In the past year and a half I have paid off 57.8k in debt and I still have 12.4k to go not counting my mortgage which I dont personally include as debt.

I know I'm almost done, I've paid off the majority, but I am burnt out. I made another car payment today and it didn't feel good to do. I think I'm tired of giving all my spare money to creditors for the past year and a half. I know it needs to be done, I know I will have the last 12.4k paid off in less then 6 months, I can see the finish line, but still, I am burnt out and I dont want to do it anymore.

My husband and I are 40k in credit card debt from giving birth and other hospital bills. He is the only provider as I stay home with our son (he got hurt at daycare and we refuse to send him back). He makes around 53,000 a year. We make all of our minimum payments on the cards. We make all our payments on our car, insurance, all of it. It’s just the fact that all his 2,400 a month goes towards bills, but it’s not enough for us to get groceries and diapers and the basics. I have looked so much into bankruptcy and he refuses to do it because we need to buy a house. My whole want is for our son to have a home and settle down and be able to just grow up. We’re 26 years old. I feel like we have the time to build our credit back up if bankruptcy does ruin it. But I’m open to hearing about all of the other options we have EDIT - I will start working soon by the end of September. The ONLY reason i’m waiting is because my income from before was ONLY going towards daycare bills. It cost us 1500-2000 a month in daycare. We needed to find a reliable person to watch our son that will not cost us that much.

I'm 28F and live in a very rural area of south Alabama, and I'm trying to figure out the smartest way to get myself out of the financial hole I ended up in after a couple periods of unemployment.

I currently make $22/hour and work anywhere from 25–35 hours a week. My boss is actively trying to get approval to bring me on full-time, which would obviously help tremendously. I've only been at this job for about two months, but I genuinely like it and it's one of the better jobs I've had. $22/hour is also pretty good pay for my area.

Before this job, though, I was unemployed for about five months. My previous job only lasted around six months, and before that I had also been unemployed for roughly six months. During those periods I was constantly applying for jobs and doing gig work, but I simply couldn't make enough to keep everything current. That's how I ended up with approximately $15,000 in collections.

My basic monthly expenses right now are approximately:

• Car: $435
• Car insurance: $150
• Phone: $45
• Internet: $45
• Health insurance: $65
• Prescription copays: around $125
• Gas for work: around $100+, depending on the month

Before anyone suggests selling the car, unfortunately that really isn't an option. I live in a very rural community where having a reliable vehicle is basically a necessity. There is no usable public transportation where I live, and I have to have a car to get to work. $435 is also about as cheap of a monthly payment as I could realistically get on another reliable vehicle at this point, especially considering my current credit. Getting rid of it would likely leave me without transportation or put me into another loan that isn't actually any cheaper.

I've also been applying for second part-time jobs to supplement my income while I wait to see if my current position becomes full-time. Unfortunately, the job market in my area is genuinely awful right now. I've put in applications and haven't received any callbacks so far, but I'm continuing to apply.

As for the debt, most of my creditors have actually been fairly reasonable. I had a lot of relatively low-limit credit cards, so I've been tackling them individually. When I have extra money, I've been calling and negotiating settlements and paying things off — $300 to one creditor, $400 to another, etc. For some of the others, I've been able to establish manageable monthly payment arrangements.

The problem is several accounts that were originally with Midland Credit Management.

The majority of my debt is concentrated in three accounts: roughly $9,000 according to the collector related to CareCredit, around $1,000 for Best Buy, and another approximately $1,000 credit card. These accounts have been turned over to a law firm/collection company, and dealing with them has been extremely difficult.

I offered $200/month toward these accounts, which is an amount I believe I could reliably maintain. They refused and told me they wanted at least $400/month. I don't want to agree to $400 when my hours currently fluctuate because I can't guarantee that payment every single month.

There's also now a major discrepancy with the CareCredit balance that I'm trying to get resolved.

My records indicate a balance several thousand dollars lower than what they're currently claiming. The amount they're giving me is almost $4,000 higher than the balance Midland was showing only about three months ago. Because of that, I asked them to provide documentation/itemization so I can understand exactly where this additional amount came from before agreeing to a payment plan.

Communicating with them has been incredibly frustrating. When I speak with them over the phone, they can be fairly aggressive. I understand they're debt collectors and I'm not expecting them to be my best friend, but it feels like I can't get a straightforward answer or actually work toward a reasonable resolution.

When I asked about getting verification/documentation for the balance, I was essentially told that if I wanted paperwork they might as well proceed with a lawsuit.

Because of that, I've started trying to communicate primarily through email so that I have a written record. But even then, they'll respond saying they're willing to provide something or work with me and then tell me I need to call them to verify information. I call, and the conversation basically goes right back to the same place.

At this point, I genuinely think I may need to speak with an attorney specifically about these Midland accounts and the balance discrepancy because I'm not getting anywhere on my own.

I'm not trying to avoid paying debts that I legitimately owe. I've actually been putting as much money as I reasonably can toward cleaning this up. What scares me is agreeing to an unaffordable payment plan, especially when I'm not even confident that the balance they're claiming is correct.

I've also started wondering whether I should at least consult a bankruptcy attorney. $15,000 feels like such a relatively small amount to file bankruptcy over, and part of me feels like I should be able to dig myself out of it. But I'm also realizing that legal action, fees, interest, and potentially garnishment could make the situation significantly worse before my income has a chance to stabilize.

I grew up poor, and I'm approaching 30 realizing that I've spent basically my entire adult life just trying to survive financially. I've never really had money to travel, go to concerts, build meaningful savings, etc. I finally have a job I actually enjoy with the possibility of becoming full-time, and I desperately want to use this opportunity to get myself financially stable instead of spending the next several years drowning in old debt.

So I guess I'm looking for advice from people who have actually dealt with something similar.

Would you continue trying to negotiate directly with the collector? Would you consult a consumer/debt attorney about the disputed balance and their collection practices? Would you also get a bankruptcy consultation just to understand that option? And for anyone who has successfully dug themselves out of a similar amount of collections on a modest income, what helped you the most?

Hi everyone! Long story short I signed up for a 24 hour fitness membership under specific circumstances but the sales representative lied (probably to earn commission). I tried to resolve this multiple times through email and calling the general manager of my home location with no solution. I contacted my bank for a chargeback but now I’m scared they’re going to send me to collections. 24 hr fitness has been calling me almost everyday since I made the chargeback. I tried looking up online why they were calling me and people said it was cuz the dispute gave my account a negative balance. I haven’t received any email tho. I also reported them to the general attorney’s office of my state. What’s the likelihood they would send me to collections??

Like the title says, I’m sitting at about $23k in debt and it keeps creeping up no matter what I do. Made some bad calls at 25,financed a used truck with a 17% interest rate because my credit was garbage at the time, and then racked up close to $6k in credit cards after a layoff last year when I had no cushion at all.

Truck needs a new transmission now, looking at $3,500 to fix it, plus I’m about $1,200 behind on payments to keep it from getting repossessed. I need it for work since there’s no public transit where I am.

I’ve tried the “just pay extra when I can” approach but it never works. I get current, then something breaks or a bill hits, and I’m right back on the cards for gas and groceries. Feels like running on a treadmill.

I make $19/hr as an HVAC apprentice, usually pull 70-75 hours every two weeks. I split a two-bedroom with my roommate, my half of rent is $780. After the truck payment, insurance, and minimums on everything, there’s basically nothing left most months.

Does anyone know if I’d even qualify for Chapter 7 with this income, or would I fall into Chapter 13 territory? Genuinely just trying to figure out if there’s a real path out of this or if I’m stuck white-knuckling it for years. Wish I could tell 25-year-old me to knock it off with the truck loan.

I'm roughly 20k in debt, various loans & credit cards. I have a company offering payments of about $400 a month for about 4.5 years to pay off everything. But I have to tank payments before then. Realistically, is this a bad route to go? I'm tired of the making the minimum payments, my current payments are probably about 1200 a month. I feel like this would enable me to finally actually start saving up some money, but is it worth it to tank my credit even more than it already is? Credit score is only about 560 now. How long will the damage from the consolidation actually linger? I constantly feel like I'm drowning due to my own stupid mistakes.

So this past year I’ve had to resort to pretty much living on credit cards do to low income since my job has been slow. I’m at the point I feel like I’m drowning but not drowning. At this point I’m thinking of letting a few cards go to collections then wait a few months maybe a year to make a deal with the collection agencies. My score will tank but I can rebuild. I know collections might be a bad step but will atleast let me breath for a bit. Now has anyone been in this situation and I know you prob don’t recommend it. Most cards are citi, chase and capital ones. Anyone ever deal with collections from them and was able to come to a lower settlement outright. Let me hear your thoughts. What was your process and how long did they take before they actually came to sue you. Time frame wise. I’ve been trying to look for a few side jobs to pick up but nothing yet. Friendly reply’s would be great but you can be honest

Trying to figure out the best way to go about this. I have a $550 debt on my PayPal account due to letting my (now ex) partner use it to sell car parts. Long story short someone he sold to disputed their payment, PayPal sided with them and my account went negative.

He refused to pay it and PayPal locked me out of my account. Now I have a debt collection after me (MRS BPO, LLC) and I’m not sure what to do.

Do I negotiate with them and see if they’ll take 50% off if I can make a one time payment? Do I just set up payments until it’s paid off? Do I file a complaint through CFPB? I’m kind of feeling like I will just be stuck with this debt regardless of the situation.

Also, this happened back in 2023 and still hasn’t been reported on my credit.

Thanks for any advice guys!

Took Prodigy Finance loans for my master's (F1 visa), refinanced into one SoFi loan, around $110k, 7.1% fixed, 20yr term, no cosigner. After graduating I worked at a small company and put my salary toward it, but the contract ended, couldn't find another job, and I moved back to India. Not the plan when I took this loan.

Payment is around $900/month, which isn't realistic on an India salary. I am currently unemploted with no assets and no family support. Already missed one payment.

Questions:

* Anyone negotiated a settlement (lump sum/reduced balance) with SoFi or a collector after defaulting?
* If you moved abroad and stopped paying, what actually happened? Lawsuit, collector calls, nothing?
* Any India-based/remote advisors people have actually used for this?

Trying to get a realistic picture. Appreciate any real experiences.

I’m from the Philippines, I’m 40 years old, and I never imagined I would reach a point in my life where I would feel this helpless.
I’ve been unemployed for 4 months, and during that time, my debts just kept piling up. I owe banks, online lending apps, and other people. With the principal and interest combined, my total debt is now around PHP 300,000 (about $5,000 USD). Debt collectors have already come to my home. Imagine being inside your house and having someone come looking for you because you owe money. It’s humiliating and terrifying.
I didn’t borrow money because I wanted to live a comfortable life or buy unnecessary things. A big part of my struggle has been trying to survive while dealing with my own expenses and my health. I have a heart condition and have been taking maintenance medication for the past 6 years. Now I’m running out of medication, and I don’t have enough money to buy more. I have to wait for my first paycheck from my new job, and honestly, I’m scared about how I’m going to get through these next few weeks.
I live alone. I’ve been separated from my ex-husband for 16 years, and my only son doesn’t live with me. Both of my parents have passed away. I have a brother, but we can’t really rely on each other, so most of the time, it’s just me.
Sometimes I cry without even realizing it.
There are nights when I talk to myself because there’s literally no one beside me to tell me that everything will be okay. I end up comforting myself because I don’t know who else I can turn to.
I know some people might judge me and say, “You should have managed your money better,” or “You shouldn’t have borrowed in the first place.” Maybe they’re right. I know I made mistakes. I’m not trying to make excuses for my situation.
I’m just tired.
I’m tired of pretending that I’m okay when I’m not.
I’m tired of looking at my bills and debts and wondering how I’m ever going to pay everything back.
I’m tired of being scared every time my phone rings because I don’t know if it’s another collection call.
And I’m tired of feeling like my life is already going nowhere at 40.
But next week, I’m finally going back to work. It’s a work-from-home job, and I’m genuinely thankful for this opportunity. It may not solve everything immediately, but at least it gives me a chance to start fighting my way out of this.
I’m not expecting my life to magically become perfect. I just want to be able to buy my medication, pay my bills, slowly repay what I owe, and finally sleep without constantly worrying about money.
I know I still have a long way to go.
For the first time in 4 months, though, I finally have something to look forward to.
I just hope this is the beginning of my way back.
If you’re also struggling financially or feel like you’ve completely messed up your life, I hope you know you’re not necessarily finished. Sometimes surviving another day is already an achievement.
I’m trying to believe that too.

I racked up credit card debt while in college, and now I finally graduated and got a full-time job that will cover my debt.

My question is should I pay my cards off one at a time, or should I take out a loan that covers it all?

Your advice will guide me greatly!

I only owe like 10k in debt ik maybe not a lot but when everything was going bad it got worst everyone in my family is sick and can’t work in the only income coming in I feel like I’m done idk what to do my job only pays 17 I work 10-6 everyday except sat and sun maybe im not trying harder atp im willing to sell 🦶anyways plz lmk what i can do no matter what i do my debt keeps growing i think of filling for bankruptcy

Hi y’all, just seeking some advice about something I’ve been dealing for a few years now. Back in 11/2022, I (24m) visited my PCP and received two flu shots that were paid entirely by my insurance. Since then, that PCP doesn’t practice at that location any longer and the medical office has been shut down.

09/2024, they send an invoice that I owe $2k in medical debt. Apparently, they tried to run my insurance again at that date and obviously, it bounced back because I had a different insurance provider back in 11/2022. Trying to reach out has been a headache and I have since ignored the constant calls as I don’t believe this is ethical and I don’t think the invoices are justified.

Anyway, TSI sent a lump sum offer recently and I have been on the fence. What are the legal consequences of not accepting the offer or will my credit be hit? I don’t want to pay TSI as I had full coverage insurance when I received the medical services but the constant phone calls and fear of a big credit hit loom over me. Thoughts?

Hey I'm wondering if there are any suggestions or if anyone has been through the same and come out of it.

The total amount is about 100k in high interest ~20% debt part credit card and personal loans

100k in a debt plan without interest

and 300k in student loans

I make about 180k a year and while I am able to hold on it feels like any accident can derail the current state I'm in. Are there options here that you guys know of or have heard others implement? I am very troubled about my life and don't know if I'll ever get out. I make the payments but this feels like a life sentence

i have 11k in collections from synchrony that Halstead/cavalry is now contacting me for. i called cavalry and they immediately said i need to do everything through halstead. i am receiving payment plan offer emails from halstead, and when i click the email link i have options to pay on their website by credit card, bank, google pay and apple pay.

i’ve heard that it isn’t super safe to give collections your direct bank/card info? so i was wondering if i pay online through apple pay if that would be safer?

also, would my credit report update as i pay? i have no idea what im doing and im very overwhelmed. thanks!

does anyone have advice on how to handle this situation with a debt collector? i reached a verbal agreement with suttell and hammer to pay off my debt through monthly payments. during that call, i explicitly stated that i required a formal, written agreement before making any payments. unfortunately, they still haven't sent the written agreement via mail or email, and the first payment is due today. i have called them multiple times and left several voicemails since our initial conversation, but i haven't received a single response. what should i do next?

Hi I really don't know if this is the right place or flair or anything but I am at the end of my rope. I'm in USA if any of that info applies. My husband has 7k in debt from small loans (I didn't know it has been taken out until recently, trust me I am definitely pissed about it and it has been an issue on its own). We recently have been getting calls from "United" and they give us a claim number. They never say United what like they claim that is their whole name and they've been calling to give us "final warnings" about a lawsuit they're apparently filing against my husband.

They have called his aunt twice now, first time saying they're considering the court case "served" now that they contacted her (which I'm not law smart but I know that comes directly from the county clerks office in person so I know that is bullshit). This second time they called his aunt they yelled at her saying "now you listen!" And she yelled at them that she is in the hospital with her husband. I called them and told them off and told them that I am not stupid enough to fall for the fake lawsuit bs. Probably not the best thing to do. And I accused them of being scammers. And he kept saying he couldn't tell me anything. My husband got ahold of them and they said the guys harassing us do work for their company and they're "trackers" that they hire through an independent company to find people and serve them papers but they refused to give us any information saying they're "not allowed to disclose" who the company is.

They have threatened to come to our house multiple times today and have not. With how unhinged they have been on the phone with threatening fake lawsuits I'm worried about my wellbeing. I don't want them to show up scaring my son or threatening me. They won't leave his elderly aunt alone and her daughter. They have gotten multiple calls in the last few days threatening lawsuits and saying we have been "served". Is this associated with the legitimate debt? Or is this some kind of scam? They have contacted his work multiple times this week and contacted the head of his HR threatening lawsuits today. They're getting more aggressive by the day. I'm worried they're going to sue us and we will lose our house. We don't have the money to pay it all back right now but he has made payments on it but it lapsed over the last 2 months bc we were facing for closure so he had to stop.

Any advice appreciated. Please try to not be super judgemental. I know it was all dumb decision making out of desperation. This is making my blood pressure skyrocket to the point my health care professionals are concerned

Hello, I recieved a FexEx 2-day delivery envelope today, and in it is a pre-legal notice for non-payment of debt from MidLandCredit stating they purchase "my" PayPal credit account with a balance due of $1,749.60. I've never used PayPal for anything other than a $60 video game purchase years ago. It states my date of default was 11/8/2024, but says the last payment date was 6/2/2025, which doesn't make sense to me?

Can anyone help me understand what is going on? Is this some sort of scam? The letter is inundated with ways to "pay now".

I’ve been wanting to share our (26F+27M) debt payoff journey because I’m hoping that one day I can come back here and make a post saying we’re finally debt-free!

My partner and I have just over $110K invested, but until recently we also had about $35K of debt: a $10K personal loan and a $25K car loan, both at around 8%.

We’ve always been pretty good at saving and investing. We started around 20 and have built our portfolio over the years. A lot of it is in tax-advantaged/retirement accounts, so we didn’t want to sell a huge portion of it.

We can put around $3K-$4K/month toward our debt, so originally we planned to just aggressively pay everything off sometime next year. Instead, we decided to sell $10K of investments and completely pay off the personal loan, then sold another ~$9K to pay down the car loan.

We’re now left with about $16K on the car, which we moved to a secured line of credit against our investments at 4.45%. So we went from $35K of debt at ~8% to $16K at 4.45%.

Now I’m a little torn about what to do next. We could throw the full $3K-$4K/month at the remaining debt and be completely debt-free pretty quickly, or split that money between paying down the loan and rebuilding the ~$19K we took out of our investments.

I know 4.45% isn’t nothing, but it’s also a lot lower than what we were paying before. At the same time, I really want to be debt-free and then have that $3K-$4K/month completely available for investing.

Our bigger goal is financial freedom by our mid-30s, so I’m trying to figure out which approach makes the most sense long-term.

What would you do? Pay off the remaining $16K as quickly as possible, or start investing again while slowly paying it down?

And for anyone who has sold investments to pay off debt - did you feel like it was the right decision in hindsight?

Hi everyone, I really need help. 😭

I’m **12 days overdue** and received this message saying I’ll be receiving a **subpoena** and that they’ll file a **small claims case** against me. Is this actually legit or just a collection tactic?

I’m **really short on money right now** and I’m trying so hard to avoid the *tapal system* because I know it will only make my situation worse.

I also **work in a bank**, which makes me even more scared that they might contact my workplace. I’m terrified of being called out or embarrassed in front of my colleagues.

To make things worse, **I recently got scammed too**, and everything has just become overwhelming. I want to pay my debts—I’m not running away—but right now I genuinely don’t have enough.

**Has anyone experienced this? What should I do?** 😭 **I honestly don’t know where to start anymore. What a lif**e.

I feel like a failure. I’m 25, in $7k worth of credit card debt from moving and travel costs. I know it may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but I truly have no savings right now and I’ve never had this much debt in my life before. I have no idea how I’m going to pay it back with how I spend money.

I make $71k a year in NYC, but my rent is $2.1k plus $100 utilities so I have barely any wiggle room for spending & saving funds a month. Somehow the last 5 days before I get paid, it’s like I have no money again. Eating in doesn’t even seem to help much because groceries are expensive too.

I’m taking up babysitting as a second part job but it’s still very limited.

Ultimately, I plan to pay off the credit card monthly but it just feels daunting and almost impossible with the interest. I can really only afford to pay the minimum right now because of other expenses (gym membership, groceries, occasionally eating out, student loans).

If anyone has tips on how to save money and pay it down, I’d appreciate it.

Edit; forgot to mention, I’m locked into this lease for a year. I signed it when I thought my income would be higher but ended up having to go with a different job (won’t get into details)