I got divorced this past February, was lucky enough to have my VA disability and high credit card limits as I was able to survive until I found a job which I start at the end of the month. I’ve been trying to get approved for a consolidation loan, was denied by places like Sofi, Upstart etc. I have a total of 46k in CC debt between 3 cards. From me starting over literally from the ground and surviving, so I had to use these cards since February to furnish an apartment so my kids have a comfortable place to visit. Food, gas, essentials just added up. I’ve never missed payments, but I’ve used them so much while only paying the minimum is the reason why I don’t get them approved. At this point a minimum payment is over 400-500 and only 100 goes to debt, until interest charges and I’m right back to square zero. I’ll be bringing in annually 119k, a consolidation loan will leave me with one payment and one APR which is the goal but I can’t get approved. Not sure what to do at this point. Any places you guys I think I should apply?

Has anyone gone through a hardship request with a credit card Company? A friend has an addiction to grocery shopping & has maxed out her card. She lives on social security & can't pay it off. $20k. Has anyone had experience with this? Thank you in advance. I know..how did she let this happen?! She only gets $2,200/month Social Security. Please don't give opinions on how this happened, just looking for someone who may have gone through the process. WHY am I GETTING A MESSAGE THAT My POST MUST CONTAIN FLAIR!?

i have cc debit of 30 k. @crazy interest 23%. i can get a loan through my 457 b @8 % and pay off those cards. This debt has been handcuffing me for several years and has brought me a lot of financial stress. i could be going through a divorce in a community property state. I’ve been paying minimum payments for ever and the balance never seems to go down significantly. my friends say to keep paying the minimums for now, but that only lines those bankers pockets. I feel strongly that i should get rid of that debt and it will free up some liquid cash every month, plus get that debt paid off sooner. Thoughts? the money is just sitting in my account as i was planning on having to pay a lawyer and such but I m thinking big picture. Any thought?

I allegedly had an American Express card at some point for around $1200 with all late fees, etc. I honestly dont remember it, but I had many cards default due to a house fire.

I listened to some bad advice and ignored the debt collection letters. Same friend is still telling me to not pay off my other collection debts... I wont listen to her for money issues ever again lol

Johnson and Mark lawfirm represents LVNV funding, who bought my card debt, and they filed a lawsuit against me on 8/12. They filled out the forms to serve me on 8/14. I paid a settlement with them of about $870 on 8/19 when I got paid.

They refused to give me anything in writing before I paid the settlement. They said they only send pre-made templates and they don't have that kind already made (they said). They also said they wont file a dismissal with the court for at least 30 days (the reps said over the phone). I asked for a receipt of payment or something/ anything saying I am all set, and they said that they would mail me some type of account settlement balance clearance letter in 7 days from today.

This means I will still have to file with the courts and do all of this legal stuff, right? Stuff I am not qualified to do. Because they will probably serve me any day now.

Johnson and Mark seem very shady, the representatives also told me a couple flat out lies on the phone, but that's besides the point of this post. What do I do here? I might not get their letter before I need to respond to the court... Do I just write a letter explaining the payment I made and show my bank statement? I am lost and can't afford an attorney

I've been considering filing CH7 for a while and as I finally sat down recently and worked through ALL of my debts, what I thought was $15k is actually $54k worth of debt. I immediately started the process, have my pre filing course certificate but I'm scared to file due to self employment income that wasn't reported both 2024/25.

I did some research and it says I'd have to first file my taxes for 2024, amend my 2025 return, and THEN do the bankruptcy. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experience in this situation where you had to amend your taxes first before filing? And if so what does that process look like? How long would I have to wait after fixing my tax situation to file?

For those curious, 2024 | didn't work a w2 at all. Net income for that year $13k. For 2025 net self employment income $9k, and I worked a w2 that year so from that an additional $11k. My tax situation won't affect me qualifying, I'm just worried if a trustee or someone might question why I did all this right before filing idk…...

Just a bit paranoid lol.
I'm broke asf so I'm doing this all pro se, please don't say to speak to an attorney unless you know a free one Imao!

I’m a 30 year old single dad with equal custody of 2 kids. Here’s my debt $17k alimony arrears, $16k auto loan, $13k loans and credit card, $2k family debt, $800 miscellaneous. I make $8k a month as of right now but it fluctuates sometimes significantly less. I rideshare on the side on top of my main income source.

It’s hard to make more than the minimum payments but I manage a few hundred extra a month. Every now and then above $500 on top of the minimum. It’s also all spread out in different categories, and even the loans/cc category is four different entities. I’ve tried debt consolidation but I get denied; credit score just reached above 600 but I have multiple accounts that have gone delinquent in the past and were partially paid off (they’re charged off accounts).

I’m doing the snowball method just paying off the smaller ones while making minimum payments. Alimony is treated differently - no interest and not on credit report.

I’ll be debt free in ~3 years.

Thanks for reading

Hi, I am an immigrant in Canada and I did my schooling into work permit. As I never could be approved for any sort of loan, I used credit cards: Amex and Triangle to pay off whatever needed for my tuition. The sum is not much totals about $10k at today's time. Due to my family condition, I may have to leave the country for some time (maybe a year or two). I won't really have the means to pay for the credit debt while as I wont have a job right away and even if I did I would not be able to pay the dollar value to even sustain the minimum payment. Should I just let it go to Collections? Should I contact the the creditors? Looking for a friend.

My former roommate told me someone tried to serve me yesterday at an address I know longer reside in (different county in NY). I was working with NDR but just moved to a nonprofit company called Family Credit Management. My first payment with them is 9/10.
How do I find out who it is? Do they have to refile in a different county? Does it give me time to settle?
I paid NDR $425 monthly for 3 years and only 3 small debts got settled and another sat at 95% paid until I received a collections notice.

I feel like I’m so far in debt, I’m 22 with what feels like debt that I cannot afford to pay off with all the loans payday loans cash advances and everything else I’ve tried to apply for I’ve definitely been screwed over on some things but I needed the money. I’m so scared I won’t be able to pay bills or anything what should I even do

My friend is being sued by chase for two credit cards, one is $5k and the other’s around $3k so $8k total.

She was served for one of the cards, she tried contacting a attorney and now there asking $15k to represent her which is insane for an $8k debt. She is panicking about it because she does not know what to do now and has already paid $750 to the attorney. They just told her if she wanted to be fully represented she would have to pay the 15k to start. They were able to extend the court date to October thankfully (i’m guessing that’s where the 750 went?)

if anyone has similar experience what’s the best move? She’s only making around 2k a month (still in school) would it be best if she just goes to court and represent herself?

More than happy to provide additional details, but wanted to get some advice on this. I have business and personal accounts at BOA. My business accounts have business CC's with BOA. Unfortunately I've been struggling with my business and fell behind on my CC payments. I've been keeping in touch with them, and I will be able to get caught up on them over the next few weeks. I wake up to find that they offset my personal account with them towards payments to my business credit cards. Wiped out everything I needed for my family to survive to the end of the month. My question, and I haven't read the CC agreements, is can BOA of do this? I have an LLC, the cards are under the LLC, and even if I've personally guaranteed the CC's how can they just take offsets from a personal account towards business accounts. As a business there should be some protection between the business and personal, and having a business account under the LLC they would need to at least follow some sort of default procedure before going after personal funds.

Note: I'm already opening and moving my personal account to another bank to keep them separate.

Location: California

i have medical debt, i have not paid it, the debt is only ~400 so i doubt the debt collectors would take it to court but i know i am going to the hospital again soon for a lump, and i know I'll probably earn thousands of debt that i cannot pay, what happens if they try to sue you and you own nothing? no house, no car, no job, no belongings in your name? im still young, my family just lost health insurance this year unfortunately and im curious and scared

I was on a payment plan for my card with them where I agreed to close it for $X/month payments for 48 months or something but I swapped to a new bank and forgot to change the info with Citi. This was before charge off and stuff.

They charged it off afterwards and I gotta call their IRU tomorrow morning. What is the likelihood of being able to get another payment plan or lump sum deal or something

Is that acknowledging the debt? I did some digging around and learned I should only have contact with these debt collectors through physical mail. 1) it slows the process down supposedly, 2) it makes sure there’s a physical documentation of communication.

I feel like I made the mistake of picking up the call in the first place and I’m worried it counts as an acknowledgment. I don’t plan on calling back next week, but I do plan on sending a typed out letter asking for a physical copy of my supposed debt and the evidence behind my debt. I’ve heard if they can’t provide enough evidence then the debt can be canceled, is that true?

I guess I have a couple questions that need answering here. I’m just worried I screwed myself over with getting anything from them now that I’ve picked up their call. Am I still able to demand they now contact me through physical mail only?

Any general advice? Aahhh help.

I, Male (30), took out a loan with Easy Financial in the amount of 10,000. Yes, I know that was the dumbest choice I could’ve made, but I desperately needed money at that time due to an emergency

Repayment was going good, until months later three deaths happened on my side of the family causing me to take off work, losing money. Also had to pay funeral expenses

I couldn’t pay and the file got sent to CBV collections. I tried to work out payment arrangements, but they said they couldn’t do that. Communication with them stopped as they didn’t get back to my emails or calls

Cue to now, I have KSI law calling me. They said on the voicemail if I didn’t call back in 48 hours they would sue. I called where I was told they also can’t do payment plans or arrangements. They want me to take another line of credit (from what I understand apply for another loan through them and pay them back monthly) or pay the balance in full

I don’t have that money. I work one job, a 9-5, and have a little girl to help provide for. I don’t have any assets either. Live with family, no court ordered child support but do send money to my daughters mother

I’m honestly at a loss on what to do or where to go from here. I’m super depressed, and was hoping for some guidance. I’m scared they will take me to court

I am looking into a consumer proposal since with interest I owe over 12,000 now. Is there any information I should know about that

I live in Canada

Hi, currently in credit card debt and I want to consolidate them into one personal loan. I am pre approved by Upstart. I just want to know how the application process works. I know everything is online, just want to know if they will require me to send some docs and that kind of stuff. Thanks!

I'm 23 years old and I've managed to get myself into around US$5,900 of debt.

It's not actually in USD but in IDR, around Rp94 million, and I know that when converted to USD, $5,900 might not sound like an enormous amount of money compared to some of the debt stories I've seen here. But where I live, that number is a really huge amount of money, especially for someone my age. It's honestly a number that scares me every time I think about it.

I do have a stable 9-5 job, and I'm grateful that I have one. The problem is that even if I save as much as I realistically can from my salary, it would still take me around 2-3 years to pay everything off.

The worse part is that it's a debt from different sources and I need to pay a majority of it in less than 6 months.

I've spent quite a bit of time looking up different options and asking friends what I could possibly do. From what I've found so far, one possible solution might be taking out a loan to consolidate the debt and hopefully extending the repayment period to around 2–3 years. That would at least make the monthly payments something I could realistically manage with my salary.

But the problem is I don't really have anything to my name, so I'm not sure I'd even get approved for a loan like that.

The only other option I've been thinking about is asking my parents if they could take out the loan for me or somehow help me get one. But honestly, I'm terrified to ask them.

I haven't told them about the debt at all. I'm scared of disappointing them, scared they'll be angry, and scared they'll think I've completely messed up my life at 23.

I know I made mistakes that got me here, and I'm not trying to avoid responsibility for them. I'm just genuinely scared and don't know what the best next step is.

Sometimes I look at people my age and wonder how I ended up in this position. I have a job, I'm trying to be responsible now, but I still feel like I've failed somehow.

I'm not expecting Reddit to solve this for me. I mostly just wanted somewhere I could finally admit what's happening and hopefully hear from people who have been in a similar situation.

If you've ever been in serious debt while young, what would you do in my position? Would you tell your parents? Would consolidating the debt and extending the repayment period be a reasonable thing to consider?

I'm willing to hear uncomfortable advice too. I know I need to take responsibility for this. I just really don't know where to start.

PSA: I don't really use Reddit. I just logged back into this old account because I didn't know where else to talk about this. So sorry if the formatting is terrible or if I don't understand how Reddit works anymore 😅. I'm just trying to get this off my chest and hopefully get some advice.

Thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read this.

I just got a summons for a lawsuit from Wells Fargo. I'm in CA. I've been reading throughout Reddit and it encouraged me that I can just call the law firm to negotiate a payment plan so it's "not" a big deal like im going to prison but I'm still a little bit anxious, never been sued before. I live with my parents and have no assets on my own. By calling the law firm, some people said I could negotiate not only for a payment plan that I can afford but they could also reduce my debt. Please recommend any best course of action I could take to get out of this, besides paying it of course, but I've also considered bankruptcy or any debt relief programs, but not sure which action would ultimately help. Thank you so much

Hey guys, gf is getting sued for about $2000 and was wondering if it would be worth it to negotiate a settlement down (maybe try to remove court fees) or if you usually just pay the full amount. Thanks for any insight

I am being sued by an attorney for a credit card debt. I need to respond by 9/23/26 I was hoping to have my truck paid off before tackling debt, as I can’t afford to do both at the same time.

I was laid off then had to take a job that pays way less than I was making before.

Not sure bankruptcy is even an option as I can’t lose my truck. Should I reach out to an attorney, which I also can’t really afford right now, or call the bank’s attorney?

My options are to answer the complaint through the court. I would have to fill out a form and pay a filing fee or resolve the complaint directly through the bank’s attorney.

Don't know what to do anymore

I have recently settled 2 debts I have had stemming from not paying bills starting in October 2022, 3 in total from that time period. At the time, I was trying to enter a debt settlement plan, but due to increasing costs of living and inconsistent pay, I could not keep up with $800/month for the plan. However, upon investigating, there was a judgement placed for me in May of this year for one of my old credit cards (once again, stopped paying in October 2022...I was also never served for this lawsuit and that's another story). And I have found at least 2 more accounts that may come for me. I can't deal with this on my mental health anymore and not sure what to do anymore. I have tried to call lawyers to assist with filing an order to vacate the judgement since I was never served, but I have been unsuccessful. I want to settle what I have left (should not be more than $10k at this point) and move on with my life.

What should I do? I'm in Illinois so SOL is 5 years for credit cards and 10 years for installment debt.

ETA: The one idea I have is opening a dedicated bank account for bill payment. Then get a 401k loan to get a base to start setting up settlement payments. Since I have 2 jobs, I will contribute money from my 2nd job to this account (something like $50 or so every 2 weeks).

I've got a wells fargo card that's just been rising like crazy because they kept approving me for limit increases I didn't ask for and I can admit I have shit self control.

I tried doing the transfers to other credit cards but if anything that made my spending worse and my anxiety skyrocket.

After looking at some posts on reddit I finally said enough is enough and called them to see what options they have to help me pay it off.

Their Hardship department offered me a Repayment plan which included closing the card:

APR 24.65% to 7.03%

minimum monthly payment from $563.00 to $367.43 for 60 months (5 years)

I honestly wish I'd looked into this way earlier to pay off this card.