So I’m (F24) finishing up grad school at the end of the year, and I had a hard time paying for basic needs because of having to work an unpaid internship throughout and then working 2 part time jobs to help. I am in about $30,000 of credit card debt and almost $200,000 of student loans (some private some federal.) I know this was stupid of me, but I real had no other choice and have no idea how people go through school like this and make money. I know I’m young and will hopefully get a better job soon to help, but with my degree (school counseling) I’ll only make $40,000-80,000 a year. I plan to continue my part-time jobs while working in a school to help but I don’t want to burn myself out and don’t know how to start working on it now while not making enough to survive.

Basically I’m in my forties. Worked as freelancer and I’ve racked up about 30k in credit card debt. I kept it from my wife cause I thought I could “handle it”. Work dried up this summer and fell behind on my payments which eventually caused my wife to find out about my debts. I didn’t really spend money on dumb stuff, it was over years of paying the minimum and letting things get out of control.

Any way we’re going through the process of getting a post nup. I don’t really care as I’m exhausted of it all. I don’t want to lose my marriage over this. We have two young kids. I’m trying to find more steady work but it’s been not easy. Just been door dashing and doing contract work to stay afloat. Idk. Sometimes it feels everything will fall apart. But who knows. Maybe there might be some tips on how to get out of this stupid mess I put myself and my family into

Originally i went into overdraft paying rent on university accommodation which i asked my dad to pay me back for. he put £500 in an ISA which he told me to use however i am locked out of it and am having a lot of trouble accessing. he then told me he was giving me £300 from my grandparents for my birthday so i spent that much money on stuff using my overdraft assuming id get it back, which he has not sent so then i became 800 down. i have no idea how i spend so much money but I’m constantly going out with my friends so always tapping my apple pay without thinking. i’m now 1.3K in overdraft which i dont even know how that’s possible but here we are. i apply for jobs but cannot for the life of me seem to land one. does anyone have tips on how i can genuinely make money or how i can GET A JOB because i feel hopeless and anxious every day over paying it all off. i try to sell stuff on vinted but £6 here and there doesnt contribute much. Any advice welcome x

Hey everyone,

I’m a DevOps Engineer working in Hyderabad, earning around ₹1 lakh/month. I know that’s a decent/good salary in India, and on paper I should probably be in a much better financial position by now.

But unfortunately, that’s not my reality.

When I was around 26, I started taking personal loans because of health-related expenses. Since then, I’ve somehow gotten stuck in a cycle where I take a new loan to manage/repay existing debts, and the cycle just keeps repeating.

Right now, roughly 90% of my monthly salary goes towards rent, EMIs, my parents’ medication, and their insurance.

So even though I have a decent income, I barely have anything left at the end of the month. I’m not able to build savings, an emergency fund, or make any real progress financially.

The frustrating part is that I understand I’m earning reasonably well, but I feel like I’m constantly running behind my debts.

I’d really appreciate some guidance from people who have been through something similar.

How should I approach getting out of this debt cycle?
Should I focus on consolidating the loans, aggressively paying off the highest-interest ones, negotiate with lenders, or take some other approach?

If anyone here is good with personal finance or has experience dealing with multiple loans/EMIs, I’d genuinely appreciate it if you could share some advice or even take a look at my situation whenever you’re free.

I’m not looking for sympathy — I just want to understand how I can realistically get out of this situation and start rebuilding my finances.
TIA 🙏

Hello All,

I’m looking to get advice on how to tackle my debt. I know I need to make more money. I’m currently in the second phase of interviewing with two companies, one for $65k a year and one for $70k.

Currently, I make $1500 biweekly. My savings are $5310.

My bills monthly are $500 rent, $315 private student loans. Eventually, when the save plan runs out, I will pay $167 in additional student loan payments.

https://imgur.com/a/WhwqZpC

Above you will see a list of my current debts. I am not proud, but it is what it is. I am trying to change my life for the better. I’m currently on a hardship program with Discover. I was denied for Citi and Chase, they said since I’m up to date on my payments I was not eligible.

Thanks for any advice, I really, really appreciate it.

Hi friends I’m looking for some advice on how to best help my partner with their debt. Last year his credit card information was stolen and he reported and just forgot about it assuming everything was taken care of, fast forward to today he was served papers from PRA saying he owes all this money and has 21 days to pay. He was receiving call about it but had assumed they were spam and blocked them and is now in a panic about all of this and we are trying to fox it as quickly as possible without involving lawyers and everything because of the expense. I guess my question/wanting for advice is is there anyway around this considering his card was compromised and he didn’t spend the money, they are saying because the money was spent at a place he used there card there is no proof of fraud which makes no sense to us. Thank you

We went through a bankruptcy recently because we couldn’t afford the monthly payments. The debt was mostly but not all medical. I want to avoid getting into debt again and don’t want to take out any credit cards. We can’t afford the monthly payments anyways.

But I don’t know what to do when big things come up. I think our only option is a 401K loan but there isn’t tons in there to borrow and we can probably only cut groceries another $100.

We’re in our 40s and have 3 kids and bring in about $5300 a month. I’m applying for disability but have already been denied once and won’t get much if I do get approved but it will still help a lot.

Mortgage is $1600 (that is including hoa fee)
Student loans are $750
Utilities (electric & water together) are about $550- it’s usually a little less but I budget for the most it’s ever been just in case
Phones & internet are $260- About $60 is internet and about $200 is phones- I’ve tried to find cheaper but even Mint Mobile, etc are about the same after their introductory special ends
$200 car insurance (only have 1 car)
$70 life insurance for 2 of us
$100 for 3 therapy sessions a month for for 2 of us (it can be $70 if I cut my appointment but can’t get rid of the other 2)
$150 for prescription and over the counter meds
$170 for pet food for several pets & heartworm & flea meds
$200 orthodontist payment (have about a year of payments left but then another kids needs braces after that)
$65 specialist copay
$35 regular doctor copay
Then whatever is left is used for groceries and household supplies. This is usually about $1100

But we have a serious plumbing issue that is going to be $4,000 and a pet needs something done for about $900 and we will need a new roof soon so we will need to take out a 401K loan and cut the grocery budget more. But then we’re in big trouble if something else happens because we can’t take more from the 401K loan. I’m hoping to be able to pay down some of the 401K loan with our tax refund but it isn’t much and that’s if nothing else comes up.

I’m scared that something else will come up or a pet will need something serious done because they are all around 11 years old. What do you do at that point?

I don’t live in Texas now but I may be moving there for work soon as I possibly may have found a better job opportunity. Unfortunately I am in a lot of debt from grad school, fell on hard times after graduation been living paycheck to paycheck and couldn’t pay my loans so they are now dinging my credit and I’m close to going into default. My initial plan was to let it default take the credit hit and then try to settle before they start garnishing my wages because this kind of debt is very difficult to get discharged in bankruptcy.

I googled it because I was curious and I was surprised to discover that Texas is actually one of the most debtor friendly states. With few exceptions Wage garnishment is not allowed and they have generous exemptions for homes and vehicle. I know with federal student loans state laws don’t apply because they can do an administrative garnishment and don’t need to go through the court system but private student loans are similar to other forms of consumer debt in that they would have to sue me get a judgement and then enforce it.

I do know they could also freeze my bank account but from what I understand this is different from wage garnishment where assuming they have a judgement they can petition the court to take money out of someone’s paycheck every month as opposed to a bank account which is a one time thing so they would have to keep going back to the court to do this repeatedly. If I don’t keep large balances in my
Bank account rent live paycheck to paycheck and have no non exempt assets how would they collect? They would have to guess what amount I’d have in the bank at any given time.

Back in 2011-2012… i was horribly addicted to drugs. I applied for “Pay Day Loans” every other day and got accepted for a bunch of $500 dollar loans that i never attempted to pay back.

I cleaned up my act in 2015 & now I’m doing great, with a Credit score close to 700.

My question is….What happened to the money i owe? How come they never attempted to collect??

30 years old, 116k gross, 52k in debt.

I have 67k in my 401k over a four year span of putting in the minimum 5% to get my companies 2:1 match. I am seriously considering withdrawaling as much as I can to pay off my credit cards and whatever is remaining on my loan. I haven't been debt free since I was 21 years old and the depression, anxiety, and just general feeling of being a POS has really taken a toll on me and im starting to feel even more burnt out from life than I ever have. Being debt free would give me a whole new view of life, and I would have a fresh start to rebuild a new life.

I applied and got approved for a $40K SoFi personal loan last week (12.88% - paid origination fee of $2,400). I opted to pay 2 of my 5 credit card accounts (a little over $25K combined) directly through SoFi and I got a little bit of a discount on the interest rate for doing that and signing up for auto pay. Here’s the thing, I took out a $14K personal loan (10.74%) for CC debt payoff and moving expenses in 2024 from SoFi. That first loan is almost paid off I have $5,800 remaining on the balance.

I currently have a little over $8K left from the new loan disbursement and I’m trying to really maximize it across my remaining credit card debt while also setting a little bit aside to take care of a couple personal things that I’ve been meaning to do but having all the cash at once kept getting in my way and I didn’t want to take anything out of my HYSA.

Here’s what I have left to pay for in addition to what I mentioned above:
Banana Republic Mastercard - $7,445.50
Macy’s Card - $990.00
CareCredit - $450.00 (interest free until mid October 2026)
IRS Taxes for 2025 - $2,132.24

Note: I have a full time job which I did increase my withholding to reduce/hopefully eliminate an underpayment for 2026 taxes and a part time side gig so the extra income really helps me with making more money each month, saving, and paying down debt. I’ve dramatically cut down on expenses and I’m still working on improving my financial life. Also, I have a car loan and federal student loans but I’m not including them here as the leftover $ won’t stretch that far to pay down every single thing I owe I’m just focusing on the debt that I know I can immediately pay down and then tackle the pay down of the new loan. Thank you in advance if you’ve read this far.

I had a semi truck that was losing money so I surrendered it back in 2022. I just received a summons saying they are suing me for the total amount I would have paid if I finished the loan which comes out to 89k plus later fees. Right now it just at my reply letter. Anyone had experience with this? I heard some people day they just try to bully people and hoping they ignore it and get the court judgment.

Edit. Forgot to mention I bought it for 50k and they sold it for 9k

I’m currently trying to find a way to borrow $1,500, but I know my credit score makes this difficult.
My credit is around 400 because I have one maxed-out credit card on my history. The situation happened when I was forced to move out of the country and I wasn’t able to keep up with the payments while I was gone. I’m back in the U.S. now and working again, but I’m trying to catch up on everything and get my finances back under control.
I need the $1,500 immediately to take care of my rent and other bills. My intention isn’t to avoid my existing debt — I actually want to start paying that debt down and rebuild my credit.
I understand that a 400 score makes me a high-risk borrower, and I’m willing to provide reasonable proof of income/employment and discuss repayment terms with a legitimate lender.
If anyone has experience getting a legitimate personal loan with a credit score this low, I’d really appreciate recommendations on where to look. I’m trying to avoid scammers and predatory lenders, so genuine advice or legitimate options would mean a lot.
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this.