About $38k in cc debt, $12k car loan. Lawsuit filed against me by creditor for $22k of consumer debt. I haven’t been served papers yet but they’ve made at least one attempt. I’m not reckless with money or living beyond my means. I actually just moved out of a spacious rental home with a gorgeous yard and garden, into a smaller, darker ground floor apt to save money.
Had no debt, awesome credit, and decent savings (although no retirement fund) 3 years ago. Moved to a higher COL state, medical emergencies, other life/job stuff that was out of my control (no gambling, I got sober from booze/drugs many years ago, I don’t have a shopping problem) but in 2024 I only made $19k. My rent was $2100. 0% apr promo rate cards came into play. The promo period ended. Drowning in interest. Drained savings, sold all stocks/etcs, was still making min payments even though it meant keeping my thermostat at 58 degrees in the winter .it got to where I had no savings buffer and had to face buying food, keeping the lights on, or paying CC minimum, so I missed many payments. My credit went from mid 700s to low 500s over this time. I made over double in 2025 than I made in 2024 but still paycheck to paycheck bc of the debt.
Credit cards mostly gave Zero fucks about financial hardship. Chase was brutal. Citibank was kind. So I stopped paying Chase bc I literally couldn’t. But even paying minimums on the others, even with one card willing to work with me…its too much. I’m throwing 400-500/month towards credit card and my total balance decreases like 210 bucks (and $111 of that is a Citibank closed account with no interest!). I don’t have health insurance, can’t afford new glasses, can’t afford to go anywhere (even free places cost gas money to get to or cost money to park there), my car is not registered in the state where I live bc it’s gonna cost over $1k that I don’t have. And now I’m getting sued. And student loans are coming out of forebearance.
This sub actually helped a lot in me taking the final step towards getting out of this hole. Someone posted with similar numbers and story to mine and said they felt relieved after filing (or maybe post discharge I can’t remember). I said I was leaning towards it. Someone else told me to not lean towards it to run towards it. I started reading about the relief others felt. I imagined what it would feel like if I wasn’t constantly stressed about income vs expenses. I met with a bankruptcy attorney. I took the credit counseling course (yes I charged it to a card that’s going to get discharged). I gathered all the docs the attorney required. I paid him the $1400 legal fees plus the court costs out of the emergency fund that I didn’t even have until I squirreled away my refunded security deposit from my recent downsize. He said he will reach out to me early next week with his prepared draft.
I’m worried about:
-future living – got lucky with not having to prove my income is 3x rent at this place (single, live alone, and def don’t make 3x my rent.) but in a year when my lease is up if they don’t want to renew…I’ll also have a bankruptcy on my credit report. Ideally I stay here until I can buy in 2+ yrs but landlords be shitty sometimes…
-my car – going to do retain and pay. I have a side gig that covers my car payment and what I owe is equal to what it’s worth. But just learned how I won’t have access to online portal etc. I currently do weekly payments and want to keep up with that since interest compounds daily. Also with my car not being registered in this state, and still needing to do that how much of a pain is that going to be if the loan is discharged (I’m in MD)?
-future emergencies/big expenses beyond my savings – I don’t want to rely on credit cards but if a big unexpected thing happens (I had to rely on CC for big costs like vet emergency, insurance deductibles for new windshield for my car, another car repair bc a tree fell in the road while I was driving, ridiculous $600 power bill, new brakes, I’m coming up on needing to pay $300 to the professional board to renew the license I need for my job, taking a $650 board exam within the next yr for another license etc)…
I’m excited about:
-removing all the CC payments from my budget tracker
-not needing to use my debt tracker spreadsheet (I guess I will keep one for Student loans and car payments actually)
-working to release the shame that’s been simmering internally for the past couple yrs
-relief
submitted by /u/CatchYouDreamin
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