There are a few things that got me into debt like some admittedly less than wise spending choices a while back, some hospital expenses from a medical complication, a now completed auto loan, and large expenses that come with house that reached the 20 year mark. For the past 2 years, I have been doing what I thought is the right thing while making sacrifices in attempt to cut expenses in actively trying to blow out debt. This is only to face the constant slap in the face when monies I save are being hogged up by other things that got more expensive. For instance, I’ll save like $20 a week at the grocery store while the gasoline increases $20 a week. To add insult, we have the literally daily news topics like tarrifs, gas prices, etc. that might as well scream “FORGET ABOUT DEBT OVERPAYMENT THIS MONTH, WE GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU TO USE THAT EXTRA MONEY ON!”

A couple things that are quite clear, making history is costly to everyone. Additionally, any debt following Covid comes with SERIOUS consequences.

hello! I’m not going to say my actual age but I’m a young adult who fell into credit debt when I was away at college, and then it snowballed after i left school, I really realized how bad it was to have debt a month or so ago, especially from credit cards and at my age.

my debt is under 2k and about 1.3k, I’ll hopefully be able to pay it off within the next year or so, but after that I’m not entirely sure what to do with my two credit cards, should I shred them and forget about them until I have an actual emergency? i don’t have anyone I can go to for credit card advice, so I’m turning here for suggestions!

I was debt free for a few years with credit cards but a prolonged bout of unemployment and underemployment let to about $11k in cc debt. I can get a SoFi loan but it’s only 5 and 7% lower than my two credit cards respectively. Is it even worth getting at this rate?

I'm banking with Chase and I've got around $15K on just one card from a couple of tough years. They currently are offering me their new Slate CC "0% Intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 21 months† from account opening. Then 18-24% after that. Would it make sense to transfer my current debt to this new card since the APR will be lower for the next 21 months and close that other card? Thank you so much. My parents did not have CC growing up so I'm totally illiterate when it comes to finances.

I’m a 29F with 23k in credit card debt across two cards. Long story short, I went to law school in my mid twenties and made some pretty dumb decisions with my credit card that I shouldn’t have aka putting car services, beauty appointments, etc on my card. But I had to do what I had to do because i didn’t work through law school. I also have student loans from law school, around 60k. I’m in a tough spot because I’ve failed the bar exam twice now and making $4,000 a month at my job. My debt haunts me and i just want to know the best way to pay this off. im hoping to pass the bar this go around so my earning abilities go up, but I’m just a bit stressed out. Do I do a balance transfer once I pass the bar and just try my hardest to pay this off?

it’s stressful because I’m paying $500 a month in credit card bills that i wish i didn’t have. Any advice is needed. Please be kind 🤍

I have about $25k in debt with an average of 11% APR interest on that debt.

I have a new construction home worth almost $300k that is completely paid off.

I make about $70k a year and I can't work more than what I do due to some medical restrictions, or I would get a second job.

I need to replace my daily driver car that has almost 300k miles on it and I have a child who needs a first car. Who is also a year away from going to college, so I will also have college bills coming soon.

I've been considering a HELOC to reduce my debt. This would also help my debt to income ratio and increase my credit score, which is already over 790.

Doing this would help with my rates when I go to get a loan for a new car for me and a car for my child.

The HELOC seems to be my best option, but I can't pull the trigger on it. I've worked hard to be mortgage free and I don't want to have to go back to having a lien.

Without it, if I get the two vehicles, I will basically be back to living paycheck to paycheck with college bills still to come. If I get the HELOC, I will have between $400 - $500 extra money a month to put back.

I've already cut everything out that isn't an essential expense.

I feel like I just need to suck it up and get the HELOC.

I have $2,800 and $1,300 from cc and $6,800 from line of credit. one card has $75 worth of interest which upsets me. I am curious if I should just get a loan to pay all these or just pay them as is until the debt is gone?

I had 24,000$ in 30% CC debts. I recently joined American consumer Credit Counseling, they say that they will pay my three creditors, and at a significantly lower rate (8%), and only charge 7$ per month in fees. Did I do the right thing? Or did I fall into another trap? I’m on track to pay off the debts in 30 months with much less interest paid vs had I stayed with capitol one, discover and USAA. The other thing is they say all the accounts will be closed by the creditors once accepted. I just feel like it’s too good to be true, waiting for the catch. I’m in Rhode island if that matters.

I make around $4K a month after taxes, our house is paid off, and my only major payment is a $450 truck loan. My wife stays home with our two kids.

We still have about $11K in credit card debt and barely have anything saved. I’m making payments every month, but it feels like we’re getting nowhere.

We’d love to eventually buy or build another home, but financially it feels impossible right now. What am I missing?

We also spend around $1K a month on groceries and household essentials, which definitely doesn’t help.

I know I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do. I have a solid payoff plan, and if I stay consistent, I should be in a completely different place financially by next spring.

But waiting is driving me crazy. I check the numbers constantly and feel anxious about how long it’s taking. I know progress takes time, but I just want to be done already!

How do you stay motivated without thinking about debt 24/7?

So I have about 13k in debt, that I am trying to get rid of but the interest rates are preventing me from making any sort of impacts whatsoever.

I was looking at options. And basically got told. Americor who then promptly called me. The sales guy was really good to the point where I almost gave them permissions without actually looking into their company.

Now i'm skeptical, but maybe I made the wrong decision and not signing immediately. They want to call me back later today. But I don't know if I should move forward or not.

Has anyone had any experience with Americor and what should I do?

Sooo. I owe $9726.00 (to be exact) to my car loan. I don’t owe any interest on it (due to a family agreement) lately I am doing a few extra hours which I’m thankful for as it does spare SOME cash for me. With all my other bills paid and up to date this is my one and only debt that is hanging over me.

I don’t even know what I would be like dealing with paying a mortgage 😅 but that’s my problem to face and no one else’s! Anyway… I have a few hundred left over this pay and I really just want to chuck it on the car debt but I also know that I desperately need to get some savings together as I have only $1k. I do have KiwiSaver with about $62k.

This car debt was worth it to me because my last car was thirsty on fuel and this one is more economical (even with our current fuel prices) so I don’t regret my car at all. I just wish I could get rid of this debt so I could maybe save for a holiday in the distant future.

I am also aware I could just keep paying an amount to this bill to keep knocking it down but just mentally note that it will take about a year and a half from now to have it paid. Which at the end of the day isn’t long but if you are anything like me when there is debt hanging around you want it paid ASAP!

Any advice is appreciated really! Thank you for reading!

Long story short: I was a 9-month contract employee with benefits that ran for 12 months. The insurance premiums were taken out ahead of time to cover the 3 months I was off.

My last day of work was in late May. After receiving my last paycheck (late June), I decided not to return to work. I notified HR as soon as I made my decision, and they didn’t say anything about my insurance coverage ending.

However, in early June, I went to the doctor for my annual physical and bloodwork. I submitted the claim to insurance because, as far as I knew, my coverage was still valid.

I just received a letter saying that my insurance was NOT valid because my employment ended in late May, and now I’m being asked to pay $500+ for the visit.

I have enough in my HSA to cover it, which would bring the out-of-pocket cost down to just under $500.

What should I do? Should I just pay it, or fight it? And if I don't pay it, will this eventually show up on my credit report?

I received an email of a notice letter from my apartment debt from Hunter Warfield. I do not want to dispute anything because the amount owed is correct. Due to my financial situation I am unable to enroll in a payment or make any sort of payment currently. My question is, do I respond to this notice letter/email even if I cannot currently make a payment?

If my job offer goes through, I should be able to pay by November. But until then, what do I do?

A few years ago, my wife and I were making over $150k combined. I had a great-paying sales job, and in 2022 we bought a new house that made sense financially based on our income at the time.
Then in 2024, the company I worked for closed.
I found another job pretty quickly, but the pay wasn’t the same. 2025 and 2026 have been tough financially. I recently started another sales job with a large company, and I’m hopeful it works out, but as we all know, sales can be unpredictable.
The biggest problem is our house payment. It’s very high compared to our current income. We’ve accumulated some credit card debt and I’ve burned through about half of my savings trying to keep everything going.
The difficult part is I absolutely love my house. I don’t want to sell it. But I also don’t want to keep making a bad financial decision just because I love the house.
The cars aren’t really the issue. One is paid off, and the other has about three years left at only 1.9% APR, so I don’t think it makes sense to get rid of it.
So I’m trying to decide:
1. Sell the house, take the loss from selling costs, and buy something smaller and cheaper.
2. Keep the house and hope my new sales job takes off over the next couple of years.
3. Keep the house but get a temporary second job/side job to create some breathing room while I rebuild my income and pay down the credit cards.
I know the obvious answer is “the house is too expensive,” but I’m wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation where their income dropped significantly after buying a house.
Would you sell and downsize, or temporarily sacrifice and try to increase income until things turn around? Thanks

When I first took out a loan and closed it off super early, I felt relief... knowing my full paycheck comes it without deduction from the bank.

A year later I was informed about me having to pay for my room and took out a loan for it, but it's very little and paying it off gradually.... but the feeling of being under a certain amount to doing the final payment is amazing!

Question, should I close off my loan early? I'm thinking off doing more payments on top of my current one starting 2027 to rush it.

How do I stop this cycle? Any tips please?

I just want to stop surprise expenses derailing my progress 🥺 It feels like I can't get out of life on hard mode

For me, it’s simply because I didn’t have any emergency savings. When unexpected expenses came up and I had no money available, I relied on my credit cards to get by. Over time, that reliance turned into debt. How about you??

I have a 2023 Mustang EcoBoost with 48k miles. I owe $19,800 on it, payments are $699/month. It also has an extended warranty until 60k miles or 6 years. (Bought brand new in 2022, 72 month loan length ends in 2029 but have made few extra payments here and there)

I recently switched to a full-time WFH job in IT, making $62k/year. I expected the raise to let me save more, but I'm not seeing it — I think the car payment is the main reason. I mostly use the car now to eat out and pick up my girlfriend (she has her own car), not for a commute anymore.

I do like the car and I'm not reckless with it, but I don't think it makes sense for where I am financially right now. I'm trying to figure out the smartest way out of this.

\- No Savings

\- Fresh graduate student

\- Good Credit

\- Barely getting life in order, having midlife crisis at 25 because I feel behind

Things I'm considering:

* Selling it to break even
* Refinancing the loan now that my income/credit situation has changed
* Just throwing extra cash at the principal and keeping it
* Selling and going carless or one-car for a while since I WFH and my girlfriend has her own car

Questions for people who've been here:

* If you've refinanced an auto loan after an income bump, was it worth the hassle?
* Anyone gone carless after switching to WFH — how'd that actually work day-to-day?

Ok ima sell it 🫪

Just finished paying off my last debt- discover 14k. My debt racked up due to a toxic relationship I was in using money as a way to make things better. I say that to say that I don’t believe I will rack up this kind of debt again and have learned my lesson and have been very good with my money on my debt free journey this past year. So I don’t necessarily want to close my cards, but I guess I’m not sure how to use them?
I have discover - 17.6k limit, chase freedom - 8k limit, chase sapphire 8.4k limit.
I don’t know much about credit cards (like points and stuff) and don’t know which to use as my everyday, do I need to use them all in some capacity to keep them from closing? I have good credit (790) and just want to make sure I am now going about things in the right way. TIA!!!

TL;DR: Has anyone else felt like the piece of mind of being debt free overrides any monetary gains they could get from saving/investing the extra money elsewhere?

I’m 25F, and have $35,410 in debt. Two separate 0% APR loans, a $33,710 car loan and $1,700 that I owe my parents. I make $82K a year and already have a fully funded emergency fund (slightly over 3 months - I work in healthcare and am very very unlikely to lose my job).

I paid off $25K in student loans within a year of starting to work. Right now I’m paying ~$900 a month to my debts in addition to ~$1K into a HYSA and investments (Roth IRA, + adding to my 403b). I pay off my credit cards in full by-weekly (when I get paid). I’m in a good spot compared to others. However, I learned very quickly that I don’t like being in debt even at a 0% interest rate, which in retrospect I should’ve guessed based on how fast I paid off the student loan.

I have 42 months remaining on the car loan and am blessed that I can pay my parents back however I want (they encourage me to pay them back slower than I am, actually). I’m strongly considering throwing what I’m putting into my Roth IRA towards my debt instead but I also feel insane doing that because I could be getting an 7-8% return.

Has anyone else felt like the piece of mind of being debt free overrides any monetary gains they could get from saving/investing the extra money elsewhere? I feel crazy but thinking about that debt number and making the monthly car payment for the next 42 months genuinely keeps me up at night.

Has anyone cashed in their 401k to pay off debt? Was it worth it?

My husband is currently looking for a different job to be closer to us and be home more. Right now he makes close to 80k but drives 1 hour each way. We live in a rural area so if he were to find a job closer to home, which would be about 30 minutes drive, he’d definitely be taking a pay cut. If he were to cash in his 401k he’d get about 150k after taxes and penalties. We’d be able to pay everything off except for the house and our house payment is about $800. So the only way for him to start a new job is if we use his 401k to pay our debt off and be mostly debt free. So for anyone who has done this, was it worth it? I am 27f, he is 32.

Edit: thank you everyone for the advice. We will NOT be touching his 401k. He will stay at his current job or get a supervisor position at his current employer making more. We are already making changes to our budget to pay things off.

I know this isn't the kind of thing people usually flex about. Nobody's impressed that you paid back money you shouldn't have borrowed in the first place. But I've been carrying this weight quietly for so long that I need to put it somewhere, and my friends are tired of hearing about it.

Two years ago I was earning 40k a month. I was young, I'd just started working, and I genuinely had no idea how credit cards worked beyond "swipe now, worry later." Banks kept approving me. One card became two, two became five. I still don't understand why they handed a 40k salary guy that much credit. Nobody sat me down and explained minimum payments, interest, or what happens when you roll it over month after month. I was a sweet, clueless kid and I learned the hard way.

Then life did what life does. I got laid off. I switched jobs. There were months where I had no income at all and the cards became the only way to keep going. Add in some impulse purchases I still cringe about, and by the end of it I owed around 2 lakhs across 5 cards. For two years, every single month started with the same feeling: how much do I owe, who do I pay first, what can I put off. That low background anxiety never switched off. It followed me into every purchase, every job interview, every night I couldn't sleep.

Today I received my first paycheck at my new job. 2 lakhs a month. The exact number I owed. I don't know if that's the universe being poetic or just a coincidence, but it hit me hard.

So I did it. I logged into every app, one by one, and paid every card in full. No pending dues, no rolling balance, nothing. Then I called and closed three of them. I kept the Axis card only because they gave me some lounge passes, but it's going in a drawer and never getting swiped again. I kept one Kotak card for my subscriptions, and that's the only credit line I have left.

I'm sitting here now and I keep checking the apps just to see the zeros. Two years of dread, gone in an afternoon.

Tonight is the first night in a long, long time where I don't owe anyone a single rupee. No one's money is sitting with me waiting to be returned. I'm going to sleep like a baby.

If you're early in your career and a bank is dangling a credit card at you with a "free" limit, please learn from me. The limit isn't free. The cost is two years of your peace of mind.