r/DebtAdvice

So I have about $25k in debt on two credit cards
One is accruing interest and penalty every month I don’t pay it and the other doesn’t accrue interest until December.
Just sold my investment property and have about $150k in proceeds. I sold the house to pay off the debt + help save up for a down payment on a bigger house.
I don’t want to just pay off the debt lump sum if I don’t have to so I can make interest on the money in a money market or something.

I also have about $6k in upcoming expenses coming up.

What’s the best route to do this to try to save as much money as possible for a down payment + pay off these debts? Need some strategy here
Realize I’m in a good situation but I want to be as strategic as possible and save as much as possible to really set me up for success for buying a house

Hi. Are there among you who are Christians but suffering a debt spiral? How do you manage it? How do you remain faithful and obedient to God?

I took out a cash using my credit card which charge me interest but ever since than I paid my credit card in full every month and I still get the 0.1 interest in cash advance every month like wtf. This is like the 3rd month they charge me 0.1 interest in cash advance. I pay my card off the 1st of every month

I know this is vague, but I’m curious about what strategies you’ve found helpful when you can only make minimum payments on your credit cards.

Do you continue with just minimum payments, have you looked into other strategies or even cards/loans/idk what else? How did you find or decide upon a strategy that worked for you to get beyond that?

TYIA

Debt help

I am in $45,000 in debt with credit cards. Although not just me because I am married but all the cards are in my name. Now how did we get into that much debt? In the past 4 years we have had to get a Lawyer to gain full custody of my step daughter, shoulder surgery for my husband so he was out of with for 3 months, had to replace all appliances, had to replace, the hvac system, hospital bills for step daughter, replace 3 cars because engine went out on one, transmission went out on the next one and husband was hit by someone who ran a red light which ended up totaling the car, deck in back yard topped rotted through, window broken, then just everyday living expenses like gas, groceries, childcare, school supplies, school fees, etc. the last trip we went on was for our wedding in Hawaii then the honeymoon. We did decide to pay with a credit card a certification course for my husband to get into the pipe line field which he’s not in and making good money. I work full time as well. We don’t buy many “extras”, I’ve cut what I can but it’s not helping. With everything that has happened though we can’t get caught up. I would be so much less stressed if we didn’t have the debt. I’m not sure if it’s aloud but if 40,000 people sent me $1 it would give us so much relief. But that’s not realistic so we’ll just keep on trying. Thank you for at least reading

Today, I can finally breathe. After years of suffocating financial pressure, I have officially paid off my entire debt of **₹60 Lakhs**.

At my lowest point, my monthly EMIs equaled nearly 100% of my salary. I was struggling to cover even our most basic daily needs. The anxiety was relentless because it wasn't just about me—I am 36 now, married with a 3-year-old daughter, and have dependent parents relying on me.

**How the trap was built:**

**Derivative Trading (F&O):** The primary driver of the crisis and a massive financial black hole.

**Family Commitments:** Financing my sister’s wedding and constructing a home in our village.

**Ad-hoc Expenses:** Unchecked discretionary spending and poor financial boundaries.

**The safety nets I guarded with my life:**
Even when every rupee was stretched to its limit, I made sure never to touch two critical protections:

**Term Insurance:** Back when I was 26, I locked in a ₹1 Crore term plan at a very low premium. I never missed a single premium payment in 10 years.

**Health Insurance:** I maintained active, uninterrupted health coverage for both myself and my parents throughout the crisis.

**The turnaround strategy:**

**Ruthless Expense Control:** Total exit from trading. I completely eliminated eating out, vacations, and all non-essential purchases.

**Loan Consolidation:** I restructured multiple loans into a single facility, bringing my EMI down to 50% of my income and giving my household immediate breathing room.

**Disciplined Prepayment:** I started saving aggressively to prepay the principal whenever possible.

**The Final Liquidation:** A disciplined ₹11k/month SIP/ULIP running since 2020 accumulated to ₹10 Lakhs over five years. When my remaining loan stood at ₹25 Lakhs, I broke this corpus, pooled it with my savings, and pre-closed the entire balance.

**Where I stand today:**
My outstanding balance is **₹0**.

From next month onward, every single rupee I earn stays with my family. My immediate roadmap:

Building a dedicated 6-month emergency fund.

Directing our cash flow into disciplined, diversified mutual funds.

Securing my daughter’s education and our long-term retirement.

If you are trapped in debt, stop trading, consolidate where you can, protect your base with insurance, and stay disciplined. The relief of being truly debt-free is worth every sacrifice.

I have 4 debts . 3x of them have 18% interest rates 1x is 6k I owe a friend. How do I pay this off with minimal interest impact?

-18k at 505/month 18% interest
-5k at 220/month at 18% interest
-1400 at 35/monty at 18% interest

6k owed to friend no contract

I currently earn approximately $5,000 per month take-home pay and have around $50,000 in credit card debt spread across 8 credit cards, with interest rates ranging from 22% to 28%. Most of these cards are nearly maxed out.
At this point, the majority of my monthly payments are going toward interest charges, with very little being applied to the principal balance. As a result, I have struggled to make meaningful progress in reducing my debt.
Unfortunately, this situation has also negatively impacted my credit score, which is currently between 630 and 650.
My goal is to obtain a personal loan with a lower interest rate to consolidate all of my credit card balances into a single loan. This would allow me to pay off the cards, simplify my finances with one monthly payment, and help me stay disciplined while working toward becoming debt-free.
I would appreciate any recommendations for banks, credit unions, or lenders that may work with someone in my situation. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help.

I have a credit card that was written of as a ‘bad debt write off’ over 2 years ago now.
As of this month that balance has now been placed on my credit as a derogatory mark and sent to collections? How is that possible?
Also the company has never reached out to me, no phone calls, no written acknowledgement, I had to go back in history to try and figure out what the heck it even was.
The best part? When it was written off it was under 4k, now they claim I owe almost 8….
My credit is terrible, i need to buy a car and can’t, I can’t even afford rent I live at home. Idk what to do 🙃

I’ve gone through years of survival and homelessness, and now that I’m stable I want to improve my credit. I have no idea how to approach this. I’m worried about contacting the debtors and not being able to afford what they offer as a settlement. I just am very unsure. I’ve heard of different methods of paying but I wanted some more perspectives.

Here’s what I have to pay off:

School loans $43,241 (deferred. I’m still in school)

Personal loan $3309

Child Support $685 (I’m making above the minimum payment to pay this off. I got laid off for a few months and got behind).

I have two in collections:

Credit card $291
Line of credit for pet hospital $422.

I also have three hard inquiries : one from this year, one from 2025, and one from 2024.

I appreciate any kind advice, as I want to get myself back on track.

Thank you!!

hello all. throwaway acct for reasons.

i encountered financial hardship issues after the deaths of my dad and uncle. i racked up CC debt.

i stopped paying discover in april of 2026. in june i got a letter from capital mgmt services to collect the debt. in the june letter, they offered 47% settlement. i did not have the lump sum on hand to take advantage of it, so it went by the wayside.

i've been reading this sub and seeing how discover is notorious for litigation and pursuit of the debt. i wanted to avoid things like lawsuits and judgments, etc.

so this morning i was proactive and called CMS to discuss a settlement.

my current balance on my discover acct is ~$13,200. they offered a lump sum 40% settlement, that would come out to ~$5,275, due on 8/28.

is this a good deal? i see posts saying discover will demand 60-70% plus. is this just over-the-moon good, or does waiting for longer open up opportunities to settle for less %?

thanks in advance, reddit peeps.

I feel like I just need to get this down and out there.

I am in about £60k of debt. I earn £80k a year but the vice I feel round my neck every single day is all consuming. I haven't missed a payment yet but I feel like it's a dark shadow that's coming. Every waking minute I think about it and I'm ashamed.

10 years ago I was debt free and earning half as much as I do now. A series of unfortunate events has just thrown me into the deep end and I just can't see a way out:

- my partner died in my arms at age 30 in 2017 due to a heart attack.
- covid hit me hard and I was out of a job.
- my new partner (now husband) also got laid off once in 2020 and 2022, the latter for 6 months, and I had to pay all the rent and bills myself for both of us.
- In 2021 we had to move unexpectedly and to an unfinished house for the first time, which meant we needed to buy furniture and all of the bits we needed. We tried to be frugal, but it added up.
- in 2022 my car finally was on its last legs so I took out a loan to buy one (about 7k)
- in 2022 I was diagnosed with bowel cancer, had a temporary stoma bag for a year, which was then reversed in 2023. For both surgeries I was out for 5 months and 3 months respectively and went down to government sick pay. By then the debt was racking up but I had to keep borrowing to pay my bills.
- I have developed panic disorder since all of these events and depression, which has made budgeting and managing money so much harder for me.

I just need to get some good news stories from people who have had this much debt and managed to climb out of it. I feel like my mental health is declining from this so badly.

Thank you

I need some advice.. I’m not sure if debt review is the right option for me

I’m currently in about 300k debt.. I took a 100k loan for my husbands business that he bought so he pays the loan installments for that but the rest is all on me

I’m on a very decent salary and my expenses and repayments don’t always exceed my income,
I took out a consolidation loan about 2 years ago and paid off everything, I had no overdraft or credit card debt then slowly but surely I started digging into it and now I’m at a point where my OD and CC are maxed out
I get paid my salary and then I transfer what I have left after my debit orders to my credit card so it takes the transfer as a payment the problem is the charges and fees are getting more and more each month leaving me basically nothing to live off. The other problem with this is I’m actually not getting a chance to pay back any of the CC or OD, I’m just paying interest and fees every month.

Would debt review be a good option for me?
My car is paid off and our house and bond is in my husband’s name so I won’t be needing a big line of credit any time soon.

Any advise would be appreciated!

6 months ago i opened a credit card with the express intention of building my credit score. Following some unexpected expenses wiping out my paycheck, and a cut in my hours i’ve found myself 4k deep into credit card debt.

I’m really struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I make 1.9k after taxes, but next month i’ll have to spend arround 1.3k handling some medical issues.

I want to make an aggressive start to paying it off, but i won’t have enough to get by.

I started a business with my extra free time and turned over 1k profit, i reinvested it in hopes of spawning more growth. Since then the business has made nothing.

I turned 20 a few weeks ago, and every single day i’ve felt a crushing weight. I keep playing with the idea that the only way out is to end it all. This existence is miserable, and i hate myself for being in this situation.

no one knows the extent of my problem, and even if they did i don’t have anyone around me who can help.

no debt consolidation loans will approve me, no balance transfer cards will accept me. I’m drowning in 70% APR. At the time i didn’t care the card was 70% as i had every intention of spending 20% and paying it back before interest could kick in.

i feel so lost. Constantly suffocating, and stuck in a state of perpetual panic.

Hey guys, I’m 20 years old and I recently went into roughly 2200 in debt for some orthodontic treatment, the payment is only about $74 a month and it’s INTEREST FREE. Whenever I go online I always see “debt bad debt bad” but is it really considered debt if I can literally pay it off right this instant I just choose not to because it’s interest free

My thinking and what I’ve done is I just threw the whole 2200 into the stock market and I will continue to pay the monthly payment with money from my checking account

Hello! I’m looking to pay off some debt and want to know what’s a good route. I have a brand new car with no payment for about 1 year (will not be selling the car, monthly payment is low) so wear and tear is not a worry. I’m in the Bay Area and want to know if anyone has done the same before. My goal would be to put all of the funds towards the debt and aside 20% of the earnings for taxes! Just want some input and advice! I have a baby on the way and just want to focus on getting this debt out of the way. I’m not disclosing my amount because I’m more so focused on the method itself!

Hello! I am trying to find a lender out there that works with people with bad credit. Is there any credit unions or banks that anyone knows of? Just thought id ask. Also if anyone knows a good debt attorney as well that helps. Thanks!

| Name | APR | Current Balance |

| Credit Card 1 | 30.49% | $2,368.25 |

| Credir Card 2 | 29.49% | $2,808.26 |

| Personal Loan | 18.00% | $6,251.82 | fixed 192$

| Credit Card 3. | 18.00% | $7,496.10 |

| Personal Loan | 17.00% | $9,095.94 | fixed 251$

| Credit Card 4 | 15.65% | $5,033.30 |

| Credit Card 5 | 13.74% | $2,678.32 |

| Personal Loan | 11.74% | $5,069.89 | fixed 437$

| Total to Pay Off | — | $40,801.88 |

My current pay is 4000-5000 a month. Mortgage is about 1,500. House bills about 700ish Insurance about 400-500. Fixed Personal loans 880

So this is my debt. I feel like in drowning and cant catch up. What would be the best way to tackle this or would getting a second job help.

I have been a loyal customer of *** Bank Credit Card, using their credit card for the past 13 years with an impeccable track record. I have never defaulted or delayed a single payment in over a decade.

However, due to severe and unexpected financial crises last month, I was unable to clear my outstanding balance of ₹5,00,000 by the due date (13th of the month). This was my first ever default in 13 years. The bank subsequently generated a statement adding a ₹50,000 penalty and interest component to the bill.

I immediately emailed the bank explaining my financial distress, requesting them to waive the interest and penalty, and assuring them that the principal amount would be paid soon. I received no initial response. To honor my commitment, I sold my household gold and paid the full principal amount of ₹5,00,000 on the 25th.

Following my payment, the bank emailed me stating they would review my case within 4–5 days. However, on the very next day (26th), the bank generated a fresh statement levying an additional ₹75,000 as interest and penalties.

I am currently going through an acute financial crisis and have absolutely no funds left to pay this ₹75,000. The bank is refusing to support a long-term, loyal customer despite the principal amount being cleared.

My Questions:

1. What legal remedies do I have under RBI guidelines against such compounding penalties during a financial crisis?
2. Can I approach the Banking Ombudsman directly, and what is the procedure for a waiver request?
3. How can I legally protect myself from harassment by recovery agents while this dispute is pending?

Thank you for your valuable guidance.

Been trying to understand how flexible debt management plans are in real life. So for people who have been through a dmp, what happened if your financial situation changed during the plan?

For example, your income decreased because of a job change, your expenses suddenly increased, or maybe you missed or struggled with a monthly payment? Were you able to adjust your payment amount, or was it difficult to make changes once the plan started?

I’m also curious what happened with any creditor arrangements or reduced-rate terms during those situations. Did the agency or creditors allow adjustments, or did you have to find another way to manage the payments? Thanks in advance!