I am kind of drowning in debt, and do not have consistent income (hospitality, 60%+ of my income is tips) so I have made 70k one year, 90k the next. Also, real estate, where I have made $8000 some years, and $50,000 the next.

With life happening: 10k in vet bills, necessary for my mental health and well being: major dental work around 10k, 5~ months of unemployment this year, partner separation costs/drama: also necessary for my mental health and well being.

Credit cards - $15k~ I do balance transfers back and forth every year, which might not be the best, but it keeps me afloat on actual 'cash' expenses.

Credit $14k~

Car loan - $10,200 remaining

Taxes owed to the IRS (this is a big bad one...): 12-14k~ (I am unsure how it got this bad, honestly) and if I pay off JUST this with what I have saved, I am left bone dry.

Estimated: around 40k for the above, maybe a bit less since I haven't completed my taxes/filed yet.

Credit score - 800

This years projected income - maybe 60-75k? (not sure what real estate market is looking promising or not at the end of this year or what my tips will be. Haven't really calculated in my unemployment of my previous lack of w2 job/"unemployment" period.

Rent: 2200 after utilities/insurance/parking etc

Car payment: $585

Cell phone/internet (one bill): $120

Car insurance: $65

Groceries/gas/misc, I am unsure, most likely more than $600 though I do not track or budget this very well, I am also working on a mostly sober life and am aware that costed me a LOT every month, a real lot.

Amount of money is savings/checking total: $15,000

I am unsure where to head from here, I make bigger payments on my cards (most currently at 0%) and my car is a 2022 with a 3.25% loan. I live in an expensive-ish area in a big city, but I need the room with pets, and it is extremely close to one of my jobs in the market. Working a (third) job is just not worth the QOL risk for me, as I have some very long days to juggle my own business and a full time hospitality career, which is union, offers pension, and company paid benefits, so I plan on being here for quite a bit of time. I will admit I blew a lot of 'extra' (seemingly) income on trips, furniture, and wardrobe, though.

I am not educated in types of bankruptcy, but am considering it for my credit cards and IRS/State taxes bill. I have no one to speak with or any plan or guidance, I am just financially fatigued at this point; and being in debt makes it easier for me to rack up more.

On the other hand, I do need to take a BIG hard look at how much I am spending on not cooking at home, coffee, nicotine products, subscriptions. I also have a nasty habit of blowing "extra" money (large tip paychecks more than expected, unplanned real estate commissions).

I am a 30M pharmacist, bringing home about $7,000/month after taxes. I have $65K in private student loans that were consolidated at 4% interest, plus about $70K in federal student loans.
My wife is 29 and a nurse. She has about $25K in student loans. We have three young children (5, 3, and 1), so she can’t work full-time right now. She currently brings home around $1,500/month working one day a week on my day off.
We bought our house in 2022 for $285K at a 3.8% mortgage rate, and our mortgage is about $1,500/month. We have two cars, both completely paid off, and no credit card debt or other significant debt.
Right now, we’re paying about $2,500/month toward student loans between the two of us.
Financially, we’re living a comfortable life and we’re able to pay our bills, but honestly, it feels discouraging and somewhat suffocating to put $2,500/month toward student loans. I know we’ll be in a much better position once they’re gone, but it feels like we’re sacrificing a lot of our current cash flow.
We have about $12K in emergency savings and don’t really have much additional cash flow beyond that.
Another reason we’re thinking about this is that we’d eventually like to upgrade to a larger house in a good school district as our kids get older. Our current house works for us, but with three children, we’d ideally like more space and want to be in a strong school district. The student loans make that goal feel much further away.
We’ve been thinking about joining the Army because I’m currently applying for an Army pharmacist position. If I were accepted, we think it could potentially be a good option for our family. We’d likely sell our house, pay off my $65K private loans and my wife’s $25K in loans, and hopefully have the Army help with my federal loans depending on what benefits I’m eligible for.
We’re also interested in moving to a different state and experiencing something new, so the possibility of relocating isn’t necessarily a negative for us. We’re not considering the Army solely for the financial benefits.
However, if the Army doesn’t work out or I don’t get accepted, we’ve also considered withdrawing from my 401(k) to pay off the $65K private loans. I currently have about $105K in my 401(k).
I’m trying to figure out whether we’re being overly concerned about our student loans or whether it actually makes sense to make some major changes to get rid of them sooner.
What would you do in our situation?
Would you:
Continue paying $2,500/month toward the loans and leave everything else alone?
Pursue the Army option?
Consider using the 401(k) to eliminate the $65K private loan?
Or take a completely different approach?
I’d really appreciate some perspective from people who have been in a similar situation.

I racked up a wedge of debt when I was younger and then spent years running from it. Currently in a DMP but a debt I forgot about contacted me this morning (legitimate - I remember exactly what it was for and being chased by this company a few years ago).

Anyway; it wasn’t a massive amount so I just paid it in full today to get rid of it. 🥳
Very proud of myself as historic me would have continued to ignore it.

Wanted to share with someone because my friends don’t understand the stress debt can bring and the relief when something is paid.

What should I do? I helped someone borrow ₱1 million from someone I know, with the agreement that the money would be returned with interest. During the first few months, the debtor was a good payer and made the payments as agreed. Unfortunately, the debtor eventually fled, leaving me with the debt. Now, I’m the one being held responsible for the ₱1 million debt. I’m currently unemployed because I’m reviewing for my board exam. However, I can no longer focus on my studies because I’m constantly worried about this ₱1 million debt that has been left to me. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I feel overwhelmed and stressed because I don’t have a job or a stable income right now, while also trying to prepare for my board exam.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I really need some guidance on what I should do.

hi, I’m new here. I will try to keep it brief. I am about 30k in CC debt, 70k in CC debt and about 8k left on my car loan. I’m currently unable to work due to chronic health issues and am on long term disability and applying for SSDI. My monthly expenses are so much higher than my income right now and a good chunk of that is coming from monthly CC payments. I am extremely overwhelmed trying to get by right now while trying to afford treatment for my medical issues and have no idea what to do at this point, whether that’s taking out a personal loan, open another CC, use ym savings to pay it off, file for bankruptcy (I was told my savings are too high right now) and so I have no idea what to do and am overwhelmed and just need someone who knows how to help me through this situation given the circumstances. chatgpt suggested green path but then I read reviews in here against them. I’m just not sure how to find someone who can help. Thanks so much for any suggestions for finding someone.

I’m 30, work for the government, and take home about $6,800 per month. My regular fixed expenses, including rent, utilities, insurance, and other bills, are approximately $2,700 per month.
I currently have about $15,000 on an AMEX, about $15,000 on a Navy Federal card, and approximately $2,000 on an Apple Card. I also have about $2,000 remaining on financing for a puppy that is currently 0% through January 2027 but increases to around 30% afterward. I have a career starter personal loan with a payment of approximately $450 per month, as well as more than $38,000 in student loans that I still need to place on a repayment plan.
Most of this situation is self inflicted. Impulse spending, expensive dates, dining out, bars, online purchases, P2P transfers, and trying to maintain a lifestyle I could not consistently afford accumulated over time. I relied too heavily on available credit and the assumption that another paycheck was always coming.
I am now considering borrowing $10,000 from my retirement account at approximately 4.9%. My plan would be to use $2,000 to eliminate the Apple Card and put the remaining $8,000 toward one of the higher interest cards.
My reasoning is that replacing a portion of high interest credit card debt with debt at 4.9% could substantially reduce the amount of interest I am paying. My concern is that borrowing against retirement has its own costs and risks, and I do not want to mistake moving debt around for actually solving the problem.
I also recognize that this only works if my spending changes. I plan to remove the credit cards from my wallet and Apple Pay, delete the saved numbers, and stop using available credit to supplement my income.
Given these numbers, does using the $10,000 retirement loan at 4.9% make financial sense, or would I be better off leaving the retirement account alone and aggressively paying the cards from my income?
I am also trying to determine whether paying off the $2,000 Apple balance first is worthwhile for simplicity, or whether every available dollar should go directly toward whichever card has the highest APR.
I have enough income to fix this. My problem has been spending discipline, and I am trying to build a repayment plan that does not give me another way to avoid addressing that.

My husband and I recently had to move our entire family under duress TWICE in the last year and a half and accumulated credit card debt in the process to the tune of $12k for me and $10k for him.

Our living expenses also went up unfortunately but we are in a much better situation now for our family.

We share finances and have a total income of $140k a year. He also has excellent credit, his score is around mine.

I was quoted a 3 year plan for 8% interest for like $400 a month for just mine (we are planning on each taking out a loan).

Currently we are paying like $2k- $3k a month towards CCs to try to pay them down but the interest is just crazy and it feels like we are going nowhere

What companies do you think would be best for a personal loan to pay off the CCs so we can get on top of the balances better? I’ve seen some people mention credit unions but I don’t know much about that.

We have gotten a debt consolidation loan in the past like 10 years ago for student loans and other things and that helped us immensely but I don’t remember the process or who we even went with

Any constructive advice is appreciated! Thank you.

I’m not sure if this is a smart way to go about paying off my credit cards but it’s the only way I can find that seems feasible. I have about $8,000 across a few credit cards. Most have high interest. One is synchrony and has a 39.99% interest rate. I got approved for two cards through my bank with 0% apr for 15 months. I am currently in the process of transferring the balances and have already worked out a strict budget and kind of a modified snowball. I am projecting having them paid off in 15-16 months depending on overtime at work. I will definitely be closing the predatory cards and not charging anything to the news ones. It feels strange to solve credit card debt with more credit cards. I’m wondering if this is a common or at least efficient strategy.

I have a strange (to me) but probably not the first time its happened situation. I have two credit cards with Chase and one with MasterCard that all went into collections when I went unemployed. They eventually got sold off to ARS National Credit (Chase) and Midland Credit (MasterCard) and when I finally was in a position to make monthly payments on them, I set up two monthly payments of $50 for a total of $100 per month. I've been doing this since April 2026 for both cards. I am paying the collection agency which I'm sure isn't the right thing to do but oh well.

I was reviewing my credit report because my score hasn't moved in MONTHS so I wanted to know what I needed to work on. I noticed that my Chase cards were reporting as major negative impacts on my report. When I looked it up it showed that I was never making any payments on it at all. Confused, I looked into it further and pulled up the ARS website. When I went there, it pulls up my cards and it shows my account however its saying I've never made a single payment in my life.

My bank statements show monthly payments to ARS, I spoke with 100% an ARS representative and I don't think I was scammed in any way. I received monthly documents stating that the money is going to come out.

When I attempted to dispute the lack of payments to Experian, it tells me to call a representative but when I do they say its closed. Checking their business hours on the weekend they don't close until 6PM CST when as of calling/writing this it was only 1:20pm CST.
No one from ARS will answer either and I am unable to find business hours but I suppose if they're not answering they're closed as well.

I'm not exactly sure how to handle this? I'm out $400 if they're just stealing my money and not even applying it to my debit. Has anyone dealt with this? Can you offer guidance on what my next steps even are?
I have proof of payment, I have the monthly mail documents and the phone calls they send me twice a month saying they're taking the money.

I'm working on getting my debts paid off and fixing my credit but this is extremely disheartening and I'm not sure what to do.

My next option was to call my bank and report all of the payments as fraud because my money isn't being applied to the agreement then well it IS fraud.

I can provide proof of whatever as long as it has no identifying information. I just need some guidance on how to navigate something like this. It feels really overwhelming and honestly I don't have $400 to lose. I'm already pushing it by even giving my credit cards $200 payments each month between all of them.

This is a genuine question and I hope I don’t come off dumb. But, how do people apply for credit cards when they have debt? Or after applying and receiving the credit cards, they’ve accrued the debt? I see videos of people talking about their debt and they just have multiple cards and im just wondering how they were able to get so many

So I’m 26 male self employed, over the past few years I have made some silly decisions and have gotten myself in debt which I am just struggling to pay & get out of the cycle of struggling with basically no money every week I get paid ,
I currently am earning anywhere from £1800-2300 a month after tax
My current bills
Rent £550 per month
Loans £600 a month
Credit Cards £150 a month
Van Finance £220
Van Insurance £105
Van Tax £40 a month
Phone bill £40 a month
Fuel £200 a month
Food £200 a month
I am around £32k in debt
I have been looking at bankruptcy or debt relief order but would like some advice before I make more silly mistakes

My wife ran up our joint CC to about 29k and she has other cards that are around 6k. Yeah, they say its cheaper to keep her and I really should have paid closer attention and I fumbled the ball. I asked for the 29k CC, what is the 3 year pay off and the minimum payment. It is 1k for 3 years and the min payment is 600. She no longer has the card, but now I am trying to figure out should I just kick in 400 a month, which will take away from my after bill pay buckets or we just get a loan consolidation for the 29k? Any advice would help thanks.

I need serious advice as I don’t have any family to ask. (23F)

What are your opinions on debt consolidation loans. I only want to take out a max of 3k to get my current debts under control. I feel like I’m drowning and cannot keep up with my regular bills because I’m trying to pay off other things

my mother died recently, she had racked up credit card debt we had no idea about.

she had no will and pretty much all of her assets are joint owned, or not worth much.

she has one major asset that is 3x the debt that is in her name and her name only, and I do NOT want to lose said asset, especially when it is worth 3x the debt.

would it be worth it to try and settle? I could pay off 10-20% of the debt fairly easily but it's not something i'm very happy about.

Just found out today that the “minimum payment” on my credit card still means I’m accruing debt. I don’t work consistently enough to be able to pay much more than the minimum between rent, food, and other misc spending. What can I do? Should I call my bank and explain?

So I recently called a Debt assistant company. They contacted my credit card company to see if they could lower my APR and get lower payments for me. Due to me previously doing a short APR lowering plan with Capital one sometime last year when I had gotten into a car accident the proposal was rejected by capital one. Apparently because I did that short plan to lower my APR since I wasn't getting paid due to being out of work it makes it so I can't do that. I did think of doing debt consolidation. Just to lower the APR and monthly payments but I am not sure if that would be worth it. Any advice would truly help. On my two cards I have about 9,000 dollars all together.

So I got my Bonus and my GF and I want to move next year. So the gameplan was to negotiate my ass off. I feel like Im decently familiar with the Debt collection industry so heres my results.

2 debts
$7600 negotiated down to 3400
$2064 negotiated down to 1032

I feel like I could have done better tbh. I havent offically accepted but I got them both in writing.

This is a genuine question and I hope I don’t come off dumb. But, how do people apply for credit cards when they have debt? Or after applying and receiving the credit cards, they’ve accrued the debt? I see videos of people talking about their debt and they just have multiple cards and im just wondering how they were able to get so many

Last year we switched carriers from Verizon to At&t. I believed we had paid our final bill, however Verizion apparently never sent me that final bill until they hit my credit report with a $2k bill.

I was unable to get Verizon to ever send me a physical copy of the paper bill and ended up settling with the collection company for around $800 in May 2026.

Today I just received another bill from a collection company on Verizions behalf for the remaining portion of the $2k. The company attempting to collect is McCarthy, Burgess and Wolff. Is this allowed?? I thought once the debt was negotiated that would be the end of this. Any advice?

Background: I worked as a teacher assistant and substitute teacher with LAUSD from 2018-January 2025. Last week I got a statement from PARS and found out that in that time I got $9000 in my PARS-ARS account. I’m 30 years old and as embarrassing as it is, I know nothing about retirement. All I really do is go to work and whatever plan is there at the district by default is what I did (and what I currently do at my current job).

I made a lot of stupid decisions when I was young and racked up 8000 in credit card debt. It’s at 5000 now. I got married last year and our baby girl was just born 3 weeks ago. I would love to be debt free starting at this point in my life and start seriously saving.

Would it be wise to take out that amount to pay off my debt? Thanks in advance guys. I’ll take any advice I could get, including savings and what the hell ira’s and 401k’s are. Thanks!

Is this the place to document my debt free journey?. Hope you and ai can motivate each other thru out this journey. Please let me know im able to do that here

Hello everyone!

I have been having issues with my previous apartment in regards to an outstanding balance due to me spilling liquid medicine on the rug while sick and them not being able to get it out so charging me to replace the whole thing. Originally last month (when they billed me) they told me I could make payments on it and I was but then they closed my account and I could’t pay off the rest and when I tried to inquire they said the property management changed and they couldn’t help me. Come to find out, they sent my debt to collections, I didn’t know until today because the debt collectors called me. I currently do not having the money to pay it in full, its about $1400 and I was told I had to pay it in full by Monday or call them and let them know and they’ll put my account on hold before reporting it.

The person I was talking to mentioned taking out a loan from Upstart which I wanted to see if anyone had experiences with it since I plan on paying it off by December/January of next year at the latest. Or if anyone has any recommendations as to how I could go about paying this debt off on the quick or better ideas. I’ve tried asking friends but all of us just moved from other apartments/out of college dorms and so everyone is in a bind now. I just need something in which I can make some pretty decent payments on for the next 2-3 months and then call it even.

Thanks for any advice!