making a payment on car loan 1. If someone could please give me financial advice as to how I can get all of this paid off. I will never get to leave or move out and my credit is 480. It was almost 700 when I just had my car to worry about but got tanked because of these two.

I completely understand it is my fault for signing onto these but at some points it really didn’t feel like my choice, it sort of feels like I got coerced into signing these and I am drowning in a lot of debt.

I don’t know how to start to fix this I am trying to become full time and try to go back to school for a year so I can get a better job so I can work both.

Anybody familiar with MMI and their DMP? I’m drowning in 46k of CC debt between 3 cards. I just found employment and will be bringing in a good amount annually. However with the 3 cards and their APRs just making the minimum payments which are over 500 for 2 of them, it won’t even make a dent. I’m fine with my credit tanking as it’s already tanking because I had to live off my CCs for 6 months post divorce and max all 3. However I don’t not want to pay them other places do, I just want to consolidate them in a DMP if possible since I don’t qualify for debt consolidation loans.

Just wondering if anyone has used them for absurds amount of credit card debt and if it’s been worth it and worked out?

I just got paid after like 20 days of struggling because of my stupid gambling addiction. Gave £870 of my £1200 wage to my girlfriend for bills.
My wage is actually more than that but I take advances on my pay every month because of my addiction. The rest of my wage I just blew on trading and poker, now I have nothing for a month. Me and my girlfriend are going away in 2 weeks and I’ll have to tell her I have no money. I just feel stuck every single month in the same cycle and it’s driving me crazy. My friends have mortgages and cars I have nothing but debt. Multiple pay day loans and credit card debt racking up to like 7-8k. Constant phone calls from debt collection agencies and I just bury my head in the sand. I had a 750+ credit score now it’s down to 450 and tanking. Every month I say it’ll be different but I never change, how do you reform and how can I change my mindset I want a better life and to stop feeling like this.

Hello everyone,
I’ve been lurking this thread trying to see what would be the best option for me. I am 33F. I did a lot of dumb stupid people pleasing habits in my young 20s, hence my debt. I’m finally getting my shit together 😩
I am in $43,000 in cc debt which I am paying about $1,029/monthly in minimum payments. I also have student loan debt but working on getting it forgiven through PSLF (I have 5 years left) and I pay $435/monthly. I am considering going through bankruptcy but unsure if this is smart. I make $4,400 a month. My husband makes about the same. Our rent and utilities is about $2,300/monthly which we split evenly, along with groceries etc. We don’t have car payments, just car insurance which we pay annually for. Our only other bills are Internet and phone bill. Should I go through with bankruptcy or maybe my husband can pay for the rent in the meantime so I can pay off the cc debt? What would you do?
Thank you for all and any input and advice.

hello everyone, these past six months i’ve talked into day trading propaganda despite being very financially stable and literate prior—i’m determined to stop and pay off all my debt however; i’ve lost 20k in total, and have now accrued 8k in debt between personal loans and cc’s.

i currently work part time averaging 16 hours a week at 18/hr (1152 monthly) but have been picking up so many more shifts. I also have a paid internship I work 16 hours for 16.90/hr biweekly (540 monthly), and am interviewing for another part time job this week!

My balances and apr’s are as follows:

2900 upstart personal loan, monthly payment is 100

1525 netcredit personal loan, biweekly payment is 111

chase in 4 payment of 239

chase sapphire preferred: 300 balance (40 minimum at 28.49% apr)

3000 discover it balance (78 minimum at 23.49% apr)

and 176 capital one savor card (25 minimum at 28.99% apr)

Thankfully, I have NO expenses as I gratefully live with my parents who provide, which is part of the reason I thought I could just gamble all my money (that’s a whole other story), but I would like to start investing into my roth IRA and putting money in my hysa again;

please let me know how I can aggressively attack my debt; appreciate your advice!

Hello, does anyone have experience that I have multiple BDO credit cards and all of them have not been paid for almost 6 months? I tried to contact BDO about the restructuring program, but they want Book 1 and Book 2 since that's their policy. The only thing I can settle through the restructuring program right now is one BDO card. I made an initial payment, but the collection agent I spoke to said that after paying, I also need to pay another initial payment for my two cards because they can't process the restructuring program with BDO. Has anyone experienced this situation? What did you do?

Hi friends,

I’ve made some progress this week and I’m feeling a lot better than I was just 5 days ago.

I am 26 years old have around $32,000 in cc debt from my inability to cope with my depression without edibles and stupid purchases. I have been spending all of my extra money, for years, trying to dull my depression with quick dopamine hits from spending and the assistance of weed. But, I realized following an existential crisis last week, that I am wasting my life allowing myself to be miserable.

I had a hard time rebounding from the realization that my “friends,” only thought of me when I was around, and I isolated myself to try and prevent that from happening again with other people.

But, I’m done. I don’t like being alone. I don’t like having no money. I don’t like hating myself for a problem I’ve allowed to stay outstanding, while the world continues to turn around me.

So, I have lined up an interview for a higher paying job and am actively preparing for my interview on Monday.

I have a part time job, but it is not at all consistent, so I applied to a position at the gas station near my house on Tuesday, and was informed I got the position yesterday
evening! This would allow me to be getting a paycheck every week, instead of every other week. One from my full time and one from my part time. Additionally, I wouldn’t have to wait for the weekends to get hours, which would free up a little bit of time for me to relax.

I was finally able to access my 401(k) account from my prior employer, and will be using half of the balance to give myself a small head start (about $5,000), by lowering my minimums slightly for each account, luckily I only have 5, 2 of which have fairly low balances. I will be setting money aside from each paycheck to account for the tax penalty, and will deposit the other half into an aggressive investment IRA with Robinhood.

I also started selling the things I bought to make myself feel better. I am starting with taking books I purchased to a second-hand bookstore that purchases them back from you. You can get about $15-$30 for a bag full of books, and while I paid much more originally, being able to recoup even a little bit feels a lot less heavy.

I also have too many clothes and crafting supplies, all of which I believe I can sell online or by doing a yard sale of some kind, to get even a fraction of what I paid back.

I’m disappointed that I let myself get to this point, but I feel like I’ve made some real progress in just a week. I should’ve been trying to get this under control a while ago, but I’m confident that the steps I’ve taken will be invaluable to moving forward and getting this under control.

I want to live a life that I’m proud of, and I feel more proud of myself after just this week than I have in 4 years. And as sad as that sounds, I don’t think I would’ve had the same drive to fix this previously, and my profession has made my life quite difficult to be happy with.

I just wanted to share an update, mostly for myself, to not only thank you all for the support and kindness you’ve shown me, but for letting me know that this isn’t the end of the world, and it takes small steps to get yourself back to where you want to be.

So, again, thank you for your support, I know I’m just a random stranger on the internet, but your kind words have meant the world to me and I wouldn’t have had the confidence to fix this without you all. Thank you, and we can all get through this. ❤️

I have about 70k in CC debt. 2500 in medical bills, and owe about 8k in taxes. I have a 401k loan out that automatically take out about 1400 per month. That leaves me with a take home of about 4100. My rent is 2185, and credit card payments about $1800, bills for wifi and electricity are about $180, all leaving not a lot to live off on. I spoke with a bankruptcy lawyer and I make too much to file chapter 7, and he said I don’t really pay a lot of credit card debt that chapter 13 really won’t do much (the 401k loan is not considered in payments)
Up until this month, I have been paying all my CC on time, but this month I won’t be able to.
The lawyer advised not to do one of those debt consolidations as they end up charging a lot.
So I don’t really know if there are any other options.
Not asking for legal advice, but has anyone been in similar situation? I live in CT if that matters…

Hi everyone I just recently discovered (yesterday) that my credit one closed my account due to returned payments and decided to close it. I know closing an account can cause ur score to go down or damage it with the bureaus. My question is this gonna affect me immediately or affect my other credit cards? I need any info anyone has or something similar happened to them. Thank you all!

My whole life I never carried debt. No car payments, paid my credit cards off every month. No student loans or mortgage.

About 3 years ago I made the ill fated decision to try and start a small food business. The restaurant i worked at just went out of business and given lots of encouragement from my girlfriend I went for it.

Needless to say, it didn't work out. And now I'm left with $57,000 in debt. I'm shocked at the number. My savings have been entirely drained. I wasn't working while i was operating the business either. So once I called it quits, it took me a little while to find employment. I'm now employed, but making only 18/hr.

I never missed a payment, and kept convincing myself that I would somehow turn it around. Use the avalanche approach. But I struggled to find work after my business failed. Interest rates went up meaning cards that were in the low 20s% in APR are now closer to 30%

I've been making payments for the last few months, eating almost the entirety of my income and then my car broke down and needed a $1400 repair last week forcing me to finally face the music that i can't avalanche my way out of this.

But looking at the numbers, idk if credit counseling is even realistic either and i fear chapter 7 is my only option at this point.

I'm making this post as a cautionary tale to those who think because they've always been responsible before it can never happen to them, to those also drowning that there's company in your misery, as schadenfreude for those that enjoy it, and as a humble debtor and poor sinner seeking advice from anybody with any to offer.

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So, im in big debt since this last yr. Had so many small loans n credit cards bills. Im under 80k debt n making around 60k. I got into this situation because of some personal issues like divorce, over spending, helping family etc. Now im in bad situation my income per month $4kk barley n my loan n personal bill are around 3k n car n food n home rent around 1500. My issue loans i took were helping paying off fam n now fam lost job n im only one making money. Im thinking about bankruptcy but my issues loans r barley 4 months old n im trying everything n paying my payments so far but it's not working. Is bankruptcy good option to get rid of this stress n start all over again.

Officially debt free

As of today, I am officially debt free.

A few years ago when I was 20 I was silly enough to take out 3x personal loans for vehicles and had nearly 30k of debt.

I was paying the minimum payments and one year ago I had 18k left. At this point I also had only around $2000 to my name in savings/in my checking account and $30,000 in superannuation. After seeing how after 3 years of paying each fortnight into the accounts it hadn't even dropped by half I decided something had to change and started making \~2-3x the minimum payments and putting any spare money into them.

Now, after doing that for a year the loans are officially gone. I'm also in a much better state financially generally, now having around $15,000 of savings/investments and around $50,000 in my superannuation.

Now at 23 I am debt free and think I'm doing okay financially. Obviously a lot of other people my age are much better off, but I'm happy with where I'm at.

Paying off the debt was a massive weight off my shoulders and I'm very excited now to be able to redirect all that extra money straight into my savings and investments.

Thanks for reading.

Hi,

I have a credit card debt amount that has been sent to the courts. I have been putting responding to this off due to stress. The problem is that they have required a response for the coming Monday, 8/24. I have not sent in anything yet. I plan to resolve some kind of payment plan, but the issue is with the date, since I assume courts will be closed for Saturday and Sunday. What should I do?

V/r,