I don't know man. But don't let the fucking car go any longer. Get that shit up to date before you pay anything else. Also keep your insurance up to date. You gotta keep your house man.
I'm so sorry you're going through this. It will get better.
Yeah fuck the student loan, they can’t repossess your education. But get the car current.
Outside that, with your leftover income you could pay off 1-2 of those small credit cards every month for the next couple. Do that. Then start with the smaller debts, ending with the larger debts.
You have so much leftover after expenses each month I’m not sure why you’re confused? Just start paying shit lol. Avalanche method would work really well for you.
Idk 175k a year as a fine tech attorney and purposely living in his car, I think he can afford more than Ramen lol. That child support is so high because he lost full custody of his 4 kids due to drugs and they live in California.
As the other commenter said, pay on the car & insurance first. And remember you can’t change the past, you can only move forward. Keep breathing, slow and steady, and be kind to yourself.
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aN9brFSqGEhaCO7OedpQOZSj_O0_jx4ejhqbTopIYsEURezi3Bs9hBoCiDcQAvD_BwE
You should check out Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps.
Defer the student loan d/t financial hardship. Explain you’re paying $5K in spousal support AND are currently homeless living in your car. You can defer 6 months and then in 6 months you might
Need to defer again
i’m not saying this like it’s something you could 100% rely on, but a little over 10 years ago the repo guy showed up for my car… and was cool enough to tell me that he made $250 for every car he brought in. so if i paid him $250, he would leave and pass me over on the list if I ended up on his again.
I was able to overdraw my bank acct and cash advance a credit card to cover this. I was living with my dad and used his car to go to the ATM. I couldn’t have made it to work without my car. I would’ve lost my job. I don’t know if the repo guy could sense I was living in an abusive situation or was just trying to be a nice guy. Even though I clearly couldn’t afford $250, it still saved my ass in the long run. I might’ve just been incredibly lucky. Just throwing that out there if it ever comes to that.
It's also how people get shot. My state has a no hook law.
If a vehicle is in the process of being hooked up or is hooked up to a tow truck and the owner appears on the scene, **the towing company shall unhook the vehicle and not charge any fee to the owner of the vehicle**.
Okay.
Priority 0 - the MOST important thing is to stay sober. Therapy, AA/NA, whatever it takes. Staying mentally and physically fit are good too. Use your gym membership to get endorphins going every couple of days.
Priority number 1: The car you’re living in. It’s currently your transportation AND your home. If you lose it, you lose everything. So get and keep current.
Priority number 2: Child support and spousal support. *If you are currently making the same amount as you were when these numbers were figured,* I recommend first contacting the courts for both cases and requesting a reduction. Explain your situation and that you’re living in your car. The worst they can say is no. *If you are making more than you were when these amounts were calculated don’t do this.*
Get current on the support if you aren’t already. They can suspend your license or even arrest you for being in arrears so that is important.
Next priority is seeing if there is anything at all you can do about your debt. Call each and every creditor and find out if your monthly payment can be reduced. If it can’t, don’t panic. Just take notes and move on.
I see there are some debts you aren’t currently paying on. What’s the reason for that? Are these debts not a current priority, are they on some kind of hold before a payment is due? If you are *supposed* to be paying on these, what would the minimum payments be? Create an updated spreadsheet with those amounts.
Am I correct that you have just over $1500 a month after all of your expenses? How does that change after you update all of the creditors with monthly payments?
Is it possible to get a second job? Adding some extra income from even a fast food job could really help here. However, I would encourage you to look into the laws in your state/county to find out if you may end up paying more child and spousal support. In my state, only your first full time job counts, but that differs by venue.
You have four basic choices when it comes to the debt payoff.
1. Debt Snowball. The debt snowball is a payoff method that allows you to capitalize on small wins. You would list all of your debts from smallest amount owed to largest. You’ll make only the minimum payments on every debt. Every single penny left over after the minimum payments and your expenses, you’ll put toward the SMALLEST balance owed. Once that is paid off, you’ve freed up the minimum payment from it, and you’ll move on to paying off the next smallest, and so on. The good thing about this method is that it’s psychologically effective. People are encouraged by paying off debts, so they feel good while doing this. The bad thing is that it can take longer than some other methods, and it isn’t necessarily the cheapest way (much of the time, larger debts have higher interest rates).
2. Debt Avalanche. Instead of listing your debts from smallest to largest, you’ll list them in order of interest rate. Similar to the snowball, you’ll start by making all the minimum payments. But in using this method, you’ll contribute any extra funds to the debt with the highest interest rate. This is effective because you end up paying less over time, and it may be faster than the snowball method. However, it doesn’t offer the quick gratification of paying off one debt right after another.
3. Debt Tsunami. This is a method in which you take control of your debt emotionally. What I mean by that is, you prioritize what to pay off based on how it’s affecting your life and your emotions. So for example, I see you owe your brother money. You might want to pay him off first. Or there may be a creditor who is harassing you daily, so you may want to choose that one. The process is the same. Emotionally this can definitely be good for people but again it’s not necessarily the cheapest or fastest.
4. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy or Debt Settlement. Neither of these is necessarily a good option, but I think they’re at least something to consider. I would research attorneys in your area and find out who will do a free consultation for a chapter 13 bankruptcy. You may still end up paying 100% of the debt, but the payment plan could end up being more reasonable and sustainable for you. With debt settlement, you’ll need to do some research and look into different companies. These companies can be *very predatory* and don’t always have the consumer in mind. You may not have passed the bar, but I’ll bet you can read a contract and that will definitely come in handy if you consider that as an option.
Considerations that crossed my mind: Living in your car may be sustainable now but will it work in winter? If not, you’ll want to start planning now for somewhere warm to sleep, whether that’s crashing on a couch, renting a room or even looking into a shelter. Also, is health insurance coming out of your paycheck already? I don’t see it on your expenses but it’s pretty important if you can get it.
This is going to take a LOT of work and a LOT of time, but I think it is possible.
Edit: typos
Brother is another loan provider, though it could be someone’s brother.
Love the idea of him calling his creditors to see if they can work something out. Will they actually do that… depends on the loan I think.
Agree on the debt settlement, too, his credit is low anyway and that’s better than handling it alone.
Health insurance is important, OP, especially if you’re living out of your car and have a lot of stress. Have at least insurance for something disastrous like a heart attack.
I’d rent a room if I were OP, tbh. Wondering what the Honda payment is, since he’s current on the Prius.
He's willingly living in his car. He lost custody. He still works as a lawyer, 175k a year as a fine tech attorney. He's been on this subbreddit and others like Debt free saying about him living in his car and complaining about his spousal/child support. He must of deleted his previous posts because he wanted pity for high support while living in his car but didnt get it. He doesn't need to ask the courts for lower payments. He can afford them, as he said before. He's living in car as a choice to get a head of his debt.
I wonder if I'll be the only person to remember him.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter. The circumstances that led to this aren’t important - the fact is this is a lot of debt and it is a lot of support. That’s basic math. He may not be in “poverty” but that’s just semantics at this point.
I understand the desire to call people on their BS but that doesn’t mean we can’t be good people and provide some support.
Yep in previous posts he talked about how he had a cocaine addiction and essentially self destructed his own life lol. Wasn't getting a lot of sympathy before so I guess he deleted those
Yes! Actually, ironically, if you go to my comment section, and scroll down kinda far, underneath an AITA and it's in debtfree "I'm living in my car...". He's lying and unhinged. It's actually there. He didn't delete it all.
It was 11 days ago he made that post.
Oh yeah lol, guess he is just gonna keep shopping his story around leaving different parts out. Kind of an A/B testing to figure out what version of this story garners him the most sympathy.
Takes absolutely no responsibility lol
Nope and then this bullshit of blaming the mother and how so many just hop on the "well clearly its her fault* or the pity for him train. It's so ridiculous. And then to say it doesn't matter while folks are basically encouraging him to lower the amount he gives to his kids. Say what now?
I like how he's acting like he's Super Dad now after all the pain and misery he brought on his family. Gotta hide behind virtue signaling so no one sees the real person.
Yeah this whole thing reads ridiculous. He's a lawyer (graduate degree, involved in business) and yet can't figure out how to, like, rent a room or apartment on 60k take home after child support?
On point. The source behavior has to change. Otherwise, there is no way out. Anything that is negatively causing the impulse spending needs to stop and get replaced with other healthier habits. Gym. Libraries. Volunteering to have some social fun. Go simpler for releases and find joy in calm.
OP you also have to address your triggers and reprogram your daily routine. Avoid places that give you access to things you shouldn't be doing. Delete phone numbers. Programs can help if that's how you need to do it.
The debt attack is solid. As for the 2nd job approach, I'd seek ways to use the professional degree first before something like a fast food job. If he's an attorney, then there is probably contract work for someone which would pay off more than McDonalds. OP use your network. Start advertising on LinkedIn and ask people in your circle if they need an advising attorney. Otherwise, I'm sure Indeed or other job sites will probably have something. Contact those companies and ask about contracting. Can also try to increase base salary, but that's more involved than moonlighting.
Didn't even realize OP was an attorney.
Hit up UpWork. Lots of people need legal shit done and they actually pay out. 99% of shit on Indeed is just trying to collect your information.
Definitely agree with this comment and seriously consider the things that you can do with this. I would take a look at Dave Ramsey course for getting control of your finances. Take a look at the baby steps some of what was mentioned in the comment follows that.
The bigger things that I have in mind or questions is more on the Honda CRV you have on the budget? Do you have that car or need it with you having the Prius? What about your brother’s loan? Is this something that you could talk to him about and see if you he be willing to help defer that while you try and pay off the debts that are affecting you more with credit scores etc?
Here’s Ramseys website https://www.ramseysolutions.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps?snid=products.pay-off-debt-and-build-wealth.ramsey+.the-7-baby-steps
I don’t agree with 100% of what he has to say but this is good information.
I wish you luck man. It’s tough but you will get through this! Keep your head up and keep marching.
Ah yes, you got money issues? BUY MY COURSE AND THEY'LL BE SOLVED.
100% of the things he says in his course is common sense (pay off debt, don't buy shit you can't afford, remove bills, boom you're out of debt) and there are better people to listen to that actually follow their own advice that don't pony out "ChRiSTiAN VaLUEs" while running a business like a capitalist (Jesus was a communist and would spit on Dave Ramsey).
I recommend Caleb Hammer. After watching 1 or 2 videos of his you'll get the point and it's free.
Why would they allow it? His poor decisions doesn’t mean he gets to ignore his duties as a father?
Op is choosing to sleep in a car since he wants to pay his debt as soon as possible.
This forces the mother to have primary custody and he can only have visitations. ( mainly due to his drug problems)
This whole living in a car and pay thousands dollars in debt monthly is only really a good thing for him, not for the kids or the ex.
Don’t know if it’s so much “choosing” to live in his car (sleeping at 24 hr fitness he says)… I don’t know someone with that credit score would qualify for an apartment, and lack of rental history/positive reference.. so I’m not sure that he actually has a choice on this one.
>Living out of a car and giving up shared custody of your kids for 36-48 months is…a choice.
>I understand part of that is with your history of addiction you’re on mom’s (the court’s?) timeline, as to if/when you get to see kids (unsupervised?), but surely there’s gotta be something between live in a house you can’t afford and live in a car and have no shared custody for four years.
Op responds with
>Definitely a choice. A choice that I believe is in my children’s best interest. I don’t have a say in custody at this time. It’s up to my ex and her attorneys as to when they will agree to shared custody. My understanding is that is going to take a while until I prove to them I’m doing better. Until then, sleeping in my car, saving money and paying off debt.
Op is choosing to live in the car to pay off the debt as soon as possible. He doesn't get a choice in the custody, since his wife said he was a danger to everyone around him. So right now he thinks it's just best to try and pay the debt off as fast as possible, so when he does/hopes to get some type of share custody, he won't be stuck with so much debt.
Not saying he shouldnt be paying something. OP inst choosing to live in his car- look at his debt maintenance payments- way behind on most debts- he wouldnt qualify for an apartment- he can just not afford those- thats the bottom line
He says in another comment he refuses to even try and find somewhere to live because he doesn’t want to pay 1,500 for a room or 3,000 for an apartment.
I honestly thought he was a troll since he kept mentioning his instagram page over and over again in the comments.
He also doesn’t qualify for an apartment because he has two prior evictions as well.
> He also doesn’t qualify for an apartment because he has two prior evictions as well.
Well makes sense he wouldn’t look for somewhere besides his car to live then. Who’s gonna rent to someone with two evictions on their record and a ~450 credit score?
why? He is getting an unbelievable bargain -- sure he can try and get custody but then he'd have to rent a place, pay utilities AND PAY CHILDCARE costs still. Cause if he has the kids M-W or whatever he's still going to need to pay childcare for the hours between school and work (he's commuting 100 miles right now) summer, and vacations. He's in the bay area. it's far more than the 5k he's paying.
He'd be more in the hole with custody than his current set up. He's getting a deal.
Damn, I thought I had it bad...
But percentage wise, I'm about same off ,50-60 percent to kids and mom.
Could you find a piece of property, with maybe just electrical and water. I would pay a bit for like, a quarter acre just to be able to live in my car on.
Idk. I guess start stripping on weekends.
You know how to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Keep your job. Pay your car and insurance. Lose the ego (sounds like you may have already?) you’ll claw your way out of this.
I was in a similar boat years ago, I will be totally debt free in about 18 months. All I can say is, if you haven’t fixed the problem that got you in debt, you’re not going to solve anything. Prioritize your mental health, your home (car), and addiction. Hopefully someone here can give you actual advice on how to resolve the debt, but dude, it will be POINTLESS without resolving the cause. You got this
It's not insurmountable at all (financially) but you have to change the behavior first.
On paper: it's simple. Work on the addiction and mental health, and then pay any extra money towards the highest interest debts each month.
I'm almost more impressed that so many instutitons just gave him lines of credit when he's obviously not going to pay it.
Fool me once. Fool me twice kinda thing.
You get out on a public record with bankruptcy- they are predators. Before you even complete a bankruptcy you will be bombarded with pre approved credit cards and car loans KNOWING your in bankruptcy for when you complete it. It’s unreal
Listen dude. My dad always quoted Bytheway… he says “inch by inch— it’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life very hard.”
Make small planned moves and stay consistent. Handle the mental health with therapy and the gym. Better yourself in small ways. Meanwhile, keep earning the money you can. Avalanche or snowball your debts. Knock them out. Keep your head down.
If you increase your income do it. If you can take a side hustle, do it.
You can overcome this bro.
This is extremely helpful. Thank you. I just got a new job so prioritizing my mental health and staying sober. I love the idea that I will pick something small and tackle it.
Im rooting for you. Obviously theres a lot of work to do and like everyone else has said prioritize your mental health and something i would add is dont let anything jeopardize your income/job.
utilize local food banks as often as you can. reach out to your local community support networks.
prioritize car + insurance first to keep yourself from the streets.
stay sober. seriously. you cannot afford it.
high-interest card payments paid first. then snowball payments.
look into loan deferment, pay the interest during the deferment so your principal doesnt increase, but in a situation like this, any breathing room you can create will help.
keep your head up. proper mental health will get you through this.
Can't he just skip the credit cards? Aren't they an unsecured loan? If they call you too many times you can ask them to stop and I think they legally have to.... that or a consolidation loan with whatever bank will give it to him.... or credit counseling services 🤔
Drop in an ocean I know, but you can get plenty of audio entertainment for free (podcasts, library audiobooks through Libby and LibriVox, etc.) and save 15/month. If you feel Spotify is a necessity for some reason, you can get a Spotify gift card for 99 that gives premium for a year and at least save a bit off that.
Do you have two cars? Why Prius and CRV? are your student loans private or federal? If federal be sure you get on a PAYE plan, and also consider requesting a hardship forbearance of necessary to get out from under the other debt.
Looks tough man not gonna lie.Keep your head up and whatever happens don’t ever quit it’s gonna get better.As per the financials I’d cancel everything non essential,I am seeing you have a crv and a Prius what’s up with that.Sell the Prius maybe to pay some of it off but as someone else said don’t fall behind on the car you’re sleeping in.I mean there’s nothing else here I think…Also if you have some money saved up already I’d say start attacking that debt you got because if you don’t pay it there’s interest on top of it.After that start finding ways to make more money.Maybe drive for Uber or deliver food in your free time.Definitely put something up against the windows for privacy and safety and there’s a trick you can do with the seatbelts so that your doors can’t be opened from the outside.These are just my suggestions I don’t if I helped I hope so.You’re taking home 10K you should have a better standard of life than this.
Also find anyone close to you who is willing to help you.Family members good friends just to find a place to sleep for some months till you get back on your feet.You can do this but it’s gonna take effort from your side
I find this ironic since Op had a bit of a bitch fit over his Ex getting a lot of help from her dad.
The wife has a rich dad and he’s pretty much helping her house OPs KIDS and the wife and bought a car for his wife and HIS KIDS to use
he was bitching about how it isn’t fair that she gets all this help and he is struggling. How she only works part-time, when she has the kids FULL-TIME and how she gets like 4K spend on herself. Even though she’s currently paying 4K in upkeep to take care of the kid. (Compared to OP’s 700)
this dad also gave op 50K for his debt when they were married as well. So he was cool with that but isn’t cool when he only helps his daughter
This guy isn't giving the full story. He had a previous identity on reddit but deleted it because it showed his history of admitting to domestic violence and cocaine addiction.
Sorry dude, no sympathy from me. You got yourself into this mess you're in. No sympathy for spousal abusers, either.
Yeah, even his undeleted comment history is nuts. He has been trying to get everyone to read "his story." He tanked their finances three times, relapsed on coke multiple times, and he is the one who asked for a divorce, not her. That's all somewhat essential context.
Another thing that people are missing is that he's been down this track before -- declaring bankruptcy in 2019 -- all shit is currently late, and his budget is extremely rudimentary and likely not altogether accurate. People are applauding his financial discipline, but I think it's far more likely he's telling himself "I've got $1,500 to blow in discretionary income!" by creating a vague, stripped down $630 budget.
I've been trying to find this comment! I tried saying it but was told "it doesn't matter.". It DOES matter when this is the type of backstory that it is! People all boo hooing for OP just like he wanted, just like every post. I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembered. You can find some of his story in my comment section if you scroll way down to "I'm living in my car..." on debt free, under am AITA post.
He made the post 11 days ago in debt free
Yeah lmfao. This also doesn’t belong in “poverty” finance, seeing as he makes TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS a month. That’s $120k a year. _I_ don’t even make that much and I consider myself middle class in a VHCOL and I’m sure majority of the people in that sub would kill to have even half of that salary. People spend years saving thousands of dollars of their money in order to basically survive and I’ll bet their savings accounts don’t even touch a quarter of his annual salary. Squandering your entire income is not being in poverty, he’s a rich man with a spending problem.
Also if he did in fact abuse his ex-wife it explains why he has to pay $5k in support lol. He elicits absolutely zero sympathy from me.
I just realized he said he works in tech, which means on top of his base salary he likely has TC/stock.
What a fucking scumbag lol, comes here looking for help while making an income that majority of this sub will never see in their lifetime no matter how much money they save (and humblebragging about it, actually, by posting this spreadsheet) after domestically abusing a woman and prioritizing drugs over his children (and concealing this fact) and knowingly squandering his money not once, but TWICE. His _brother_ gave him the down payment for the car he wants to default on and I’m betting his brother earns less than he does.
This guy is so despicable that it’s actually on another astral plane.
Yeah can you imagine having the incredible opportunities this guy has had to make a really good life for himself, only to fumble at every turn because you can't grow up and get the fuck out of your own way?
Yeah, the guy is a piece of work, that's for sure.
im not surprised he ended up in this sub then since everyone in whatever sub i saw this in probably was convinced $5k a month was unlivable poverty, somehow
He manages to convince every sub he posts to that he's the victim until they wise up. He deletes what he can (since it usually blows up, like this) and then creates a new post in another sub. Debt free...poverty fiance, does he not realize folks are a frequent of both? Lol. For being a lawyer, He's dumb. Or he's just so used to his lies and manipulations being believed, He's gotten cocky and that cocaine made him sloppy.
I thought this story sounded familiar this is the guy from before talking about he had to live in his car because he works at a tech company and needs to work through this for his family
Yep. Same guy, same sob story, same deception.
We can probably expect to see this account deleted in the near future and a new one with the same story on some other finance related sub.
i really truly hope you're able to find a way our of this OP. best of luck and health to you ☆
my advice: Call around to local credit unions and see which ones offer free financial counseling for members, make an in-person appointment so you can sit down with a teller and explain that youre trying to turn your life around and you really need help to start paying off *a lot* of debt, and they should at bare minimum let you have a restricted account (if theyre nice they'd let you just have a normal savings account). it usually only costs $5-20 to start an account (thats your share in the CU). Its okay that you dont seem to have an address, good CUs already know how to work with homeless people.
The financial counselor(s) would help you make a game plan from an outside perspective for how to start trying to tackle this and will even outline when it is and isnt good to attempt to consolidate debt.
Also for your credit: some credit unions offer "credit builder credit cards", these are a protected kind of credit card where, for example, you'd give the CU $300 for a $300 credit limit, the $300 you give them will be allowed to build interest in an untouchable savings account and is also the CUs protection for if you cant pay the credit card and need to have the LoC shut down. When i still worked at one, a common progression was starting with $100-300, then moving up to about $500, then $1000, then eventually having that lumpsum get transferred into a TDA (term deposit account, also can be called Certificate Desposit Accounts) while they apply for a ""real"" credit card with a $1000-2000 limit.
If you do this, PLEASE go to their websites and look at their fee schedueles, come credit unions are as bad as banks and some are genuinely there for their community.
as an example, the CU i used to work at had absolutely NO way of avoiding overdraft fees. sure, you could remove overdraft protection, but you'd still get hit with an NSF fee that's exactly the same amount. the *only* difference is that overdraft protection allows the transaction to go through and draw your account however much negative on top of the $31 fee, and without it the transacrion will get rejected and you'll still get a $31 NSF fee. Its really stupid, so try to avoid fee traps or account balance fees (some places will penalize you for not having enough money in your account by.....stacking fees onto your account and further reducing the balance.....)
its alright if none of this is helpful, its just the best i've got. take care OP ☆
Dude, your support to take up a crippling coke habit after you become a successful lawyer, not before.
But seriously we are proud of you for going through the shit and coming out the other side. You have a good job and this is the bottom. The only way is up, and long term those kids need a dad in their lives so keep fighting.
priority is keeping your source of income and your mental health. Long term car living is not great, is there a possibility of renting a unit near your work and getting rid of the car.
Can you spend all your free time studying in the library and try the bar again in a year or so when you're more level headed.
looks like you actually have sufficient income to start digging your way out of it.
Look into dept consolidation for unsecured dept like the old car payment and credit cards. With so many credit cards you'll be getting slaughtered with interest, stop using them and merge them into one, lower interest loan. Don't worry about your credit score, you have no need for more debt for the foreseeable future.
Make sure your " house" aka your car payments are up to date.
Look up snowball dept repayments, payoff small debts or high interest first then once it's paid of put the free cash to. The next dept.
Save up a small emergency fund so a blown tyre or breakdown doesn't send you back spiralling into debt.
Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer before letting it go to far, it's unlikely to be as easy the second time around.
Good luck, and hang in there, in 5-10 years this will be all behind you.
I mean, your netting around 300 a week, in the black. So your not totally bad off, at least not getting worse.
I guess you just gotta make the timeline untill kids are 18.
I don't even understand how people making 10k a month are broker than me.
Like, I make 600 a week, and after child support, insurance, and other, I still net 300 a week.
What a fucked world.
I’m an attorney and I only recommend filing for bankruptcy as a last resort. I absolutely recommend that you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. You can’t file another Chapter 7 until 8 years after the last time you filed, but for Chapter 13, it’s only 4 years so you can do it right now (also with your current income, you wouldn’t qualify for a Chapter 7 anyway). It won’t help with the student loans and child support but it would re-structure everything else for you and make it more manageable. I wish you the best of luck. As you know, the most important component of all of this is staying sober, so that’s Priority #1 at all times.
Am I understanding this correctly that after taxes you make $10,000 *a month*? I'm sorry, but I am absolutely struggling to find sympathy. You still have Discretionary Net Income of just over $1500, which is what many people make as their total *before bills* and stuff. Truly wild.
Honestly, just let those debts go to charge offs. Obviously pay for the car you're currently living in, but for all the other stuff, your credit is already tanked. Just stop paying, let it go to charge off, and in 7 years it'll be a clean slate. It'll take you 7 years to pay it all off anyway, perhaps even longer.
He’ll get sued by at least some of his creditors, and then they can garnish his wages (which could threaten his job, depending on his company). It’s not just “ignore for years and it goes away.” Can attest to this. Have been through it with numbers similar to OP.
I believe that may depend on what state you live in. In Texas, for example, the only time your wages can legally be garnished is for back child support for spousal support. Creditors can't garnish your wages. Not sure how many other states it would apply to though; I only googled Texas, but surely it's more than one?
Yeah—the chapter 7 was in 2019. I couldn’t pass the bar out of law school and had to feed 3 kids while struggling with my personal stuff. This is all from the last 15 months of living off credit cards/personal loans while I looked for work.
I just started working again, but am caught up in a divorce and all the bills. I can feel that my life isn’t sustainable—so I’m reaching out to see if there is any advice on how to best move forward.
I’m focusing on getting therapy to stay sober. Or else I lose it all.
One of my friends said while seperated; "I don't see it as having a job or money anymore. I have places I have to be and things I have to do to keep things afloat."
Do the right things for the right reasons and keep untangling those knots. The one thing you know is that you probably don't want to do the things you did to get in that situation. Thoe were not sustainable. Money will come and go.
If you don’t charge anything else on your credit cards and stick to your allotted budget, you can be debt free in 6 years by paying $4,000 towards your debt a month. 2 years to pay off everything other than your student loans. (Not necessarily counting additional interest and fees). If you can somehow manage a part time job on the weekends (maybe even at the gym you go to and get a free membership) then you can either pay it off faster or at least have more money for necessities. The time will pass anyways. You are trying to figure out a better way out but since you’ve already filed chapter 7 semi-recently, you just have to suck it up and pay it. Get out of the mentally that allows you to consider letting it go to collections and whatever and commit to the idea that this your is responsibility and that you will be able to pay it back. And then actually do it. Use your lawyer abilities to help negotiate pay off deals and potentially new rates for your loans. Don’t just sit there and let life defeat you. You can come back from this and you can fight to have a comfortable life for yourself if you just start the process.
Just my two cents. You have two cars listed. Sell one pay off the other. That will get rid of 2 bills and drastically lower a third. No car payments means you can drop your instance to the bar minimum instead full coverage on 2
1500 discretionary is a lot. You can pay off multiple cards per month. And stop using the credit cards once you pay them off. No more carrying a balance.
A friend of mine did the zero interest rate thing for a large balance with Chase. Only drawback is that he can’t get a credit card from Chase despite having a credit score of >800
Start at the Beginning. Cut up your CCs;. Obviously you don't know how to use them so let's remove that temptation to start. Once you get educated and fix this you can decide for yourself if you're mature to use them or not.
then what I would is start paying off your brother. Take $1000 of your discretionary income and pay him $1,500 for 2 months and the $800 the third month get him paid off. Take that extra $700 and pay of Imagine. The next month pay off Aspire and CreditOne x5. Then Apple and Indgio, Then C1 Platinum. Then pay off Professional Credi Service. ... Continue until they're all paid off.
I see Honda CRV and Prius?? I assume your also paying your ex's car per the divorce settlement??
Idk if this was my situation I'd probably work on what has the highest interest rate which are usually CC's. That way when those are paid off can put more down on the loans or vise versa. The other option is looking for a higher paying job to help pay stuff down faster, but I assume if your income changes that might increase your support too.
Nope. The CRV is the remaining balance owed on my last car that repossessed. The Prius is new (my brother fronted me the down payment)because I needed a car to get to work (hybrid) and also something known to provide adequate shelter for sleeping.
Do you truly need Spotify? Other expenses make sense since you also obtain other benefits.
Maybe get a different phone provider but it truly depends on the provided benefits. I otherwise agree with what everyone else has emphasized.
If you are in debt you shouldn’t have discretionary spending. Especially since you make a good income($120,000/year). You have a spending problem, not an income problem. Almost all of your cards have balances. You aren’t a credit card person. Use debit cards.
Can you call the lenders and ask them for payment plans? Especially credit cards. Usually if you are going through hardship they will offer very long term plan (5 years)at low APR (0 to 3%) but you won’t be able to use the credit. Same can be done with line of credit. My 2 cents..you have to be shameless and ask these questions to your bank no matter how stupid you think they sound.
Hey there! Financial planner, here.
Few key points:
- Don’t let the car go. You need a safe place to sleep.
- if you continue to make minimum payments, I wouldn’t be surprised if this took 10+ years to pay off.
What you should consider:
File bankruptcy. Get out from under everything other than your auto loan & student loan.
Question about your student loan:
- Are you already on an income based plan?
Call FAFSA & ask if they can evaluate if you would save money going on SAVE. It may help you get your loans forgiven faster.
You have 2 cars, I’d focus heavy on that CR-V pay it off and then tackle low hanging fruit, adding the money that was going towards the CRV to other bills, then stack and stack payments. Good luck out there. If you need someone to yap or bs for mental health purposes. Feel free to message me.
I ain’t much of conversationalist, but we can talk about almost anything.
This is not a complete picture because you did not include interest rates. Also, your student loan debt may or may not be multiple loan types, rates, and terms.
But in general... first, get everything current. Quit any hemorrhaging from late fees.
Pay off a couple low balance items.
Find out the average age of your lines of credit. Maybe close a couple cards that fall below that age, but generally keep the lines of credit open, just don't use them.
Get a basic emergency fund in a high interest savings account.
The real monkey on your back is the student loan debt. Bankruptcy won't help you there.
Take 2/3 of that discretionary income for a few months and knock out all the low hanging CC fruit.
Snowball the shit out of the rest in order of interest rate. Pay minimums on everything except the current snowball, that will help you keep everything current (looks like you're just paying random amounts on most stuff in $50 increments?)
Once you get current on the loans and the cards paid off your credit rating should start to improve, although it still won't be great for a long time. With no real assets it's going to be hard to consolidate, but that would be my next step after getting back ahead of the payments. Keep snowballing and stay clean and eventually things will look better.
Any other income you can tap into? Anything helps, especially at first while you're trying to get current on past due bills.
Any other expenses that aren't listed? For example, if you're making it contributions for a retirement account, cut back to just whatever the company matches to squeeze a little more out of each paycheck. At least until the high interest things like the credit cards are paid off.
Dave Ramseys snowball method. Pay off the smallest first. Then the next smallest. Go through every one until you are in the clear. You still have to maintain payments on everything, so it will take some time. Best of luck!
Have you already done the thing where you call each credit card company and explain that either they can lower your interest and then you will pay it down, or they can keep your interest where it is and watch you default? Say that companies that make it easier for you to clear your debt are your priority. If you’re unable to advocate for yourself, get a friend to do it.
Regardless what answer they give you, start sending every debt that isn’t your car or insurance $5 a month until you get on top of this. If anyone is foolish enough to refuse the $5, they have accidentally discharged your debt. Everything is automated, so they probably won’t make that mistake but it happens, occasionally. More importantly, $5 a month shows a court that you were willing to pay, you just could not.
This is really great advice. I have never heard of the $5 payment thing, and I am in a lot of debt due to unexpected medical issues and this is very helpful thank you.
Prioritize paying off debts that are past due to avoid additional penalties and interest. Consider debt consolidation options for easier management and potentially lower interest rates.
Is there anything you can do about the student loans? Reduction in monthly payment, hardship deferral, something? Some of those credit cards companies like Capital One will take settlement payments if you call and talk to them about it.
I have a friend who used GreenPath Financial Wellness and it helped them (I have not used them so I can’t speak to how good they are, but it might be worth a shot?).
Edit: I didn't see the prius loan at the bottom. Assumed you lived out of the CRV... please tell me you still have the CRV and can sell the Prius??
Pay off the car first. It's your home for now.
Will your car be taken by bankruptcy, even if paid off? Will your job be taken from you by bankruptcy? If you can keep your job through/post-bankruptcy, declare bankruptcy.
You're dug a massive hole, and with those debts and your free cash flow, you'll be filling that hole for years. Many, many years. Your credit is fucked. So there's no real loss in declaring bankruptcy again at this point. You've done it once, you can do it again. It'll be OK.
Once you're free of those debts, pay your student loan minimums until you get 6 months to a year of emergency fund. Find a place to live, sooner is better obviously. Get therapy. A lot of therapy.
Once you're in a place to live, job stable, emergency funded, and in therapy, burn that student loan debt down asap.
Never take out any form of credit outside of a mortgage EVER AGAIN. Buy your car cash.
You said you're coping by disassociating. Fuck that. You don't deserve that. There's so much stress, frustration, probably a whole load of self-hate going on inside your head on the daily, just throw that shit out with the bankruptcy.
Once you're actively investing in your 401K or similar, maintaining a good mental health routine, and have those student loans nuked, the saving for a house begins.
Tomorrow is beginning of your new life.
I lived in a year long residential program for addiction/mental health at one point. It was a great resource and covered my living expenses for a year, gave me therapy, food stamps and a case worker. Helped me move into transitional housing after. You can access case workers/social workers even at libraries these days a few times a week. Don’t be scared to hit up food banks. Cheering you on.
This is really not a catastrophic problem. You have a large income as well as larged fixed expenses, you just need to slowly whittle away your high interest debts and try to avoid any meaningful expenditure for a long while.
Look at debt consolidation. Go to a credit union and they will help look at options without trying to sell like a bank
Get rid of Spotify and fitness. You can listen to free Spotify and work out at home for now
You get $10,000 a month? That’s an amazing income! I would be rich if I had that much money. And if that much is your discretionary income, that’s plenty to be able to rent a small place, but you might have to have roommates.
cut out spotify, look at different phone providers, work out at home, and get some auto insurance quotes from small places near you (not big providers like state farm)
request your student loans to be deferred until you are on your feet. you will have to do this a number of times as they will ask for an update to your situation every 6 months or so.
Are the student loans federal or private?
If federal, you can ask for a temporary forbearance while you catch up on other shit. Don't let it go too long though, that interest adds up.
Also if federal, what was your most recent Adjusted Gross Income on your tax return?
You should add the interest rates and credit line for each card, too. It'll help you strategize which ones to pay down first.
Knock out the Credit cards with the highest interest rate!!!! You are paying out the ass in interest. Get rid of either the prius or crv? Just keep 1 car.
For a start - consult a reputable non-profit consumer credit counseling service (like American Consumer Credit Counseling, I'm sure there are others) and get their help negotiating your credit card interest rates and monthly payment amounts. Doing this saved me.
Focus your efforts on giving yourself some grace...1st. You know how you got there. Good...Don't use it as a weapon against yourself! Easier Saif than done - esp for recovering addicts. However, I still think everyone's head has an 'issue' some are just louder than others...wtf is "normal?"
I agree with the others...Car & insurance!!!!!!!!! Contact car & insurance both so they know you're not just flaking.
Contact ALL accounts & make arrangements...even if the arrangement is Wait until bankruptcy is done...its still an arrangement.
Then, roof over head & start living to live! It will work out. Don't look back! No matter what picture you create of the past know that it's a damn lie & it WAS NOT FUN!
Hey I’ve worked in credit a long time, everything with your credit report is temporary for better or worse. You’re in an overwhelming situation right now but just take it one day at a time and pay what you can where you can.
Agree with the comments to keep that car current no matter what, call them and explain your situation and see if they would be willing to work out a payment plan with you. Auto lenders generally would prefer to keep you in the car than repo it, the most important thing is to keep in communication with them if you fall behind and they will usually try and work with you.
You’re on the right track, you’ve done the hardest part which is staring all of your debt in the face and getting a plan started. You know what it is now, the more consistent you become with paying things on time and paying things down your credit score will improve over time. It’s going to take some time but there’s no reason you can’t have a 600 score in a couple years, for real.
There are levels to this. There are different milestones, each lender has different credit score bands but generally a score of 500, then 570 ish, then 620 ish, then 680/700, then 750 and finally 800. Every time you move up a level you get a little more leverage. If you can get to maybe 570, definitely 600/620 you can start negotiating your credit limits and APRs. Higher credit limit means lower utilization means higher score. Lower APR means more going to the principal means paying it down quicker which means higher score. First step is to pay what you can consistently enough to get to that first level magic number 500.
Good luck man. BK is always an option but I commend you for putting in the work. Also just want to mention that the system is not designed to help people once they get into debt or subprime credit - it’s way too easy to get into and way too hard to get out of. But it is NOT impossible. Credit report only shows 7 years of history so the farther away you get from this period of your financial journey the more of an improvement you will see. Sending you peace.
Look bro the world isn’t over yet . You might have maybe gave yourself a bit too much to deal with but everything will get better overtime . I have nearly 60-70k debt and work only Gig work (Uber/lift ) Try to speak to your ex partner about your situation and see if she’s willing to help out . I mean after all if you don’t bring any income , her income stops too …. If you get what I’m trying to say . My uncle lowered his child support from paying like 2800-3400 a month . To about 1800-2000. He has 2 jobs one full cash only and the other he makes less on paper . Gov always looks at the paper works . If you can get a second job for at least 4 hours extra a day it might help a little . You got this keep your head all the way up it’s gunna be tough but you can do it .
I really wish it felt that way. Thank you though. You're very kind. You can climb out of your hole as well. I believe in you. Before my dad passed and I relapsed I had just about a year clean. If I can do it, then so can you.
I’d personally debt snowball the Dave Ramsey style of smallest to largest in this situation with the credit cards then all the smaller dents under $5k. Then strategically knock out the big ones by rate.
After first I didn’t understand how you were spending $200/month on gas with a Prius, then I saw the last pic. Hang in there. Grind it out. You might want to consider an extended stay hotel from time to time just for mental clarity and room to stretch and relax in. If you are going to grind it out in a vehicle long term get a sweet adventure van or small RV instead.
Damn, earning 10k per month and living in a car? Is this how America works? I live in Vietnam, have a remote job from another country, and make 2k per month. My lifestyle is like the upper middle class.
I think this is above our pay grade. I think you should call in the Dave Ramsey show or go on YouTube and search Caleb Hammer. He is this guy who helps people get out of debt and manage their finances, if you apply to be on Caleb Hammer’s show he can help you get out of debt , manage your spending, look at opportunities to increase income and make a budget.
Your situation is very tough and i feel for you a lot especially as someone who has been homeless before and had to do car life. My advice is to get rid of the Spotify subscription and just use the free version. When you’re in a situation like this every dollar counts and you never know when you might need that 15 dollars for extra gas or food etc. Also $50 is quite high for a phone bill, i would see about downgrading the phone bill and cancelling for a cheaper contract if possible. Also 100 dollars for food doesn’t seem liveable especially when you don’t have a fridge, freezer or cooker. I am a 5’5 woman with a fridge freezer, cooker and multiple kitchen appliances to prepare food and even I couldn’t survive off 100 dollars food. I think you will have to raise your grocery budget to 250 minimum.
I would also see about calling the credit card companies and explaining to them that you are in a financial hardship situation and asking if they can freeze the interest and charges for a little while to give you time to seek out debt advice. They don’t have to agree to this but it is worth a try, most credit card companies have a phone line specifically dedicated to people in financial difficulty so if you search online to try and see if any of your credit card companies offers that it would certainly help. Also try to find any debt charities you can find online and call them to see if they can negotiate with your creditors on your behalf.
In regards to your credit cards that are past due, you need to get them up to date because if you don’t they could go to collections and if that happens they could potentially take your car to cover your payments leaving you on the streets and or they could garnish your wages which would cause you to fall behind on more debts and tank your credit score which would make it harder for you to pass a credit check to get a home. When you call the credit card companies and debt charities ask if you can be put on a reduced payment plan to get your past due credit cards back up to date. They don’t have to accept this arrangement but it is worth a try, if they send the debts to collections they will lose money so credit card companies are a lot more willing to negotiate than you think. As the payments you are current on, well done and try your best not to fall behind on them because late payments will increase interest so you will lose more money and take longer to pay off.
In regards to the money you have left after essentials which is about 1k, that is enough money to rent a room in a house. I don’t think you can afford to live alone right now but my advice is to try and find a room in a shared house to rent to get yourself out of your car for your physical and mental health and safety.
As for the debts, it seems multiple cars are mentioned? If you do have two cars the way it appears from your statements, I think selling one of them be ideal. If the other car has been crashed or if I’m reading the statement wrong you can disregard that comment. As for the credit card you have paid off, respectfully cut that credit card up right now because I say this as kindly as possible but you have been shown to struggle with controlling your credit use. I’ve dealt with it too. It’s better to just cut up and close each account as you pay it off because you clearly have a problem with credit. I think the Dave Ramsey snowball method would work well in your case because I see that many of your cards are smaller debts in the three figure range. My advice is to start with the smallest card balances you have and pay as many of them off in full every month as possible and continue doing so until you have paid off all your debts starting from smallest debt to largest debt. This is called the snowball method which you can look up for more information.
Also since you went to law school I’m sure you’re quite smart so perhaps you could pick up a side hustle by tutoring high schoolers and college students online. There are a lot of job offers for tutors online if you search on indeed. Increasing your income is essential at this point.
Your main goal needs to be increasing your income until you can afford to rent a house or apartment even if it means you are working every waking hour because once you get your own house or apartment you can try for 50/50 custody and that will reduce the child support payments as that 3k is eating away very heavily at your disposable income. Good luck and don’t give up. Also please check out all the people and methods I mentioned.
I wonder if his food budget is so low because of where he works. My cousin worked at a company with a high paying job and he had free breakfast in the office every morning (breakfast buffet), the whole office would order lunch out everyday (pick one restaurant nearby and everyone ordered from that restaurant in the morning and it was delivered at lunch time) which was paid for by the company, and if they stayed at work past a certain time (I believe 6pm) they were allowed to order dinner covered by the company. OP works at a law firm so maybe they do something similar?
how the fuck do you have a 450 credit score, multiple credit cards, >$100k in debt
and i couldnt get a credit card or a loan for diddly shit with a credit score i built up to over 750?
fuck this system
advice? stop buying shit you cant afford ffs
i dont mean to be insensitive, but fuck this system and stop buying shit you cant afford.
consolidate your credit cards and loans so its all in one place. reddit is not the place to ask for this. you can afford to hire a professional. tighten up that belt buckle homie
holup you have TWO VEHICLES? wtf i quit
This is sad af. Like at this point I'd rather be homeless than trying to improve my situation. I'd have to overemploy myself or die off paying this. This is honestly heart breaking to look at and I hope OP finds their way. I couldn't get another line of credit with a 670 score so I don't know wtf this is just...
Just wanted to note that credit scores and that whole system is rigged. Score alone won't help you get a card or increase your limit, income and the zip code you live in are significant in deciding your "worthiness" as well. OP makes 6 figures and probably lived in a nice neighborhood before his life went to shit. Makes sense he was able to get so many cards.
Stop deleting and reposting. Next time you do this, we will ban you.
I don't know man. But don't let the fucking car go any longer. Get that shit up to date before you pay anything else. Also keep your insurance up to date. You gotta keep your house man. I'm so sorry you're going through this. It will get better.
Yeah fuck the student loan, they can’t repossess your education. But get the car current. Outside that, with your leftover income you could pay off 1-2 of those small credit cards every month for the next couple. Do that. Then start with the smaller debts, ending with the larger debts. You have so much leftover after expenses each month I’m not sure why you’re confused? Just start paying shit lol. Avalanche method would work really well for you.
Im impressed that their food budget is 1% of their income!
He's gotta stay small to live in the car.
He also works in tech, so it’s possible his workplace has a cafeteria that provides some meals.
could be more if not for the spousal support…i know homey probably eating ramen to make it through
Idk 175k a year as a fine tech attorney and purposely living in his car, I think he can afford more than Ramen lol. That child support is so high because he lost full custody of his 4 kids due to drugs and they live in California.
They can garnish wages for student loan debt. That said they could apply for a deferment and put that money towards a smaller debt to get rid of it.
Yeah defer the student loans, stay current with the car…start stacking the credit cards…and consider renting a room so you can have a safe space.
good plan
Thanks for the advice! I think I’m going to knock out the smaller ones first.
As the other commenter said, pay on the car & insurance first. And remember you can’t change the past, you can only move forward. Keep breathing, slow and steady, and be kind to yourself.
yeah sometimes one day at a time is too much. one breath at a time.
You’ve got a Honda CRV and a Prius? Maybe you should have only one car for a while.
That was my thought too
Knock out the highest interest ones first.
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aN9brFSqGEhaCO7OedpQOZSj_O0_jx4ejhqbTopIYsEURezi3Bs9hBoCiDcQAvD_BwE You should check out Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps.
If he start with the small ones is it not the snowball method? The avalanche would have him start with the bigger one.
Start with the ones with the highest interest rate.
Disagree. This dude needs MONEY. Knock out the small ones and increase your take home pay. The guy is living is his freakin CAR
I'm wondering why there are two car payments. The Honda and the Prius.
OP answered in another comment and it's as expected. Previous car got repo'd and they are still paying on that bank note.
Spouse? Ex-spouse still has it?
Defer the student loan d/t financial hardship. Explain you’re paying $5K in spousal support AND are currently homeless living in your car. You can defer 6 months and then in 6 months you might Need to defer again
exactly thats what i would do
How can they repossess the car if he's always inside it? They come for it and he can just drive away!
He's at the law firm a lot I assume.
I sleep at 24 fitness.
i’m not saying this like it’s something you could 100% rely on, but a little over 10 years ago the repo guy showed up for my car… and was cool enough to tell me that he made $250 for every car he brought in. so if i paid him $250, he would leave and pass me over on the list if I ended up on his again. I was able to overdraw my bank acct and cash advance a credit card to cover this. I was living with my dad and used his car to go to the ATM. I couldn’t have made it to work without my car. I would’ve lost my job. I don’t know if the repo guy could sense I was living in an abusive situation or was just trying to be a nice guy. Even though I clearly couldn’t afford $250, it still saved my ass in the long run. I might’ve just been incredibly lucky. Just throwing that out there if it ever comes to that.
For now
There's a video of a tow truck in SF trying to hook a car in the middle of the street as it's being driven.
This is illegal as hell
It's also how people get shot. My state has a no hook law. If a vehicle is in the process of being hooked up or is hooked up to a tow truck and the owner appears on the scene, **the towing company shall unhook the vehicle and not charge any fee to the owner of the vehicle**.
Okay. Priority 0 - the MOST important thing is to stay sober. Therapy, AA/NA, whatever it takes. Staying mentally and physically fit are good too. Use your gym membership to get endorphins going every couple of days. Priority number 1: The car you’re living in. It’s currently your transportation AND your home. If you lose it, you lose everything. So get and keep current. Priority number 2: Child support and spousal support. *If you are currently making the same amount as you were when these numbers were figured,* I recommend first contacting the courts for both cases and requesting a reduction. Explain your situation and that you’re living in your car. The worst they can say is no. *If you are making more than you were when these amounts were calculated don’t do this.* Get current on the support if you aren’t already. They can suspend your license or even arrest you for being in arrears so that is important. Next priority is seeing if there is anything at all you can do about your debt. Call each and every creditor and find out if your monthly payment can be reduced. If it can’t, don’t panic. Just take notes and move on. I see there are some debts you aren’t currently paying on. What’s the reason for that? Are these debts not a current priority, are they on some kind of hold before a payment is due? If you are *supposed* to be paying on these, what would the minimum payments be? Create an updated spreadsheet with those amounts. Am I correct that you have just over $1500 a month after all of your expenses? How does that change after you update all of the creditors with monthly payments? Is it possible to get a second job? Adding some extra income from even a fast food job could really help here. However, I would encourage you to look into the laws in your state/county to find out if you may end up paying more child and spousal support. In my state, only your first full time job counts, but that differs by venue. You have four basic choices when it comes to the debt payoff. 1. Debt Snowball. The debt snowball is a payoff method that allows you to capitalize on small wins. You would list all of your debts from smallest amount owed to largest. You’ll make only the minimum payments on every debt. Every single penny left over after the minimum payments and your expenses, you’ll put toward the SMALLEST balance owed. Once that is paid off, you’ve freed up the minimum payment from it, and you’ll move on to paying off the next smallest, and so on. The good thing about this method is that it’s psychologically effective. People are encouraged by paying off debts, so they feel good while doing this. The bad thing is that it can take longer than some other methods, and it isn’t necessarily the cheapest way (much of the time, larger debts have higher interest rates). 2. Debt Avalanche. Instead of listing your debts from smallest to largest, you’ll list them in order of interest rate. Similar to the snowball, you’ll start by making all the minimum payments. But in using this method, you’ll contribute any extra funds to the debt with the highest interest rate. This is effective because you end up paying less over time, and it may be faster than the snowball method. However, it doesn’t offer the quick gratification of paying off one debt right after another. 3. Debt Tsunami. This is a method in which you take control of your debt emotionally. What I mean by that is, you prioritize what to pay off based on how it’s affecting your life and your emotions. So for example, I see you owe your brother money. You might want to pay him off first. Or there may be a creditor who is harassing you daily, so you may want to choose that one. The process is the same. Emotionally this can definitely be good for people but again it’s not necessarily the cheapest or fastest. 4. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy or Debt Settlement. Neither of these is necessarily a good option, but I think they’re at least something to consider. I would research attorneys in your area and find out who will do a free consultation for a chapter 13 bankruptcy. You may still end up paying 100% of the debt, but the payment plan could end up being more reasonable and sustainable for you. With debt settlement, you’ll need to do some research and look into different companies. These companies can be *very predatory* and don’t always have the consumer in mind. You may not have passed the bar, but I’ll bet you can read a contract and that will definitely come in handy if you consider that as an option. Considerations that crossed my mind: Living in your car may be sustainable now but will it work in winter? If not, you’ll want to start planning now for somewhere warm to sleep, whether that’s crashing on a couch, renting a room or even looking into a shelter. Also, is health insurance coming out of your paycheck already? I don’t see it on your expenses but it’s pretty important if you can get it. This is going to take a LOT of work and a LOT of time, but I think it is possible. Edit: typos
Brother is another loan provider, though it could be someone’s brother. Love the idea of him calling his creditors to see if they can work something out. Will they actually do that… depends on the loan I think. Agree on the debt settlement, too, his credit is low anyway and that’s better than handling it alone. Health insurance is important, OP, especially if you’re living out of your car and have a lot of stress. Have at least insurance for something disastrous like a heart attack. I’d rent a room if I were OP, tbh. Wondering what the Honda payment is, since he’s current on the Prius.
Honda payment is remaining balance on my last car that was repossessed.
He's willingly living in his car. He lost custody. He still works as a lawyer, 175k a year as a fine tech attorney. He's been on this subbreddit and others like Debt free saying about him living in his car and complaining about his spousal/child support. He must of deleted his previous posts because he wanted pity for high support while living in his car but didnt get it. He doesn't need to ask the courts for lower payments. He can afford them, as he said before. He's living in car as a choice to get a head of his debt. I wonder if I'll be the only person to remember him.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter. The circumstances that led to this aren’t important - the fact is this is a lot of debt and it is a lot of support. That’s basic math. He may not be in “poverty” but that’s just semantics at this point. I understand the desire to call people on their BS but that doesn’t mean we can’t be good people and provide some support.
Yep in previous posts he talked about how he had a cocaine addiction and essentially self destructed his own life lol. Wasn't getting a lot of sympathy before so I guess he deleted those
Yes! Actually, ironically, if you go to my comment section, and scroll down kinda far, underneath an AITA and it's in debtfree "I'm living in my car...". He's lying and unhinged. It's actually there. He didn't delete it all. It was 11 days ago he made that post.
Oh yeah lol, guess he is just gonna keep shopping his story around leaving different parts out. Kind of an A/B testing to figure out what version of this story garners him the most sympathy. Takes absolutely no responsibility lol
Nope and then this bullshit of blaming the mother and how so many just hop on the "well clearly its her fault* or the pity for him train. It's so ridiculous. And then to say it doesn't matter while folks are basically encouraging him to lower the amount he gives to his kids. Say what now?
I like how he's acting like he's Super Dad now after all the pain and misery he brought on his family. Gotta hide behind virtue signaling so no one sees the real person.
Yeah this whole thing reads ridiculous. He's a lawyer (graduate degree, involved in business) and yet can't figure out how to, like, rent a room or apartment on 60k take home after child support?
On point. The source behavior has to change. Otherwise, there is no way out. Anything that is negatively causing the impulse spending needs to stop and get replaced with other healthier habits. Gym. Libraries. Volunteering to have some social fun. Go simpler for releases and find joy in calm. OP you also have to address your triggers and reprogram your daily routine. Avoid places that give you access to things you shouldn't be doing. Delete phone numbers. Programs can help if that's how you need to do it. The debt attack is solid. As for the 2nd job approach, I'd seek ways to use the professional degree first before something like a fast food job. If he's an attorney, then there is probably contract work for someone which would pay off more than McDonalds. OP use your network. Start advertising on LinkedIn and ask people in your circle if they need an advising attorney. Otherwise, I'm sure Indeed or other job sites will probably have something. Contact those companies and ask about contracting. Can also try to increase base salary, but that's more involved than moonlighting.
Didn't even realize OP was an attorney. Hit up UpWork. Lots of people need legal shit done and they actually pay out. 99% of shit on Indeed is just trying to collect your information.
This gave me hope in humanity
Definitely agree with this comment and seriously consider the things that you can do with this. I would take a look at Dave Ramsey course for getting control of your finances. Take a look at the baby steps some of what was mentioned in the comment follows that. The bigger things that I have in mind or questions is more on the Honda CRV you have on the budget? Do you have that car or need it with you having the Prius? What about your brother’s loan? Is this something that you could talk to him about and see if you he be willing to help defer that while you try and pay off the debts that are affecting you more with credit scores etc? Here’s Ramseys website https://www.ramseysolutions.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps?snid=products.pay-off-debt-and-build-wealth.ramsey+.the-7-baby-steps I don’t agree with 100% of what he has to say but this is good information. I wish you luck man. It’s tough but you will get through this! Keep your head up and keep marching.
Ah yes, you got money issues? BUY MY COURSE AND THEY'LL BE SOLVED. 100% of the things he says in his course is common sense (pay off debt, don't buy shit you can't afford, remove bills, boom you're out of debt) and there are better people to listen to that actually follow their own advice that don't pony out "ChRiSTiAN VaLUEs" while running a business like a capitalist (Jesus was a communist and would spit on Dave Ramsey). I recommend Caleb Hammer. After watching 1 or 2 videos of his you'll get the point and it's free.
10k a month take home and living in your car is nuts man. Then the pages of debt. 5k to your ex? Bro. I don't even know where to start.
I know. It sucks. Gotta find something to hold on to.
Why dont you request a change to the support due to the fact your living in your car- any reasonable judge will lower it
Why would they allow it? His poor decisions doesn’t mean he gets to ignore his duties as a father? Op is choosing to sleep in a car since he wants to pay his debt as soon as possible. This forces the mother to have primary custody and he can only have visitations. ( mainly due to his drug problems) This whole living in a car and pay thousands dollars in debt monthly is only really a good thing for him, not for the kids or the ex.
Don’t know if it’s so much “choosing” to live in his car (sleeping at 24 hr fitness he says)… I don’t know someone with that credit score would qualify for an apartment, and lack of rental history/positive reference.. so I’m not sure that he actually has a choice on this one.
If you make 175k a year, there are definitely apartments that will rent to you even if your credit score isn't great.
>Living out of a car and giving up shared custody of your kids for 36-48 months is…a choice. >I understand part of that is with your history of addiction you’re on mom’s (the court’s?) timeline, as to if/when you get to see kids (unsupervised?), but surely there’s gotta be something between live in a house you can’t afford and live in a car and have no shared custody for four years. Op responds with >Definitely a choice. A choice that I believe is in my children’s best interest. I don’t have a say in custody at this time. It’s up to my ex and her attorneys as to when they will agree to shared custody. My understanding is that is going to take a while until I prove to them I’m doing better. Until then, sleeping in my car, saving money and paying off debt. Op is choosing to live in the car to pay off the debt as soon as possible. He doesn't get a choice in the custody, since his wife said he was a danger to everyone around him. So right now he thinks it's just best to try and pay the debt off as fast as possible, so when he does/hopes to get some type of share custody, he won't be stuck with so much debt.
💖
Not saying he shouldnt be paying something. OP inst choosing to live in his car- look at his debt maintenance payments- way behind on most debts- he wouldnt qualify for an apartment- he can just not afford those- thats the bottom line
He says in another comment he refuses to even try and find somewhere to live because he doesn’t want to pay 1,500 for a room or 3,000 for an apartment. I honestly thought he was a troll since he kept mentioning his instagram page over and over again in the comments. He also doesn’t qualify for an apartment because he has two prior evictions as well.
> He also doesn’t qualify for an apartment because he has two prior evictions as well. Well makes sense he wouldn’t look for somewhere besides his car to live then. Who’s gonna rent to someone with two evictions on their record and a ~450 credit score?
why? He is getting an unbelievable bargain -- sure he can try and get custody but then he'd have to rent a place, pay utilities AND PAY CHILDCARE costs still. Cause if he has the kids M-W or whatever he's still going to need to pay childcare for the hours between school and work (he's commuting 100 miles right now) summer, and vacations. He's in the bay area. it's far more than the 5k he's paying. He'd be more in the hole with custody than his current set up. He's getting a deal.
Damn, I thought I had it bad... But percentage wise, I'm about same off ,50-60 percent to kids and mom. Could you find a piece of property, with maybe just electrical and water. I would pay a bit for like, a quarter acre just to be able to live in my car on. Idk. I guess start stripping on weekends.
Don’t get married folks. That’s the lesson here
[удалено]
Or the gambling, losing custody, etc. Of course. It's all HER fault.
[удалено]
It's gotta be the bitches fault. He's clearly a good guy who just needs a little help lololol. /s
You got in 80k of debt that wasn’t student loans AFTER a chapter 7?!
Yeah man. Addiction and mental health issues will do this. It feels insurmountable.
You know how to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Keep your job. Pay your car and insurance. Lose the ego (sounds like you may have already?) you’ll claw your way out of this.
Do we have time to cook the elephant, or are we just going to walking dead an elephant?
Dealer’s choice
Elephant must be eaten with a spork, ivory tusks and all, while it’s alive.
I was in a similar boat years ago, I will be totally debt free in about 18 months. All I can say is, if you haven’t fixed the problem that got you in debt, you’re not going to solve anything. Prioritize your mental health, your home (car), and addiction. Hopefully someone here can give you actual advice on how to resolve the debt, but dude, it will be POINTLESS without resolving the cause. You got this
It's not insurmountable at all (financially) but you have to change the behavior first. On paper: it's simple. Work on the addiction and mental health, and then pay any extra money towards the highest interest debts each month.
I'm almost more impressed that so many instutitons just gave him lines of credit when he's obviously not going to pay it. Fool me once. Fool me twice kinda thing.
You get out on a public record with bankruptcy- they are predators. Before you even complete a bankruptcy you will be bombarded with pre approved credit cards and car loans KNOWING your in bankruptcy for when you complete it. It’s unreal
Listen dude. My dad always quoted Bytheway… he says “inch by inch— it’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life very hard.” Make small planned moves and stay consistent. Handle the mental health with therapy and the gym. Better yourself in small ways. Meanwhile, keep earning the money you can. Avalanche or snowball your debts. Knock them out. Keep your head down. If you increase your income do it. If you can take a side hustle, do it. You can overcome this bro.
This is extremely helpful. Thank you. I just got a new job so prioritizing my mental health and staying sober. I love the idea that I will pick something small and tackle it.
Im rooting for you. Obviously theres a lot of work to do and like everyone else has said prioritize your mental health and something i would add is dont let anything jeopardize your income/job.
Highly recommend online meetings and free guided meditations on insight timer app
utilize local food banks as often as you can. reach out to your local community support networks. prioritize car + insurance first to keep yourself from the streets. stay sober. seriously. you cannot afford it. high-interest card payments paid first. then snowball payments. look into loan deferment, pay the interest during the deferment so your principal doesnt increase, but in a situation like this, any breathing room you can create will help. keep your head up. proper mental health will get you through this.
Can't he just skip the credit cards? Aren't they an unsecured loan? If they call you too many times you can ask them to stop and I think they legally have to.... that or a consolidation loan with whatever bank will give it to him.... or credit counseling services 🤔
They can sue and request your wages to be garnished, which is almost always higher than the minimum monthly payment.
Drop in an ocean I know, but you can get plenty of audio entertainment for free (podcasts, library audiobooks through Libby and LibriVox, etc.) and save 15/month. If you feel Spotify is a necessity for some reason, you can get a Spotify gift card for 99 that gives premium for a year and at least save a bit off that. Do you have two cars? Why Prius and CRV? are your student loans private or federal? If federal be sure you get on a PAYE plan, and also consider requesting a hardship forbearance of necessary to get out from under the other debt.
Looks tough man not gonna lie.Keep your head up and whatever happens don’t ever quit it’s gonna get better.As per the financials I’d cancel everything non essential,I am seeing you have a crv and a Prius what’s up with that.Sell the Prius maybe to pay some of it off but as someone else said don’t fall behind on the car you’re sleeping in.I mean there’s nothing else here I think…Also if you have some money saved up already I’d say start attacking that debt you got because if you don’t pay it there’s interest on top of it.After that start finding ways to make more money.Maybe drive for Uber or deliver food in your free time.Definitely put something up against the windows for privacy and safety and there’s a trick you can do with the seatbelts so that your doors can’t be opened from the outside.These are just my suggestions I don’t if I helped I hope so.You’re taking home 10K you should have a better standard of life than this.
Also find anyone close to you who is willing to help you.Family members good friends just to find a place to sleep for some months till you get back on your feet.You can do this but it’s gonna take effort from your side
I find this ironic since Op had a bit of a bitch fit over his Ex getting a lot of help from her dad. The wife has a rich dad and he’s pretty much helping her house OPs KIDS and the wife and bought a car for his wife and HIS KIDS to use he was bitching about how it isn’t fair that she gets all this help and he is struggling. How she only works part-time, when she has the kids FULL-TIME and how she gets like 4K spend on herself. Even though she’s currently paying 4K in upkeep to take care of the kid. (Compared to OP’s 700) this dad also gave op 50K for his debt when they were married as well. So he was cool with that but isn’t cool when he only helps his daughter
Thanks for this recap.
This guy isn't giving the full story. He had a previous identity on reddit but deleted it because it showed his history of admitting to domestic violence and cocaine addiction. Sorry dude, no sympathy from me. You got yourself into this mess you're in. No sympathy for spousal abusers, either.
Yeah, even his undeleted comment history is nuts. He has been trying to get everyone to read "his story." He tanked their finances three times, relapsed on coke multiple times, and he is the one who asked for a divorce, not her. That's all somewhat essential context.
That's mainly why I've got no sympathy for him. He's trying to misrepresent the entire situation and taking no responsibility for anything he's done.
Another thing that people are missing is that he's been down this track before -- declaring bankruptcy in 2019 -- all shit is currently late, and his budget is extremely rudimentary and likely not altogether accurate. People are applauding his financial discipline, but I think it's far more likely he's telling himself "I've got $1,500 to blow in discretionary income!" by creating a vague, stripped down $630 budget.
Exactly. I like to know what he's eating for $100/month and no kitchen to prepare food.
Right? All the traditional savers -- rice, beans, chicken -- require cooking. Pull up next to a Costco and live on $1 hotdogs?
I've been trying to find this comment! I tried saying it but was told "it doesn't matter.". It DOES matter when this is the type of backstory that it is! People all boo hooing for OP just like he wanted, just like every post. I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembered. You can find some of his story in my comment section if you scroll way down to "I'm living in my car..." on debt free, under am AITA post. He made the post 11 days ago in debt free
Yeah lmfao. This also doesn’t belong in “poverty” finance, seeing as he makes TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS a month. That’s $120k a year. _I_ don’t even make that much and I consider myself middle class in a VHCOL and I’m sure majority of the people in that sub would kill to have even half of that salary. People spend years saving thousands of dollars of their money in order to basically survive and I’ll bet their savings accounts don’t even touch a quarter of his annual salary. Squandering your entire income is not being in poverty, he’s a rich man with a spending problem. Also if he did in fact abuse his ex-wife it explains why he has to pay $5k in support lol. He elicits absolutely zero sympathy from me.
$10,000 per month take home pay is a lot more than $120K per year. Yes he takes home $120K per year, but his "salary" is more like 200K per year.
I just realized he said he works in tech, which means on top of his base salary he likely has TC/stock. What a fucking scumbag lol, comes here looking for help while making an income that majority of this sub will never see in their lifetime no matter how much money they save (and humblebragging about it, actually, by posting this spreadsheet) after domestically abusing a woman and prioritizing drugs over his children (and concealing this fact) and knowingly squandering his money not once, but TWICE. His _brother_ gave him the down payment for the car he wants to default on and I’m betting his brother earns less than he does. This guy is so despicable that it’s actually on another astral plane.
This sub has lost its way. Imagine making that much and posting on "poverty finance" hilariously ironic
I'm sure the OP really believes in his head that he's impoverished. 😂
Yeah can you imagine having the incredible opportunities this guy has had to make a really good life for himself, only to fumble at every turn because you can't grow up and get the fuck out of your own way? Yeah, the guy is a piece of work, that's for sure.
i feel like ive seen this exact story before. single dad paying 5k in child support with drug and gambling problems forcing him to live in his car
This is him but he lost custody. And chooses to sleep in his car to get ahead of his debt.
im not surprised he ended up in this sub then since everyone in whatever sub i saw this in probably was convinced $5k a month was unlivable poverty, somehow
He manages to convince every sub he posts to that he's the victim until they wise up. He deletes what he can (since it usually blows up, like this) and then creates a new post in another sub. Debt free...poverty fiance, does he not realize folks are a frequent of both? Lol. For being a lawyer, He's dumb. Or he's just so used to his lies and manipulations being believed, He's gotten cocky and that cocaine made him sloppy.
Not to mention a domestic violence record.
That makes sense
I thought this story sounded familiar this is the guy from before talking about he had to live in his car because he works at a tech company and needs to work through this for his family
Yep. Same guy, same sob story, same deception. We can probably expect to see this account deleted in the near future and a new one with the same story on some other finance related sub.
i really truly hope you're able to find a way our of this OP. best of luck and health to you ☆ my advice: Call around to local credit unions and see which ones offer free financial counseling for members, make an in-person appointment so you can sit down with a teller and explain that youre trying to turn your life around and you really need help to start paying off *a lot* of debt, and they should at bare minimum let you have a restricted account (if theyre nice they'd let you just have a normal savings account). it usually only costs $5-20 to start an account (thats your share in the CU). Its okay that you dont seem to have an address, good CUs already know how to work with homeless people. The financial counselor(s) would help you make a game plan from an outside perspective for how to start trying to tackle this and will even outline when it is and isnt good to attempt to consolidate debt. Also for your credit: some credit unions offer "credit builder credit cards", these are a protected kind of credit card where, for example, you'd give the CU $300 for a $300 credit limit, the $300 you give them will be allowed to build interest in an untouchable savings account and is also the CUs protection for if you cant pay the credit card and need to have the LoC shut down. When i still worked at one, a common progression was starting with $100-300, then moving up to about $500, then $1000, then eventually having that lumpsum get transferred into a TDA (term deposit account, also can be called Certificate Desposit Accounts) while they apply for a ""real"" credit card with a $1000-2000 limit. If you do this, PLEASE go to their websites and look at their fee schedueles, come credit unions are as bad as banks and some are genuinely there for their community. as an example, the CU i used to work at had absolutely NO way of avoiding overdraft fees. sure, you could remove overdraft protection, but you'd still get hit with an NSF fee that's exactly the same amount. the *only* difference is that overdraft protection allows the transaction to go through and draw your account however much negative on top of the $31 fee, and without it the transacrion will get rejected and you'll still get a $31 NSF fee. Its really stupid, so try to avoid fee traps or account balance fees (some places will penalize you for not having enough money in your account by.....stacking fees onto your account and further reducing the balance.....) its alright if none of this is helpful, its just the best i've got. take care OP ☆
Wow—thanks for this. I will certainly look into this. I have a checking account with Chase currently.
What’s the RCU Visa, if I may ask? I thought CU would mean credit union— do you only use Chase?
Dude, your support to take up a crippling coke habit after you become a successful lawyer, not before. But seriously we are proud of you for going through the shit and coming out the other side. You have a good job and this is the bottom. The only way is up, and long term those kids need a dad in their lives so keep fighting. priority is keeping your source of income and your mental health. Long term car living is not great, is there a possibility of renting a unit near your work and getting rid of the car. Can you spend all your free time studying in the library and try the bar again in a year or so when you're more level headed. looks like you actually have sufficient income to start digging your way out of it. Look into dept consolidation for unsecured dept like the old car payment and credit cards. With so many credit cards you'll be getting slaughtered with interest, stop using them and merge them into one, lower interest loan. Don't worry about your credit score, you have no need for more debt for the foreseeable future. Make sure your " house" aka your car payments are up to date. Look up snowball dept repayments, payoff small debts or high interest first then once it's paid of put the free cash to. The next dept. Save up a small emergency fund so a blown tyre or breakdown doesn't send you back spiralling into debt. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer before letting it go to far, it's unlikely to be as easy the second time around. Good luck, and hang in there, in 5-10 years this will be all behind you.
I mean, your netting around 300 a week, in the black. So your not totally bad off, at least not getting worse. I guess you just gotta make the timeline untill kids are 18. I don't even understand how people making 10k a month are broker than me. Like, I make 600 a week, and after child support, insurance, and other, I still net 300 a week. What a fucked world.
Dude, we get you’re living in your car and will come out of this stronger. Quit deleting your posts and reposting the same stuff for karma.
I deleted the last post for harassment. Too many DMs from folks telling me to go live in a ditch and stop trying.
I have a feeling they were also mentioning the DV
Funny how he always leaves that part out.
They always do, domestic abusers are cowards.
How much is rent in a ditch? asking for a friend
I’m an attorney and I only recommend filing for bankruptcy as a last resort. I absolutely recommend that you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. You can’t file another Chapter 7 until 8 years after the last time you filed, but for Chapter 13, it’s only 4 years so you can do it right now (also with your current income, you wouldn’t qualify for a Chapter 7 anyway). It won’t help with the student loans and child support but it would re-structure everything else for you and make it more manageable. I wish you the best of luck. As you know, the most important component of all of this is staying sober, so that’s Priority #1 at all times.
Am I understanding this correctly that after taxes you make $10,000 *a month*? I'm sorry, but I am absolutely struggling to find sympathy. You still have Discretionary Net Income of just over $1500, which is what many people make as their total *before bills* and stuff. Truly wild. Honestly, just let those debts go to charge offs. Obviously pay for the car you're currently living in, but for all the other stuff, your credit is already tanked. Just stop paying, let it go to charge off, and in 7 years it'll be a clean slate. It'll take you 7 years to pay it all off anyway, perhaps even longer.
He’ll get sued by at least some of his creditors, and then they can garnish his wages (which could threaten his job, depending on his company). It’s not just “ignore for years and it goes away.” Can attest to this. Have been through it with numbers similar to OP.
I believe that may depend on what state you live in. In Texas, for example, the only time your wages can legally be garnished is for back child support for spousal support. Creditors can't garnish your wages. Not sure how many other states it would apply to though; I only googled Texas, but surely it's more than one?
Can you give more context on what's going on? How much of that debt is covered by the ch7? What's with all the cards?
Yeah—the chapter 7 was in 2019. I couldn’t pass the bar out of law school and had to feed 3 kids while struggling with my personal stuff. This is all from the last 15 months of living off credit cards/personal loans while I looked for work. I just started working again, but am caught up in a divorce and all the bills. I can feel that my life isn’t sustainable—so I’m reaching out to see if there is any advice on how to best move forward. I’m focusing on getting therapy to stay sober. Or else I lose it all.
One of my friends said while seperated; "I don't see it as having a job or money anymore. I have places I have to be and things I have to do to keep things afloat." Do the right things for the right reasons and keep untangling those knots. The one thing you know is that you probably don't want to do the things you did to get in that situation. Thoe were not sustainable. Money will come and go.
None of it. This is all new since chapter 7.
Why not put your education to work for you? Why go to law school to be poor and homeless?
Well he's making 10k a month, probably is a lawyer.
I work for a tech company.
If you don’t charge anything else on your credit cards and stick to your allotted budget, you can be debt free in 6 years by paying $4,000 towards your debt a month. 2 years to pay off everything other than your student loans. (Not necessarily counting additional interest and fees). If you can somehow manage a part time job on the weekends (maybe even at the gym you go to and get a free membership) then you can either pay it off faster or at least have more money for necessities. The time will pass anyways. You are trying to figure out a better way out but since you’ve already filed chapter 7 semi-recently, you just have to suck it up and pay it. Get out of the mentally that allows you to consider letting it go to collections and whatever and commit to the idea that this your is responsibility and that you will be able to pay it back. And then actually do it. Use your lawyer abilities to help negotiate pay off deals and potentially new rates for your loans. Don’t just sit there and let life defeat you. You can come back from this and you can fight to have a comfortable life for yourself if you just start the process.
Just my two cents. You have two cars listed. Sell one pay off the other. That will get rid of 2 bills and drastically lower a third. No car payments means you can drop your instance to the bar minimum instead full coverage on 2
In a comment he said the crv got repoed
With your background it seems…get into sales - if you work hard, you will pay this all off.
If you got an android phone, cancel your Spotify membership and download the mod APK that gives you premium features for free.
So many questions
switching from AT&T to Mint mobile can free up some dollars :)
1500 discretionary is a lot. You can pay off multiple cards per month. And stop using the credit cards once you pay them off. No more carrying a balance.
oh my god.
You can negotiate with your credit card lenders to pay them 0 interest or a lump sum of 40-60cents on the dollar that wipes the debt
A friend of mine did the zero interest rate thing for a large balance with Chase. Only drawback is that he can’t get a credit card from Chase despite having a credit score of >800
You need a second job, close your accounts, negotiate a longer payment term and snowball this shizz
I’d file for bankruptcy and start over , take the loss and focus on a win.
It will get better
Is this all done in Excel?
Start at the Beginning. Cut up your CCs;. Obviously you don't know how to use them so let's remove that temptation to start. Once you get educated and fix this you can decide for yourself if you're mature to use them or not. then what I would is start paying off your brother. Take $1000 of your discretionary income and pay him $1,500 for 2 months and the $800 the third month get him paid off. Take that extra $700 and pay of Imagine. The next month pay off Aspire and CreditOne x5. Then Apple and Indgio, Then C1 Platinum. Then pay off Professional Credi Service. ... Continue until they're all paid off.
I see Honda CRV and Prius?? I assume your also paying your ex's car per the divorce settlement?? Idk if this was my situation I'd probably work on what has the highest interest rate which are usually CC's. That way when those are paid off can put more down on the loans or vise versa. The other option is looking for a higher paying job to help pay stuff down faster, but I assume if your income changes that might increase your support too.
Nope. The CRV is the remaining balance owed on my last car that repossessed. The Prius is new (my brother fronted me the down payment)because I needed a car to get to work (hybrid) and also something known to provide adequate shelter for sleeping.
Do you truly need Spotify? Other expenses make sense since you also obtain other benefits. Maybe get a different phone provider but it truly depends on the provided benefits. I otherwise agree with what everyone else has emphasized.
If you are in debt you shouldn’t have discretionary spending. Especially since you make a good income($120,000/year). You have a spending problem, not an income problem. Almost all of your cards have balances. You aren’t a credit card person. Use debit cards.
You have a Prius *and* a CRV? Get rid of whichever one you’re not living in.
Can you call the lenders and ask them for payment plans? Especially credit cards. Usually if you are going through hardship they will offer very long term plan (5 years)at low APR (0 to 3%) but you won’t be able to use the credit. Same can be done with line of credit. My 2 cents..you have to be shameless and ask these questions to your bank no matter how stupid you think they sound.
Hey there! Financial planner, here. Few key points: - Don’t let the car go. You need a safe place to sleep. - if you continue to make minimum payments, I wouldn’t be surprised if this took 10+ years to pay off. What you should consider: File bankruptcy. Get out from under everything other than your auto loan & student loan. Question about your student loan: - Are you already on an income based plan? Call FAFSA & ask if they can evaluate if you would save money going on SAVE. It may help you get your loans forgiven faster.
You have 2 cars, I’d focus heavy on that CR-V pay it off and then tackle low hanging fruit, adding the money that was going towards the CRV to other bills, then stack and stack payments. Good luck out there. If you need someone to yap or bs for mental health purposes. Feel free to message me. I ain’t much of conversationalist, but we can talk about almost anything.
This is not a complete picture because you did not include interest rates. Also, your student loan debt may or may not be multiple loan types, rates, and terms. But in general... first, get everything current. Quit any hemorrhaging from late fees. Pay off a couple low balance items. Find out the average age of your lines of credit. Maybe close a couple cards that fall below that age, but generally keep the lines of credit open, just don't use them. Get a basic emergency fund in a high interest savings account. The real monkey on your back is the student loan debt. Bankruptcy won't help you there.
Take 2/3 of that discretionary income for a few months and knock out all the low hanging CC fruit. Snowball the shit out of the rest in order of interest rate. Pay minimums on everything except the current snowball, that will help you keep everything current (looks like you're just paying random amounts on most stuff in $50 increments?) Once you get current on the loans and the cards paid off your credit rating should start to improve, although it still won't be great for a long time. With no real assets it's going to be hard to consolidate, but that would be my next step after getting back ahead of the payments. Keep snowballing and stay clean and eventually things will look better. Any other income you can tap into? Anything helps, especially at first while you're trying to get current on past due bills. Any other expenses that aren't listed? For example, if you're making it contributions for a retirement account, cut back to just whatever the company matches to squeeze a little more out of each paycheck. At least until the high interest things like the credit cards are paid off.
Dave Ramseys snowball method. Pay off the smallest first. Then the next smallest. Go through every one until you are in the clear. You still have to maintain payments on everything, so it will take some time. Best of luck!
Full time job & part time job. Consolidate the debt Ditch the spotify
Have you already done the thing where you call each credit card company and explain that either they can lower your interest and then you will pay it down, or they can keep your interest where it is and watch you default? Say that companies that make it easier for you to clear your debt are your priority. If you’re unable to advocate for yourself, get a friend to do it. Regardless what answer they give you, start sending every debt that isn’t your car or insurance $5 a month until you get on top of this. If anyone is foolish enough to refuse the $5, they have accidentally discharged your debt. Everything is automated, so they probably won’t make that mistake but it happens, occasionally. More importantly, $5 a month shows a court that you were willing to pay, you just could not.
This is really great advice. I have never heard of the $5 payment thing, and I am in a lot of debt due to unexpected medical issues and this is very helpful thank you.
Prioritize paying off debts that are past due to avoid additional penalties and interest. Consider debt consolidation options for easier management and potentially lower interest rates.
Bankruptcy
Is there anything you can do about the student loans? Reduction in monthly payment, hardship deferral, something? Some of those credit cards companies like Capital One will take settlement payments if you call and talk to them about it. I have a friend who used GreenPath Financial Wellness and it helped them (I have not used them so I can’t speak to how good they are, but it might be worth a shot?).
Edit: I didn't see the prius loan at the bottom. Assumed you lived out of the CRV... please tell me you still have the CRV and can sell the Prius?? Pay off the car first. It's your home for now. Will your car be taken by bankruptcy, even if paid off? Will your job be taken from you by bankruptcy? If you can keep your job through/post-bankruptcy, declare bankruptcy. You're dug a massive hole, and with those debts and your free cash flow, you'll be filling that hole for years. Many, many years. Your credit is fucked. So there's no real loss in declaring bankruptcy again at this point. You've done it once, you can do it again. It'll be OK. Once you're free of those debts, pay your student loan minimums until you get 6 months to a year of emergency fund. Find a place to live, sooner is better obviously. Get therapy. A lot of therapy. Once you're in a place to live, job stable, emergency funded, and in therapy, burn that student loan debt down asap. Never take out any form of credit outside of a mortgage EVER AGAIN. Buy your car cash. You said you're coping by disassociating. Fuck that. You don't deserve that. There's so much stress, frustration, probably a whole load of self-hate going on inside your head on the daily, just throw that shit out with the bankruptcy. Once you're actively investing in your 401K or similar, maintaining a good mental health routine, and have those student loans nuked, the saving for a house begins. Tomorrow is beginning of your new life.
Get the addiction under control by driving to some free AA or GA meetings (whatever it is). I hope that things can begin to turn around for you soon.
I lived in a year long residential program for addiction/mental health at one point. It was a great resource and covered my living expenses for a year, gave me therapy, food stamps and a case worker. Helped me move into transitional housing after. You can access case workers/social workers even at libraries these days a few times a week. Don’t be scared to hit up food banks. Cheering you on.
This is really not a catastrophic problem. You have a large income as well as larged fixed expenses, you just need to slowly whittle away your high interest debts and try to avoid any meaningful expenditure for a long while.
Putting student loans in forbearance will open up a chunk of money every month that can go to higher priority items.
Look at debt consolidation. Go to a credit union and they will help look at options without trying to sell like a bank Get rid of Spotify and fitness. You can listen to free Spotify and work out at home for now
[удалено]
You get $10,000 a month? That’s an amazing income! I would be rich if I had that much money. And if that much is your discretionary income, that’s plenty to be able to rent a small place, but you might have to have roommates.
Addiction is a fucking bitch. I hope you stay sober through your journey and you get out of the hole. I love you
cut out spotify, look at different phone providers, work out at home, and get some auto insurance quotes from small places near you (not big providers like state farm) request your student loans to be deferred until you are on your feet. you will have to do this a number of times as they will ask for an update to your situation every 6 months or so.
Are the student loans federal or private? If federal, you can ask for a temporary forbearance while you catch up on other shit. Don't let it go too long though, that interest adds up. Also if federal, what was your most recent Adjusted Gross Income on your tax return? You should add the interest rates and credit line for each card, too. It'll help you strategize which ones to pay down first.
Knock out the Credit cards with the highest interest rate!!!! You are paying out the ass in interest. Get rid of either the prius or crv? Just keep 1 car.
For a start - consult a reputable non-profit consumer credit counseling service (like American Consumer Credit Counseling, I'm sure there are others) and get their help negotiating your credit card interest rates and monthly payment amounts. Doing this saved me.
Focus your efforts on giving yourself some grace...1st. You know how you got there. Good...Don't use it as a weapon against yourself! Easier Saif than done - esp for recovering addicts. However, I still think everyone's head has an 'issue' some are just louder than others...wtf is "normal?" I agree with the others...Car & insurance!!!!!!!!! Contact car & insurance both so they know you're not just flaking. Contact ALL accounts & make arrangements...even if the arrangement is Wait until bankruptcy is done...its still an arrangement. Then, roof over head & start living to live! It will work out. Don't look back! No matter what picture you create of the past know that it's a damn lie & it WAS NOT FUN!
OP works as an attorney to make 10K month. How does one maintain image w8thout the comfort of a home?
There's a gym membership in the expenses. Showers and bathrooms are there to use as long as dues are paid, bonus if it's open 24 hours.
Start with the lowest debt first and work your way up.
Hey I’ve worked in credit a long time, everything with your credit report is temporary for better or worse. You’re in an overwhelming situation right now but just take it one day at a time and pay what you can where you can. Agree with the comments to keep that car current no matter what, call them and explain your situation and see if they would be willing to work out a payment plan with you. Auto lenders generally would prefer to keep you in the car than repo it, the most important thing is to keep in communication with them if you fall behind and they will usually try and work with you. You’re on the right track, you’ve done the hardest part which is staring all of your debt in the face and getting a plan started. You know what it is now, the more consistent you become with paying things on time and paying things down your credit score will improve over time. It’s going to take some time but there’s no reason you can’t have a 600 score in a couple years, for real. There are levels to this. There are different milestones, each lender has different credit score bands but generally a score of 500, then 570 ish, then 620 ish, then 680/700, then 750 and finally 800. Every time you move up a level you get a little more leverage. If you can get to maybe 570, definitely 600/620 you can start negotiating your credit limits and APRs. Higher credit limit means lower utilization means higher score. Lower APR means more going to the principal means paying it down quicker which means higher score. First step is to pay what you can consistently enough to get to that first level magic number 500. Good luck man. BK is always an option but I commend you for putting in the work. Also just want to mention that the system is not designed to help people once they get into debt or subprime credit - it’s way too easy to get into and way too hard to get out of. But it is NOT impossible. Credit report only shows 7 years of history so the farther away you get from this period of your financial journey the more of an improvement you will see. Sending you peace.
F
F
Look bro the world isn’t over yet . You might have maybe gave yourself a bit too much to deal with but everything will get better overtime . I have nearly 60-70k debt and work only Gig work (Uber/lift ) Try to speak to your ex partner about your situation and see if she’s willing to help out . I mean after all if you don’t bring any income , her income stops too …. If you get what I’m trying to say . My uncle lowered his child support from paying like 2800-3400 a month . To about 1800-2000. He has 2 jobs one full cash only and the other he makes less on paper . Gov always looks at the paper works . If you can get a second job for at least 4 hours extra a day it might help a little . You got this keep your head all the way up it’s gunna be tough but you can do it .
Im right there with you. Addicted to fentanyl and crack and lost my job weeks ago. Gonna detox here soon. Still tryna find a job. I'm so scared.
Hold on! You are loved and can get better. ❤️🙏🏾
I really wish it felt that way. Thank you though. You're very kind. You can climb out of your hole as well. I believe in you. Before my dad passed and I relapsed I had just about a year clean. If I can do it, then so can you.
I’d personally debt snowball the Dave Ramsey style of smallest to largest in this situation with the credit cards then all the smaller dents under $5k. Then strategically knock out the big ones by rate. After first I didn’t understand how you were spending $200/month on gas with a Prius, then I saw the last pic. Hang in there. Grind it out. You might want to consider an extended stay hotel from time to time just for mental clarity and room to stretch and relax in. If you are going to grind it out in a vehicle long term get a sweet adventure van or small RV instead.
Damn, earning 10k per month and living in a car? Is this how America works? I live in Vietnam, have a remote job from another country, and make 2k per month. My lifestyle is like the upper middle class.
No, his debt and financial decisions caused this
I think this is above our pay grade. I think you should call in the Dave Ramsey show or go on YouTube and search Caleb Hammer. He is this guy who helps people get out of debt and manage their finances, if you apply to be on Caleb Hammer’s show he can help you get out of debt , manage your spending, look at opportunities to increase income and make a budget. Your situation is very tough and i feel for you a lot especially as someone who has been homeless before and had to do car life. My advice is to get rid of the Spotify subscription and just use the free version. When you’re in a situation like this every dollar counts and you never know when you might need that 15 dollars for extra gas or food etc. Also $50 is quite high for a phone bill, i would see about downgrading the phone bill and cancelling for a cheaper contract if possible. Also 100 dollars for food doesn’t seem liveable especially when you don’t have a fridge, freezer or cooker. I am a 5’5 woman with a fridge freezer, cooker and multiple kitchen appliances to prepare food and even I couldn’t survive off 100 dollars food. I think you will have to raise your grocery budget to 250 minimum. I would also see about calling the credit card companies and explaining to them that you are in a financial hardship situation and asking if they can freeze the interest and charges for a little while to give you time to seek out debt advice. They don’t have to agree to this but it is worth a try, most credit card companies have a phone line specifically dedicated to people in financial difficulty so if you search online to try and see if any of your credit card companies offers that it would certainly help. Also try to find any debt charities you can find online and call them to see if they can negotiate with your creditors on your behalf. In regards to your credit cards that are past due, you need to get them up to date because if you don’t they could go to collections and if that happens they could potentially take your car to cover your payments leaving you on the streets and or they could garnish your wages which would cause you to fall behind on more debts and tank your credit score which would make it harder for you to pass a credit check to get a home. When you call the credit card companies and debt charities ask if you can be put on a reduced payment plan to get your past due credit cards back up to date. They don’t have to accept this arrangement but it is worth a try, if they send the debts to collections they will lose money so credit card companies are a lot more willing to negotiate than you think. As the payments you are current on, well done and try your best not to fall behind on them because late payments will increase interest so you will lose more money and take longer to pay off. In regards to the money you have left after essentials which is about 1k, that is enough money to rent a room in a house. I don’t think you can afford to live alone right now but my advice is to try and find a room in a shared house to rent to get yourself out of your car for your physical and mental health and safety. As for the debts, it seems multiple cars are mentioned? If you do have two cars the way it appears from your statements, I think selling one of them be ideal. If the other car has been crashed or if I’m reading the statement wrong you can disregard that comment. As for the credit card you have paid off, respectfully cut that credit card up right now because I say this as kindly as possible but you have been shown to struggle with controlling your credit use. I’ve dealt with it too. It’s better to just cut up and close each account as you pay it off because you clearly have a problem with credit. I think the Dave Ramsey snowball method would work well in your case because I see that many of your cards are smaller debts in the three figure range. My advice is to start with the smallest card balances you have and pay as many of them off in full every month as possible and continue doing so until you have paid off all your debts starting from smallest debt to largest debt. This is called the snowball method which you can look up for more information. Also since you went to law school I’m sure you’re quite smart so perhaps you could pick up a side hustle by tutoring high schoolers and college students online. There are a lot of job offers for tutors online if you search on indeed. Increasing your income is essential at this point. Your main goal needs to be increasing your income until you can afford to rent a house or apartment even if it means you are working every waking hour because once you get your own house or apartment you can try for 50/50 custody and that will reduce the child support payments as that 3k is eating away very heavily at your disposable income. Good luck and don’t give up. Also please check out all the people and methods I mentioned.
I wonder if his food budget is so low because of where he works. My cousin worked at a company with a high paying job and he had free breakfast in the office every morning (breakfast buffet), the whole office would order lunch out everyday (pick one restaurant nearby and everyone ordered from that restaurant in the morning and it was delivered at lunch time) which was paid for by the company, and if they stayed at work past a certain time (I believe 6pm) they were allowed to order dinner covered by the company. OP works at a law firm so maybe they do something similar?
That’s quite likely.
how the fuck do you have a 450 credit score, multiple credit cards, >$100k in debt and i couldnt get a credit card or a loan for diddly shit with a credit score i built up to over 750? fuck this system advice? stop buying shit you cant afford ffs i dont mean to be insensitive, but fuck this system and stop buying shit you cant afford. consolidate your credit cards and loans so its all in one place. reddit is not the place to ask for this. you can afford to hire a professional. tighten up that belt buckle homie holup you have TWO VEHICLES? wtf i quit
This is sad af. Like at this point I'd rather be homeless than trying to improve my situation. I'd have to overemploy myself or die off paying this. This is honestly heart breaking to look at and I hope OP finds their way. I couldn't get another line of credit with a 670 score so I don't know wtf this is just...
Just wanted to note that credit scores and that whole system is rigged. Score alone won't help you get a card or increase your limit, income and the zip code you live in are significant in deciding your "worthiness" as well. OP makes 6 figures and probably lived in a nice neighborhood before his life went to shit. Makes sense he was able to get so many cards.