r/DebtAdvice

I’ve accrued debt from the age of 18, now aged 26, I would like to get rid of it and live debt free (as we all do). The issue is I feel as if I was irresponsibly lent money. I have a good credit score, never defaulted and have completed a few accounts (loans). However, I feel as if my report has always reflected a high usage/reliance on credit, several accounts open for a long period of time and others rectified by the opening of others.

My current balance stands at circa £15,000. I pay out about £500 a month across three credit cards and a PayPal credit account. The age of the PayPal credit account is around 4-5 Years, with the original lending being £2000, it is now at £3500 and doesn’t look to go down anytime soon due to interest. I also have a barclaycard I took out last year to try and rectify a Very account I had.

£3000 was applied for but I was given £8000. Since then, I have accrued more debt, transferred balances to another card (which gave me another exuberant amount VS what was applied for), paid off some loans I had in between but ultimately ended up in a worse situation. PayPal said I’m approaching Persistent Debt but I would and have argued I am there already, since I’ve only really ever made the minimum payments and gone over my limit, but was still granted increases.

I earn around £2.1K a month, with occasional additional freelance income. My total bills including debt amount to around £1300 - £1400 per month. I understand this is ultimately my fault, but I come from a household of poverty unfortunately and financial literacy wasn’t a priority in survival mode. It’s sad, but I have ultimately been in survival mode since becoming self sufficient. I would love some advice on whether I do have any standing with irresponsible lending and/or what my options are without an IVA as I would like to buy a house in my early thirties. Thanks for the help.

Like most, it has built up and gotten out of control over time. The slow burn. And facing it still remains the hardest part. The shame, the hiding, but also, the fire to get it under control-which still feels insurmountable most days. I’m in a DMPP,
and I’ve done all the things and have a plan…but it’s going to be years. The income doesn’t make a difference when you owe what you make. I like reading about other people’s journey, as it makes me feel less isolated. Thank you for sharing. I suppose I’m just here to say it out loud and to say thanks to those who put themselves out there.

I already spoke with the bank before, but they didn’t accept any of the options I could afford because they said my debt is too large.

I currently have two credit cards that are maxed out. One card is $6,000 with an APR of 16.65% and a card with $4,000 with an APR of 24.49%. The total minimum payments are a little over $300 a month.

I've talked with Americor, but saw some things posts on reddit that make me weary of going that route.

I've briefly looked at other credit cards to consolidate, but I'm unsure I'll be able to get the money together for the balance transfer fees.

Lastly I'm looking at a personal loan through SOFI, which looks like I could do a couple of options. 2 to 5 year loan, APR ranging from 13.52% (2 year) to 21.47% (5 year), and a monthly minimum payment of anywhere from $458.64 (2 year) to $256.66 ( 5 year).

If anyone is willing to provide recommendations, past experiences or help me make a choice in any way, I'd be grateful. If you need more information to be able to help let me know.

I took a big pay cut and had to switch jobs about 1.5 years ago. I racked up 12k in CC debt with the interest rates being between 19-29%. The interest is brutal. pros and cons to getting a personal loan to pay off the CC debt and then paying off that person loan quicker than I would the CC loan?

My wife and I have always been financially stable, albeit a few years ago when we got hit hard with financial hardships one after another, we had to decide to put these expenses on to a credit card, it then became an issue of balancing emergency expenses between our CC and checking account, the hardships have not stopped and it has become an issue of managing money in/out, 2 cards maxed out and now my wife is on a leave of absence from work for emotional health and we are down to single income, I have gone through the budget, and have torn everything apart to realize after making all necessary expenses, bills, rent, etc we are left with around $106 after minimum payments on cards.

Im so lost in figuring out how to tackle this, and whatever form I fill out, debt relief, consolidation, bankruptcy, whatever all tells me they are the way to go and im just tired of people lying to me so that they can benefit while I continue to fall deeper and deeper in ruin.

I am planning to do whatever I can to earn a bit more money, and am also trying to help my wife get better as well, I just need real advice, real answers, and a strategy that works for me

Chase CC: $14,368 at 27.49 apr

Discover CC: $4,005 at 26(ish) apr

I currently have 2 predatory loans that are completely draining me.
One from Uprova and one from OPPloan.
The APR for Uprova is about 350% and OPPloan is almost 200%

United settlement contacted me and it sounded incredible. The next day, I realized what it actually is and there could be lawsuits and my credit score could be severely affected.

I was so desperate to get these 2 loans off my back that I may have gotten in another situation. The monthly payments seem more doable and I get it’s a legitimate company. But I have to stop payments and that could affect my already suffering credit score

The total between those 2 loans is about $4900. So it’s not INSANE, but with the interest and if I just pay the scheduled payments, it’ll Triple what I owe.

I was also just denied a bank loan so I just don’t know what to do and if I got myself in a worse issue.

I just found out I’m going to be permanently disabled 6 months ago. I had a shoulder injury that kept getting worse the longer I received care. While trying to get my arm working, I lost my health insurance due to not working enough hours. I had to fight with SSDI to get my claim approved. I ended up $30 in debt from all my bills plus paying medical expenses. Unfortunately the interest kept adding up. Now I’m $50k in debt. I receive $1900 a month for disability. For the last 3 months I have been struggling to be able to pay all my bills.
My question is what do you recommend I do? Is there grant programs that can help with some bills? Should I look into a debt relief program? Or is there anything else that I’m missing? Thanks

I've looked into 3 different ones today and they can all cut my 1500$/month credit card payments in half, BUT they want me to stop paying my credit cards. This really scares me, especially as a renter to have multiple missed payments on several accounts. Any experience/advice?

I am debating on getting a debt consolidation loan to pay off 8k in credit card debt. I have 9 CCs with a total debt of 8k. I was pre-approved for a debt consolidation loan through Lending Club with a 26.6% APR. My monthly payments would be $272 over 48 months, but I plan on paying it off early. There is no penalty for paying the loan off early, and paying $272 is a heck of a lot better than the $480 I am paying across all CCs in the form of minimum monthly payments. I see no downsides to getting the loan, but maybe there's something I’m missing. What would be the cons in this scenario? My current CCs have such high APRs that I feel like I'll never get them paid off. One of my cards is also increasing their APR from 27% to 36.6% and adding a $99 annual fee which was not included before. I feel like I’m giving away my entire paycheck and I just want to breathe.

Side note, has anyone work with Lending Club for debt consolidation? What was your experience like? Any advice helps!

hi, i’m embarrassed to ask my parents about this but i do truly need help on this. i’ve been building my credit for a year now but i have two things in collections that are just weighing my score down. i mistakenly thought that when i got a new debit card that not updating my card would end my anytime fitness membership and i was wrong. i had no clue how much i owed until it showed up in collections and its at 1k now. as well with a medical bill from when i went to the er and had no money to pay for it at that moment so i was saving money so i could pay for it. i’m a server so i was trying to pick up shifts while also paying other bills to try and pay for this medical bill. well they sent that to collections as well. i have no idea how to pay these things off and how to get them out of my collections so that i can get my credit right again. right now im 2k in collections. any help is help.

heres the situation:
when i was 19 and living with a family friend, she stopped paying rent and did not tell me. we got evicted and left with 15,000 debt. I got the eviction off my record but the debt is still on my credit report. Its been about four years since, living with my mom now, and I have not been able to catch up. combined with my own debt, im 20,000 in the hole.
Because of interpersonal and financial reasons, i’ve decided I need to move out asap. My partner and our friend both have leases up at the end of summer and I know its a fast approaching deadline but I am determined to be ready. ive done vague but overestimated calculations and i believe moving out will not put me in a much worse financial situation.
so at this point, it looks like I need to pick a battle: try to rent with all the apartment debt and poor credit score or try to rent with a bankruptcy. I just need advice on which path to take.

edit: i am not interested in options that require me to pay that 15,000. if I dont file for bankruptcy it should drop off my credit report in three years and its just not realistic for me to even try to begin paying that large sum when I cant even wrangle my own debt.

edit2: i know it sounds like a better financial situation to stay with my mom, but its not much different. my rent will be about the same. also she is NOT financially stable. she is actively losing business and asking more money of me. which is understandable but im already struggling ‘at home’ so why should i stay. its a struggle either way so i might as well do it in my own space with people who i trust and make more than me.

Hey everyone,

So I have definitely a problem with over drafting and i've racked up 3 separate companies that are emailing me about it - just want advice on wether anything is going to happen if I don't pay.

First: I had a pnc checking account that was withdrawn around $700 and eventually they shut it down and keep sending me emails to resolve it

Second: A third party agency is emailing me on behalf of a sports betting app saying that I owe them around $450 (indebted is the company I keep getting emails from)

Third: I have a venmo balance that need $500 for restored balance

*I can pay these I just want advice on how bad it can get if I dont

Thanks

Recently road off my vechile,insurance gave me the cheque with my name and lend company name on cheque, i deposited cheque in my account,still owe 10,000 to lend company, what should I do

Most have a short term option or a 5 year fixed payment plan with reduced interest rate with closing the card.

I personally have plans through chase, pnc, of card, Wells Fargo and citi card. All are 5% interest and below.

Yes you have to close your card. But yes that means you can finally make progress.

My finances are a disaster but this is one of the most missed helpful factors I see

I was dumb when I was younger (and still drinking) and racked up around $17k in credit card debt between Discover ($13k), Best Buy ($3k), and Capitol One ($1k) cards. All of those cards are between 25-30% apr

I make roughly $62k/yr before taxes/deduction

Current credit score is ~710 (no missed payments ever over 10yr credit history)

I have a ~$20k car loan (at a very manageable 7% due to mom co-signing)

No student loan or medical debt.

I can make the payments on what I have every month (with a little extra added, but rarely more than $50), I just can't make much headway on the overall debt because the interest is killing me. Would it make sense to roll all of that debt into a 4 or 5 year debt consolidation loan (assuming I can get considerably lower interest rates) since I'm able to keep my hands off the credit cards now?

Sued for debt, default judgment, can the court case be “removed” if paid in full?

Hi, I had a loan that I defaulted on for just over $5K. I stopped receiving communication from the original creditor and they apparently sold and the new creditor hired a law firm that sued me.

I was unaware of this and was never served papers (I moved). The ruling was a default judgement, so I’m told.

I’m going to pay the debt in full but want to know how to proceed with the court ruling. The law firm said they’ll remove the pending garnishment once payment is made.

I want to know if it’s possible to negotiate the court filing? I’d like something equivalent to a marriage annulment, if that’s even a thing. A quick google search says maybe a “Set aside judgment”.

I want to pay it off but would prefer the court case to be “dismissed” or whatever the legal term is for never happened.

I don’t know how or if this will impact my record but I’d prefer a clean record.

Thank you for any help.

took out a €11,000 personal loan from a P2P lending app while I was living and working in an EU country. I lost my job a few months ago and I’m moving back permanently to SEA soon. Once I’m there I’ll have basically zero income or assets left in Europe.
My income back home is extremely low — it’s realistically impossible for me to continue making the regular monthly payments.
I know this is my own mess. I’m just trying to understand what usually happens in practice in situations like this.
Has anyone here had real experience with European P2P loans after permanently moving back to SEA? What actually happened with the lender or collection agencies? Did they pursue the debt internationally or was it written off/sold?
Just looking for realistic experiences, no moral judgment please.

Looking for advice guys so I owe 12k from an uninsured accident, honestly worst mistake of my life and I have full coverage now. This accident was back in like June and I had a recovery service sending me letters for awhile just like 3 or 4 and I ignored them, now almost a full year a law firm sent me a letter saying they were investigating the case and sent me a payment QR code and all that. I’ve read around here and it looks like ignoring them helps nothing so I’m asking for advice. I have roughly 8k which is everything I’ve saved up over the years. I’ve heard of things like them settling for less? People say if the debt is 12k they bought it for $900 or something usually so they would settle for 6k. Does anyone know anything about that or if there is a lawyer I could pay for that? I haven’t been sued before I’m only 20 and want help or questions is greatly appreciated. I don’t think getting sued over an accident would be good for my driving record so looking to avoid that if possible.