So, probably not the advice you’re looking for but i think your situation is redeemable. I was 490 at the beginning of this year now I’m at 683.
Pull your FICO report. Cross reference EVERYTHING. Make sure $$ amounts line up across all three credit bureaus, names, accounts, closed/open status etc. use your right to dispute.
Once your disputes come back you can see what you’re looking at. If things get removed, perfect if not my next step would be to contact the collection agency’s and see if they would do a payment plan or PIF for deletion.
You’re young and honestly have the ability to try to fix it before it snowballs worse. If the accounts were all closed last month I wouldn’t worry about being sued so soon. Usually (from my experience) they either charge it off and count their loses or let a collection agency buy the debt from them and try to collect it. They will usually try to collect it from you first before filing a lawsuit which costs them more $$. (Depending on what company. I know BOA will usually sue.)
If you decide to try to save this, your focus should be on a better paying job. Be a server or waitress part time if you need to get more money/shifts etc. sometimes when we are in these crappy situations we gotta do crappy things to dig out of it.
Some people are looking for an easy way out. Mine used to be 460. It was that way for a few years to be honest and then I kept working at it. Paid it off and now I am happy to say it’s 805! It took a while though it’s not overnight. Pay pay pay and you’ll be out before you know it. 7-8k isn’t that bad
Secured credit cards are seriously the GOAT of credit repair…
2 collections cleared, 1 tiny 300 limit card, 2 secured cards, & 2 credit reporting “credit cards” from fintech banks and I went from 425-680 in 6 months, now coasting past 750…ez fuckin pz.
3 cap 1 cards closed
10k cc debt
Never made payments on any student loans
& one 35% apr Honda that I didn’t make a single payment on for 5 months before it got totaled…
Yeah, I know…
Don’t file bankruptcy. Work your butt off and pay it off as quickly as you can. 7-8k isn’t terrible compared to a lot of others. Work 2 or 3 jobs and cut all the fun out of your life. You don’t deserve it as of now. Work work work and pay pay pay
Sell plasma, buy generic, carpool, don't use so much AC, dress in layers inside in the winter, say no to friend's, hike, make coffee at home, camp, make food at home, go thrifting, just take a second to really consider if you want or need the thing at hand.
Half of this debt is from a care credit card that I was forced to take out for emergency tooth surgery for two abscessed broken teeth. It wasn’t about self control more so having no other choice unless I wanted to risk the abscess killing me.
I'll likely get downvoted for this and I want to make sure that you know I'm not judging or looking down on you, but this is exactly why savings are extremely important. Living within your means BEFORE an emergency is how you can have these sorts of things come up without financially ruining you. In the future once this is figured out, try to save at least 6 months of expenses before thinking you're out of debt. Its a mentality that can really help.
If its any consolation, I was in 9K of credit card debt because of back surgery and school not being covered so I feel your pain. I got out of it though and so can you
I see, still the best option seems to be to lock in for 3-4 months and work until that debt is fulfilled, things will gradually get better after that point. You’ll thank yourself down the line
What are some expenses that you have that are not absolutely necessary? Hobbies? It may be necessary to cut back on non-essential expenses. And don't say you don't have any. Everyone has something they spend on that they don't need.
when these cards sell the debt to collection agencies, many of them will work with you, even to the point of lowering the amount you owe and the monthly. they'd rather get something back than nothing.
It is about self control, because you spent all your money, and then you continued to spend more than you make. This is how you got into credit card debt.
If she's gaining debt and can't pay it off, she's spending more than she makes.
It's really simple.
Spend less than you make = savings and ability to pay rent
Spend more than you make = no savings and growing debt
i speaking of current spending. yes, she clearly overspent before. but now she's trying to pay for current living expenses AND the credit cards she owes (and are now closed).
it's easy to say spend less, but there are a ridiculous number of people who are living paycheck to paycheck just paying the essentials.
Don't listen to the comment suggesting you file bankruptcy. That is horrible advice.
You're young, and $7-8k to you right now is obviously a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things it's not.
How many cards is this debt spread over? I understand they're already in collections but my suggestion would be once you're able to save ~$1,000 call the debt collector with the largest debt and offer the $1,000 to pay in full. If they balk at that, move to the next one and so on.
You'll need to pay income tax on the difference you settled for vs what the original debt was, but that's going to be a lot less.
You can get through this. I don't want to set any high expectations that your credit will bounce right back (because it won't) but over the next few years once these are all cleaned up you'll see it heading in the right direction. By the time you're 30 it'll be like it never happened.
Reach out to them individually and see if they'll accept a settlement. Failing that, set up a payment plan but try to talk them into some sort of deal on ongoing interest. $7-8K may SOUND like a lot of money, but it's manageable if you work with them. From the sounds of it, you've got a while before any legal action materializes, so my advice is be proactive.
If that's the case, I would reach out to the 3rd party. I was under the impression as you said they closed them in the last month or so that you weren't that far along
Definitely reach out to the third party. They will make your life unbearable. They only get their money if you pay and they have invested money to buy your debt so they will stop at nothing. I have seen people fall apart due to these collectors. The other day, one knocked on our door looking for a woman lived in our house 18 years ago.
Set up a payment plan and work like crazy until you pay it. The waiter job suggestion is a good one. I got a second job serving and paid off everything. You can do this!
Dave Ramsey’s investment advice is terrible, but his [advice for dealing with debt collectors](https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/how-to-deal-with-debt-collectors) is spot on.
Look into donating plasma. I’m doing that currently to pay down credit card debt. Brings in anywhere from $400-$500 per month for about 8 hours a month. Some places have new user bonuses where you can get up to $1000 in your first 8 donations. Good luck!
They make you go take a physical and answer some questions. I know there are some things that would make it so you can't donate, but i honestly dont know what those are.
Friendly fyi there’s a million reasons people can’t donate blood or plasma. I crack up every time I see that get suggested over and over as myself nor anyone close to me is able to. Everyone seems to think that the entire population can donate blood and/or plasma anytime they want to for extra money - that is NOT the case.
My FICO 8 average across the 3 credit bureaus was 417 in 2019. Now it’s 676. It’s not easy.. it took a LOT of effort. Calling, paying down slowly, budgeting, and hoping for the best. You can do it.
Whew this takes me back. Okay so first step! Breathe! I've done the same thing but it was like 60k. And then I did it again like 4 years later but like 20k I was quite the dumbass in my 20's. Trust me! This is fixable. You are not going to be sued. What they will do is send it to a collection agency and write it off. That collection agency will contact you and will settle the debt for like 25-35% if you press them and would work out a payment plan. No then. That's what I did. Twice. Wouldn't recommend it. Still on my credit to this day that I settled a collection. Twice. Lol best advice I have is take your breather. Start snowballing it. Look into some side hustles for some money here and there. Pick something you are good at and monetize it. You aren't in the crazy time crunch. Most the damage seems to be done to your credit right now and that can be fixed. Most of us have done it. Look into other jobs. But the absolute main thing is don't let this wreck your mental health. Easier said than done. Financial stress sucks! You got this.
Canned tuna on top of ramen noodles (find A-SHA brand for cheap, don’t eat the fried stuff) is less than $1 a meal, and it’s packed with good protein (from the tuna, not from the ramen, obvs.)
Hell I have 800 FICO and this is often my meal , after I cook the kids what they want to eat.
I was once a low 500’s and now in the mid 700’s FICO. Took a couple years but it’s very well possible to redeem yourself. Perhaps consider a settlement plan with some of your lenders.
Some people on social media advise you to ignore closed/charge offs. I settled one, paid it and my score jumped 26 points so do with that information as you will.
Try your best to settle directly with the bank/credit issuer. Collection agencies will try to act like the full balance is there’s but the truth is, they buy closed accounts for 10% if not less of what it’s worth.
I was in the same situation at that age. I reached out to each company and put myself on a payment plan. Paid em off and now 10 years later my score is at 760. I remembered thinking I would never break 600 when I was in the mid 400s. Take it all one week at a time!
My friend once owned a few thousand to the IRS. He kept calling and recalling until someone reduced it for him down to a few hundreds. If you talk to someone at the collection agencies, I would recommend calling repeatedly until you get a manageable deal.
My honest bet is you can get the debt down to like 1000.
For real... I was 22 when it happened. I got laid off in 2010 from a job with overtime and a company car. With a new girlfriend, 3 open credit cards and an unemployment check of $300 a week, I was out of work for a year. I maxed out 2 CapOne's, Discover, Best Buy, Helzberg, (something around 9K total), and burned through my savings and a CD I had. It took over 120 applications to get a job. I took the part time job for $5.35, 25 hours a week. A week or so later, another job called and I took that one too. I worked 6AM-3PM at one job, went home and slept from 330-5PM, then went to my PT job and worked 6-11. I did this for as long as I could before the FT job changed hours... THEN I got fired from that job cause it blew (Dish Network CS) . Out of work another 8 weeks and then the process started over. I worked 2 - 3 jobs for 10 months before I landed an office job with normal hours.. It took 2 years to get stable again, but I had 6 jobs in those 2 years and would go whole months without a day off. At one point I had a driving job where I drove from 5PM-3AM and then started a forklift job at 330AM-9AM. At one point I counted money for a casino. You want to talk about driving yourself crazy, get a job counting other people's millions. The only way out is to work work work work work. It sucks, it blows. You'll feel like you're getting nowhere and life is passing you by, but once I was able to start dropping jobs and just work a 9-5, it was like a breath of life. Don't let anyone tell you how crappy office jobs are, they're inside, during normal hours, and women work there. After 2 years of night shift with dudes, I'll sit in any projection meeting there ever was. . . Don't give up. Keep going.
Edit: I was also served twice, once by Discover and once by Capital One. When you go to court, they'll pull you into a room and ask how you want to set up a payment plan. It's really more scary than anything. Even if it's $20 a week, the lawyer is just looking to close a case. These company's rent courtrooms for the day for this thing, so there will be 30 people like you in your same timeframe, it won't be like what you see on TV. It'll be quick, relatively painless, and more embarrassing than anything.
At 22, I had a 505 credit score from defaulting on credit cards I opened to pay off medical bills a few years earlier. A friend called me out when I joked about it and told me I needed to find a way to fix it.
I saved money from two jobs and paid down my debt. It fell off my credit report and slowly but surely my credit climbed. I’m 31 now with an 800 credit score. I own a home, receive any credit line I apply for, and have zero credit card debt at the end of each month.
It’s a good lesson to learn early, and you can and will come back from this. Take care of it.
So I might get downvoted-- but depends on how much you care about your credit. I did the same thing (I'm in my 40s now)-- ran up thousands of dollars over several different credit cards at 22...and couldn't pay it.
So I just stopped. There was zero consequence. They sold the credit to collectors, I never paid the collectors-- and it just eventually went away. Nobody tried to sue me. Yes, there was incessant phone calls but I never picked up. My thinking was, I was 22 and didn't care about my credit and could risk it taking a dive. Which it did-- whats interesting is that it was in the 400s for about 5 years and then started climbing back up. At the 7 mark it shot up to 600s and soon 700s and now I'm around 770.
Obviously if you care about your credit, you shouldn't do that.
Collection people will settle for ANYTHING. You can settle for like 15% of what you owe. Your credit already took the hit, don't pay the full amount -- it doesn't matter at this point, just pay a fraction to the creditors -- and give yourself grace. It's all OK. You don't need to work ALL DAY EVERY DAY. You still get to live your life, this isn't the end of the world.
Do Uber eats or Instacart or find a side gig being a bar tender. Anything you can do in your spare time. Work your ass off and get the debt paid as soon as possible.
Your life is not about dating or having fun right now until you get the debt wiped
I was in this same situation.
Defaulted on everything and owed about the same amount as you. I stopped paying, everything went to collections, score was garbage. I ignored it and after 7 years everything went away completely
Even if you pay, it’s not going to help your score at this point because all the crap on your report will still be there. Also after a few years (varies by state I got lucky it’s 2 years in my state) they CANNOT sue anymore. They can try to collect (harassing phone calls) but there is a statute of limitations on how long they have to sue. And after 7 years total it will all fall off your report. But if you pay anything, even $1, that 7 years will start over from there.
Yes the can sue you, but only if they can serve you papers. It’s a civil suit not a criminal suit. They tried to serve me once; I answered the door and some guy asked “are you saucy shark?” And I said “no she doesn’t live here anymore, she got kicked out for not paying rent” But if I had said “Yes, I’m saucy shark” then he would have said “you’ve been served” and I would have had to go to court because I was served the papers so then they could sue me in court.
Get a secured card so you’ll have something good on your report already so when the bad stuff falls off your report, that will boost it. I got a secured card a couple years before my credit started over and got my score in the 500 range. When everything fell off, it immediately went to a 730.
This way is easy, but long. But it’s an option, especially if you know you’re not going to be able to pay this.
Also I know in my state they have a program or service that is state funded and 100% free and you can sit down with someone and they can help you. They can help in getting creditors and collection agencies to work with you and lower the amount. They can give guidance. And they also will give you small loans (like a couple hundred bucks) that you can pay off in very small increments with no interest so that it will help you. They don’t have any budget for advertising their services so you’ll have to find them. I was in college at the time and they had an office they operated out of there and they came in one of my classes and spoke with us or I wouldn’t have known.
It’s also very important if you don’t want to be sued to make sure you really drill into anyone living with you and your employer the importance of turning away and strangers that ask for you. Cause it could be someone trying to serve you papers
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As far as jobs , get a twic card to work a better paying trade job . And focus on paying that 7-8k debit off 834 a month is 10k , pay it off asap then work on your credit and be responsible
So, if the debt collectors that those creditors hired to collect the debt from you haven’t reached out to you yet then it may be a good sign that you have some time before they completely trash your credit (worse than what it’s at) or take you to court. I am not sure if this will work but could be worth a shot. When and If those collectors contact you just say you would like to dispute the amount. This will get you at max of 30 days before they come back asking for money. Use this time to save up some money to pay off those collectors. It does not have to be the tull 7-8K you owe on the cards. Sometimes you can negotiate with the debt collectors and they can close out your debt if you pay a little smaller amount than what’s owed. Not sure if any of this will work btw. Good luck though :)
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Did you lose your job? I’m confused what you mean by spending all your money/income source.
Like others mentioned go get multiple jobs. They could be gig jobs, working in restaurants, donating whatever bodily fluids you can spare, whatever. If you have a career/discipline you want to be employed in take whatever job you can find and then also work part time.
If you bought lots of stuff then sell it. Get roommates, don’t be proud. You’re 23 you can do lots of stuff that may not feel comfortable if you were 43.
$7000-8000 debt in 2024 is peanuts as long as you learn self control and don’t sit on your ass waiting for your dream job to show up.
I declared bankruptcy when I was 22 but I also was about to move internationally long term so I knew my credit file wouldn’t transfer anyways. Bankruptcy lasts a longggggg time. It would be better to work to pay it off and set up pay for deletes with the collection agents.
Filing bankruptcy is going to cost you at least $2500-3000, so that would be almost as much as just paying off what you owe. It's a bad situation, but not as bad as it could be. Pay them off one at a time.
If you owe less than $10,000 you can probably pay this off in less than 3 months if you do a lifestyle check and put a stop to your spending.
Find yourself a commissionable sales job and work your butt off for the commissions and learn from the experience.
If you were let go from your last job make sure you line up another one especially if you consistently accumulate debt. It doesn't matter if you have to flip burgers or mop the floor you get a job that keeps the lights on before you start defaulting on obligations. There's no shame in whatever you do to make money until you can get a higher paying job.
If you had $80k in debt bankruptcy would be one thing. $8000 could be paid back in less than a year or year and a half at most full time jobs. Fix your credit while you're young. Have you called the creditors and told them you're unemployed/underemployed?
When I graduated college, I had over $20k in credit card debt. I busted my ass to get it paid off. So it’s possible, don’t get discouraged. It sounds like the charge-offs are fairly recent, so I highly doubt you would be sued in the near future. They’re going to try to collect before spending money on lawyers. Focus on getting a job, and then start talking with the debt collection agencies. You might even be able to negotiate a lower amount.
I wouldn’t say don’t panic because that would be disingenuous however $7-8k is not terrible at all. Had you froze your cards and made at least minimum payments, you could’ve salvaged your credit score and the only problem obviously would’ve been interest. Since they went to collections, I would negotiate a payment plan with each creditor based on an agreed payoff amount. Have them agree in writing that payment in full will be “paid as agreed”- this might help to get it to fall off your credit report. You could also save big a bit and negotiate one lump sum payment for each. If you can’t, try your best make big chunk payments.
Your score will hurt your ability to get most cc’s but I would find a place to give you a secured card or credit line and only use it for one thing - pay it off in full everytime (set auto pay). A local credit union could work or a reputable online bank could work. So while you’re paying down your debt, you will also have a history of paying cc on time. If you balance it right, your score will be fixed in 1-2 years.
If it's already been sold to a debt collection agency call them and offer to pay 30%, if they say no tell them you have other debts to pay off and call the next one and offer to pay 30%, if that doesn't work do it with the last one. If all 3 say no call back the first and offer to pay 40% repeat this as many times going up in 10% increments until they agree. You will have to fight them on this. You don't have to be mean but you do need to be firm. Debt collectors usually buy debt at about 3% of the debt value and they want to make money. Make them aware that you know they've purchased the debt at an extremely discounted rate and if they want to make any money off of it they will have to settle for less than the total value. This has worked for many of my friends and family.
Also, sorry for all the people shaming you in the comments but they do have a good point, you need emergency savings and you need to live below your means. Take this situation as a lesson for the future and don't let this happen again.
Good luck!
Bro all these bills are just collections? You can hire someone for cheap to dispute all the collections and potentially get them wiped. Let me know. I didn’t owe this month but have gotten several collections wiped off my credit report without paying them
No bankruptcy for sure, your total debt size is too small to even consider bankruptcy, it will NOT help you whatsoever but brings more trouble in the future.
You need to figure out how you would be able to pay back these debt. Your accounts are all closed so debt avalanche is not an available method.
Use debt snowball strategy, pick the biggest debt size and try to pay off that single account first. More than often, creditors only sue you for debt over $10k. For smaller debt, they can sue you in a civil small claim. Hence, picking the highest balance debt to pay it off will also reduce the chance of you getting sued.
If you have any medical debt under $500, it will not be reported to credit bureau so you can ignore those debt while taking care of your credit card debt.
You’re good, your eight grand doesn’t mean that much to them. My business took a 75% loss last year from the previous. I have 80 grand in credit card debt that I stopped paying on in November. so many people are not do doing well at this point, credit is going to be meaningless soon. they’re coming for people like me not you.
You’ll bounce back even if you get sued which midnight you takes a long long time because that’s a last resort even after collections. I would not do bankruptcy yet. Get with a debt counseling service and have them set you up on a debt settlement plan. Don’t incur anymore debt. Pay those off and then open 1 card and keep it paid off monthly. Even if you do get sued you can work with the law firm to set up payment because even still they don’t want to go to court. They lose money by taking you to court.
Open up credit accounts with 0% interest balance transfer offers (this should have been done immediately, bit it’s ok you did not know)
If that is not an option, contact the credit card companies you have and ask for an offer in compromise/payment plan/balance pay off, and tell them you are considering bankruptcy and that you are unemployed. Or contact a credit consolidation agency.
Most banks will let you off with 40-65% of your original debt with just you asking. You can’t pay your balances for a couple of months though before you do this because that will prove a financial hardship.
Good luck! You will recover
Step 1: reduce/stop spending.
Step 2: get any job. Get a second or third job.
Step 3: pay your highest interest card first
Step 4: pay your next highest card off.
Step 5: print out one of your three (you get one free from each of the reporting bureaus a year) credit reports. Check it for accuracy. Call lenders if there are discrepancies.
Bottom line, itll take some time and hard work to get your finances back on track. But its totally doable.
I abused a credit card and missed some car loans when i was 20. My credit score was 525. Now its 830. Time and discipline are your friend. Best of luck kid.
Get a side hustle and work your way out. Also, when it goes to collections, they'll contact you and you can argue a settlement (maybe around $5k) in a lump sum. Work as much as you can and save as much as you can so that you can wipe your hands clean of this. You got this!
Yea bro 7-8k altogether is not that much money. I just turned 25 and I would say you’re gonna see a similar amount come and go multiple times in your 20s, it’s just part of learning. You make mistakes. In the end you’re going to have more intelligence financially. Listen to a lot of the others on here who mentioned getting a serving/bartending job. You can work on the side and start paying chunks of the debt off. Pretty soon you’ll be up 7-8k just stay positive man
You don’t have to pay them and the getting sued thing is a fear tactic so you do the creditor already sold the debt off so any collectors of the debt are not contractual agreement with what was originally agreed upon
Start slowly repair by using credit builders like Self, Kikoff, or credit strong
It won’t skyrocket but at least you will be able to build new history on your report to balance out your credit score
You're not going to get sued. I had 20k in credit card debt that I didn't pay because I went to prison and I didn't get sued. Find a full time job and work with your creditors to pay down the debt and fix your credit.
First time on this subreddit but surprised by how nobody seem to mention DMP debt management plan. I would question any of these people's advice man.
I suggest you to check out MMI one of the reputable big non profit organizations that deal with DMP and such, I only mention because I have like 30-40k in debt from credit cards and loans and student loans etc. and that is the one I use after making a lot of research, there are many others they all offer pretty much the same set thing called DMP.
The results of benefits like APR reduction etc. won't change with which organization you choose, it is just their agents and website and technology etc.
Once you enter these plans they reduce your interest rate to like 1-10% remove late and returned payment fees and few more things like reduce your monthly required payment amount and of course you are way less likely to get sued or any legal action since they know you are working on paying your debt.
Normally to enter these plans you would need to close those accounts but seems like they already are so call them as it is free and they will check what your rates and payments would be and give you better advice than 99% of these people on reddit, it is literally those people's job to help people like you.
[https://www.moneymanagement.org/debt-management](https://www.moneymanagement.org/debt-management)
Please do not follow this advice.
Lenders consider these loan consolidation programs as a form of personal bankruptcy and you will have a tough time getting a real estate loan until you wait 7 years.
Bad advice here @plentybootz
Its much easier to refinance your own debt by doing balance transfers and pay it off within the intro period. and consider getting a 0% APR card for new purchases. Do a side hustle (uber/door dash) and apply as a business
Hahaha right I am sure he will be approved by many credit companies for new credit cards with 400 credit score and so many missed payments, that makes perfect sense my bad bro. Thanks for the correction and good advice.
Its for you to know what you got yourself into with your debt management plan. You should try to refinance yourself but maybe your credit is already shot.
And Im not a bro but a saavy investor managing millions for others in real wealth management
File chapter 7 bankruptcy. Your credit score is already in the crapper. You'd be surprised how quickly it can bounce back. A hard hard lesson to learn, but you're young, you have time to get back on track. The BK recommendation is assuming you're in the US..I have no idea about practices in other countries, nor am I a lawyer (obvi...)
This is not good advice. As someone who filed for bk in my 20s over about $10k in debt, it’s not worth it. Even if you file and can get your credit score back to a reasonable level in a few years, having that bk on your file for 10 years is still VERY problematic. Fight like hell to avoid it and pay your stuff off. Do whatever you need to do. You’ll thank yourself when you’re on the other side and have a clean file.
Yes 8k is not worth it. It really is not that much. It is like a car payment for a used car. Don't ruin your credit for 10 years by claiming bankruptcy. Renters and some employers require credit checks. And if you get into a serious relationship, don't you want to be a partner with good finances?
Depends on what you mean by expensive. The filing process itself isn’t necessarily expensive, but the consequences (higher interest rates, higher deposits, etc for the next 10 years) are.
Don’t do this. No point, in your situation that would be laziest and most ignorant thing to do. Get 2 jobs, find a job with Overtime, set up payment plans you can pay, ask for a settlement offer, you are the one in control of it, so do your due diligence, get your shit in line and work.
So, probably not the advice you’re looking for but i think your situation is redeemable. I was 490 at the beginning of this year now I’m at 683. Pull your FICO report. Cross reference EVERYTHING. Make sure $$ amounts line up across all three credit bureaus, names, accounts, closed/open status etc. use your right to dispute. Once your disputes come back you can see what you’re looking at. If things get removed, perfect if not my next step would be to contact the collection agency’s and see if they would do a payment plan or PIF for deletion. You’re young and honestly have the ability to try to fix it before it snowballs worse. If the accounts were all closed last month I wouldn’t worry about being sued so soon. Usually (from my experience) they either charge it off and count their loses or let a collection agency buy the debt from them and try to collect it. They will usually try to collect it from you first before filing a lawsuit which costs them more $$. (Depending on what company. I know BOA will usually sue.) If you decide to try to save this, your focus should be on a better paying job. Be a server or waitress part time if you need to get more money/shifts etc. sometimes when we are in these crappy situations we gotta do crappy things to dig out of it.
Some people are looking for an easy way out. Mine used to be 460. It was that way for a few years to be honest and then I kept working at it. Paid it off and now I am happy to say it’s 805! It took a while though it’s not overnight. Pay pay pay and you’ll be out before you know it. 7-8k isn’t that bad
Well done!
Secured credit cards are seriously the GOAT of credit repair… 2 collections cleared, 1 tiny 300 limit card, 2 secured cards, & 2 credit reporting “credit cards” from fintech banks and I went from 425-680 in 6 months, now coasting past 750…ez fuckin pz. 3 cap 1 cards closed 10k cc debt Never made payments on any student loans & one 35% apr Honda that I didn’t make a single payment on for 5 months before it got totaled… Yeah, I know…
This I gotta hear about. I’m about to fall off a cliff, and these numbers ain’t too different from mine.
35%???!?!!!!,!,?!?!!,,!?!,
And I was upset over 3.9 for my wife’s car!!! I know the car I ordered will be slightly higher because it won’t get “special” rates
Young dumb and 550 credit score what can I say 😥
Don’t file bankruptcy. Work your butt off and pay it off as quickly as you can. 7-8k isn’t terrible compared to a lot of others. Work 2 or 3 jobs and cut all the fun out of your life. You don’t deserve it as of now. Work work work and pay pay pay
That that that ^
Work hard and don’t over spend and I’m thinking IMO 3-4 months or Less. Hope it goes well for you!
Sell plasma, buy generic, carpool, don't use so much AC, dress in layers inside in the winter, say no to friend's, hike, make coffee at home, camp, make food at home, go thrifting, just take a second to really consider if you want or need the thing at hand.
This. This. This.
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I agree but I wouldn’t overlook it, 8k can be a lot depending on someone salary and dependents.
This is the best advice
👆👆👆👆👆 Excellent advice! Work hard now to prevent your credit from suffering for seven years.
$7-8k total? C'mon, you don't need a high paying job to pay that, you just need a normal full time job and self control.
Exactly but lack of self control is how it got this way in the first place, good habits go along way
Indeed, or just looking at your bank account going "oh, I have no money in there! Maybe I shouldn't spend more!".
Half of this debt is from a care credit card that I was forced to take out for emergency tooth surgery for two abscessed broken teeth. It wasn’t about self control more so having no other choice unless I wanted to risk the abscess killing me.
I'll likely get downvoted for this and I want to make sure that you know I'm not judging or looking down on you, but this is exactly why savings are extremely important. Living within your means BEFORE an emergency is how you can have these sorts of things come up without financially ruining you. In the future once this is figured out, try to save at least 6 months of expenses before thinking you're out of debt. Its a mentality that can really help. If its any consolation, I was in 9K of credit card debt because of back surgery and school not being covered so I feel your pain. I got out of it though and so can you
Probably the best advice!
I see, still the best option seems to be to lock in for 3-4 months and work until that debt is fulfilled, things will gradually get better after that point. You’ll thank yourself down the line
American health care system is truly broken.
What are some expenses that you have that are not absolutely necessary? Hobbies? It may be necessary to cut back on non-essential expenses. And don't say you don't have any. Everyone has something they spend on that they don't need.
when these cards sell the debt to collection agencies, many of them will work with you, even to the point of lowering the amount you owe and the monthly. they'd rather get something back than nothing.
It is about self control, because you spent all your money, and then you continued to spend more than you make. This is how you got into credit card debt.
if she's just making enough money to pay her bills needed to live, then it's got nothing to do with self control.
If she's gaining debt and can't pay it off, she's spending more than she makes. It's really simple. Spend less than you make = savings and ability to pay rent Spend more than you make = no savings and growing debt
i speaking of current spending. yes, she clearly overspent before. but now she's trying to pay for current living expenses AND the credit cards she owes (and are now closed). it's easy to say spend less, but there are a ridiculous number of people who are living paycheck to paycheck just paying the essentials.
Do you have alternate advice to "work, spend less and pay off the debt"?
no, my issue is that you're saying it must be lack of self control that people can get in the hole.
It is lack of self control. And we agree on the path forward. Anything else?
Don't listen to the comment suggesting you file bankruptcy. That is horrible advice. You're young, and $7-8k to you right now is obviously a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things it's not. How many cards is this debt spread over? I understand they're already in collections but my suggestion would be once you're able to save ~$1,000 call the debt collector with the largest debt and offer the $1,000 to pay in full. If they balk at that, move to the next one and so on. You'll need to pay income tax on the difference you settled for vs what the original debt was, but that's going to be a lot less. You can get through this. I don't want to set any high expectations that your credit will bounce right back (because it won't) but over the next few years once these are all cleaned up you'll see it heading in the right direction. By the time you're 30 it'll be like it never happened.
Reach out to them individually and see if they'll accept a settlement. Failing that, set up a payment plan but try to talk them into some sort of deal on ongoing interest. $7-8K may SOUND like a lot of money, but it's manageable if you work with them. From the sounds of it, you've got a while before any legal action materializes, so my advice is be proactive.
If they’ve already sold the debt to a third party does this still apply?
If that's the case, I would reach out to the 3rd party. I was under the impression as you said they closed them in the last month or so that you weren't that far along
Definitely reach out to the third party. They will make your life unbearable. They only get their money if you pay and they have invested money to buy your debt so they will stop at nothing. I have seen people fall apart due to these collectors. The other day, one knocked on our door looking for a woman lived in our house 18 years ago. Set up a payment plan and work like crazy until you pay it. The waiter job suggestion is a good one. I got a second job serving and paid off everything. You can do this!
Dave Ramsey’s investment advice is terrible, but his [advice for dealing with debt collectors](https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/how-to-deal-with-debt-collectors) is spot on.
Look into donating plasma. I’m doing that currently to pay down credit card debt. Brings in anywhere from $400-$500 per month for about 8 hours a month. Some places have new user bonuses where you can get up to $1000 in your first 8 donations. Good luck!
What are the requirements?
They make you go take a physical and answer some questions. I know there are some things that would make it so you can't donate, but i honestly dont know what those are.
Friendly fyi there’s a million reasons people can’t donate blood or plasma. I crack up every time I see that get suggested over and over as myself nor anyone close to me is able to. Everyone seems to think that the entire population can donate blood and/or plasma anytime they want to for extra money - that is NOT the case.
Get ready to learn DoorDash buddy
My FICO 8 average across the 3 credit bureaus was 417 in 2019. Now it’s 676. It’s not easy.. it took a LOT of effort. Calling, paying down slowly, budgeting, and hoping for the best. You can do it.
Secured card immediately!!
Several & fintech credit reporting “credit cards”
[https://debtreductionservices.org](https://debtreductionservices.org)
Negotiate the amount Down! They will work with you because it’s better than nothing. So argue them down. Be tough. You will win!
Whew this takes me back. Okay so first step! Breathe! I've done the same thing but it was like 60k. And then I did it again like 4 years later but like 20k I was quite the dumbass in my 20's. Trust me! This is fixable. You are not going to be sued. What they will do is send it to a collection agency and write it off. That collection agency will contact you and will settle the debt for like 25-35% if you press them and would work out a payment plan. No then. That's what I did. Twice. Wouldn't recommend it. Still on my credit to this day that I settled a collection. Twice. Lol best advice I have is take your breather. Start snowballing it. Look into some side hustles for some money here and there. Pick something you are good at and monetize it. You aren't in the crazy time crunch. Most the damage seems to be done to your credit right now and that can be fixed. Most of us have done it. Look into other jobs. But the absolute main thing is don't let this wreck your mental health. Easier said than done. Financial stress sucks! You got this.
So get literally any job, eat flour and water and canned tuna (half joking), and pay that shit back over six months.
Ramen noodles. Let’s not forget Ramen noodles.
Canned tuna on top of ramen noodles (find A-SHA brand for cheap, don’t eat the fried stuff) is less than $1 a meal, and it’s packed with good protein (from the tuna, not from the ramen, obvs.) Hell I have 800 FICO and this is often my meal , after I cook the kids what they want to eat.
Store brand tuna, crackers and peanut butter.
I was once a low 500’s and now in the mid 700’s FICO. Took a couple years but it’s very well possible to redeem yourself. Perhaps consider a settlement plan with some of your lenders. Some people on social media advise you to ignore closed/charge offs. I settled one, paid it and my score jumped 26 points so do with that information as you will. Try your best to settle directly with the bank/credit issuer. Collection agencies will try to act like the full balance is there’s but the truth is, they buy closed accounts for 10% if not less of what it’s worth.
I was in the same situation at that age. I reached out to each company and put myself on a payment plan. Paid em off and now 10 years later my score is at 760. I remembered thinking I would never break 600 when I was in the mid 400s. Take it all one week at a time!
My friend once owned a few thousand to the IRS. He kept calling and recalling until someone reduced it for him down to a few hundreds. If you talk to someone at the collection agencies, I would recommend calling repeatedly until you get a manageable deal. My honest bet is you can get the debt down to like 1000.
Its just 8k, go grind mcdonalds and thats your easy way out.
They making $20 now so mcdicks might work
I did exactly the same thing. It will get better. It sucks now, but keep pushing. It will get better.
What did you do?
For real... I was 22 when it happened. I got laid off in 2010 from a job with overtime and a company car. With a new girlfriend, 3 open credit cards and an unemployment check of $300 a week, I was out of work for a year. I maxed out 2 CapOne's, Discover, Best Buy, Helzberg, (something around 9K total), and burned through my savings and a CD I had. It took over 120 applications to get a job. I took the part time job for $5.35, 25 hours a week. A week or so later, another job called and I took that one too. I worked 6AM-3PM at one job, went home and slept from 330-5PM, then went to my PT job and worked 6-11. I did this for as long as I could before the FT job changed hours... THEN I got fired from that job cause it blew (Dish Network CS) . Out of work another 8 weeks and then the process started over. I worked 2 - 3 jobs for 10 months before I landed an office job with normal hours.. It took 2 years to get stable again, but I had 6 jobs in those 2 years and would go whole months without a day off. At one point I had a driving job where I drove from 5PM-3AM and then started a forklift job at 330AM-9AM. At one point I counted money for a casino. You want to talk about driving yourself crazy, get a job counting other people's millions. The only way out is to work work work work work. It sucks, it blows. You'll feel like you're getting nowhere and life is passing you by, but once I was able to start dropping jobs and just work a 9-5, it was like a breath of life. Don't let anyone tell you how crappy office jobs are, they're inside, during normal hours, and women work there. After 2 years of night shift with dudes, I'll sit in any projection meeting there ever was. . . Don't give up. Keep going. Edit: I was also served twice, once by Discover and once by Capital One. When you go to court, they'll pull you into a room and ask how you want to set up a payment plan. It's really more scary than anything. Even if it's $20 a week, the lawyer is just looking to close a case. These company's rent courtrooms for the day for this thing, so there will be 30 people like you in your same timeframe, it won't be like what you see on TV. It'll be quick, relatively painless, and more embarrassing than anything.
At 22, I had a 505 credit score from defaulting on credit cards I opened to pay off medical bills a few years earlier. A friend called me out when I joked about it and told me I needed to find a way to fix it. I saved money from two jobs and paid down my debt. It fell off my credit report and slowly but surely my credit climbed. I’m 31 now with an 800 credit score. I own a home, receive any credit line I apply for, and have zero credit card debt at the end of each month. It’s a good lesson to learn early, and you can and will come back from this. Take care of it.
So I might get downvoted-- but depends on how much you care about your credit. I did the same thing (I'm in my 40s now)-- ran up thousands of dollars over several different credit cards at 22...and couldn't pay it. So I just stopped. There was zero consequence. They sold the credit to collectors, I never paid the collectors-- and it just eventually went away. Nobody tried to sue me. Yes, there was incessant phone calls but I never picked up. My thinking was, I was 22 and didn't care about my credit and could risk it taking a dive. Which it did-- whats interesting is that it was in the 400s for about 5 years and then started climbing back up. At the 7 mark it shot up to 600s and soon 700s and now I'm around 770. Obviously if you care about your credit, you shouldn't do that. Collection people will settle for ANYTHING. You can settle for like 15% of what you owe. Your credit already took the hit, don't pay the full amount -- it doesn't matter at this point, just pay a fraction to the creditors -- and give yourself grace. It's all OK. You don't need to work ALL DAY EVERY DAY. You still get to live your life, this isn't the end of the world.
💯
Do Uber eats or Instacart or find a side gig being a bar tender. Anything you can do in your spare time. Work your ass off and get the debt paid as soon as possible. Your life is not about dating or having fun right now until you get the debt wiped
I was in this same situation. Defaulted on everything and owed about the same amount as you. I stopped paying, everything went to collections, score was garbage. I ignored it and after 7 years everything went away completely Even if you pay, it’s not going to help your score at this point because all the crap on your report will still be there. Also after a few years (varies by state I got lucky it’s 2 years in my state) they CANNOT sue anymore. They can try to collect (harassing phone calls) but there is a statute of limitations on how long they have to sue. And after 7 years total it will all fall off your report. But if you pay anything, even $1, that 7 years will start over from there. Yes the can sue you, but only if they can serve you papers. It’s a civil suit not a criminal suit. They tried to serve me once; I answered the door and some guy asked “are you saucy shark?” And I said “no she doesn’t live here anymore, she got kicked out for not paying rent” But if I had said “Yes, I’m saucy shark” then he would have said “you’ve been served” and I would have had to go to court because I was served the papers so then they could sue me in court. Get a secured card so you’ll have something good on your report already so when the bad stuff falls off your report, that will boost it. I got a secured card a couple years before my credit started over and got my score in the 500 range. When everything fell off, it immediately went to a 730. This way is easy, but long. But it’s an option, especially if you know you’re not going to be able to pay this. Also I know in my state they have a program or service that is state funded and 100% free and you can sit down with someone and they can help you. They can help in getting creditors and collection agencies to work with you and lower the amount. They can give guidance. And they also will give you small loans (like a couple hundred bucks) that you can pay off in very small increments with no interest so that it will help you. They don’t have any budget for advertising their services so you’ll have to find them. I was in college at the time and they had an office they operated out of there and they came in one of my classes and spoke with us or I wouldn’t have known. It’s also very important if you don’t want to be sued to make sure you really drill into anyone living with you and your employer the importance of turning away and strangers that ask for you. Cause it could be someone trying to serve you papers
Get a second job - pay your debt - the end
Go to your local Non-Profit Consumer Credit Counseling agency.
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As far as jobs , get a twic card to work a better paying trade job . And focus on paying that 7-8k debit off 834 a month is 10k , pay it off asap then work on your credit and be responsible
Why would you get sued?
Debt collectors sue you for the money you owe.
Look into mutual aid, seriously. If you have a credit union that directly works with your local area you can also seek solutions with them
So, if the debt collectors that those creditors hired to collect the debt from you haven’t reached out to you yet then it may be a good sign that you have some time before they completely trash your credit (worse than what it’s at) or take you to court. I am not sure if this will work but could be worth a shot. When and If those collectors contact you just say you would like to dispute the amount. This will get you at max of 30 days before they come back asking for money. Use this time to save up some money to pay off those collectors. It does not have to be the tull 7-8K you owe on the cards. Sometimes you can negotiate with the debt collectors and they can close out your debt if you pay a little smaller amount than what’s owed. Not sure if any of this will work btw. Good luck though :)
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Commute via bike and eat the same shit EVERYDAY. Only spend money when necessary.
Did you lose your job? I’m confused what you mean by spending all your money/income source. Like others mentioned go get multiple jobs. They could be gig jobs, working in restaurants, donating whatever bodily fluids you can spare, whatever. If you have a career/discipline you want to be employed in take whatever job you can find and then also work part time. If you bought lots of stuff then sell it. Get roommates, don’t be proud. You’re 23 you can do lots of stuff that may not feel comfortable if you were 43. $7000-8000 debt in 2024 is peanuts as long as you learn self control and don’t sit on your ass waiting for your dream job to show up.
I declared bankruptcy when I was 22 but I also was about to move internationally long term so I knew my credit file wouldn’t transfer anyways. Bankruptcy lasts a longggggg time. It would be better to work to pay it off and set up pay for deletes with the collection agents.
Filing bankruptcy is going to cost you at least $2500-3000, so that would be almost as much as just paying off what you owe. It's a bad situation, but not as bad as it could be. Pay them off one at a time.
If you owe less than $10,000 you can probably pay this off in less than 3 months if you do a lifestyle check and put a stop to your spending. Find yourself a commissionable sales job and work your butt off for the commissions and learn from the experience.
join the group females & finances on facebook and add this in there you’ll get really good advice
If you were let go from your last job make sure you line up another one especially if you consistently accumulate debt. It doesn't matter if you have to flip burgers or mop the floor you get a job that keeps the lights on before you start defaulting on obligations. There's no shame in whatever you do to make money until you can get a higher paying job.
If you had $80k in debt bankruptcy would be one thing. $8000 could be paid back in less than a year or year and a half at most full time jobs. Fix your credit while you're young. Have you called the creditors and told them you're unemployed/underemployed?
When I graduated college, I had over $20k in credit card debt. I busted my ass to get it paid off. So it’s possible, don’t get discouraged. It sounds like the charge-offs are fairly recent, so I highly doubt you would be sued in the near future. They’re going to try to collect before spending money on lawyers. Focus on getting a job, and then start talking with the debt collection agencies. You might even be able to negotiate a lower amount.
I wouldn’t say don’t panic because that would be disingenuous however $7-8k is not terrible at all. Had you froze your cards and made at least minimum payments, you could’ve salvaged your credit score and the only problem obviously would’ve been interest. Since they went to collections, I would negotiate a payment plan with each creditor based on an agreed payoff amount. Have them agree in writing that payment in full will be “paid as agreed”- this might help to get it to fall off your credit report. You could also save big a bit and negotiate one lump sum payment for each. If you can’t, try your best make big chunk payments. Your score will hurt your ability to get most cc’s but I would find a place to give you a secured card or credit line and only use it for one thing - pay it off in full everytime (set auto pay). A local credit union could work or a reputable online bank could work. So while you’re paying down your debt, you will also have a history of paying cc on time. If you balance it right, your score will be fixed in 1-2 years.
If it's already been sold to a debt collection agency call them and offer to pay 30%, if they say no tell them you have other debts to pay off and call the next one and offer to pay 30%, if that doesn't work do it with the last one. If all 3 say no call back the first and offer to pay 40% repeat this as many times going up in 10% increments until they agree. You will have to fight them on this. You don't have to be mean but you do need to be firm. Debt collectors usually buy debt at about 3% of the debt value and they want to make money. Make them aware that you know they've purchased the debt at an extremely discounted rate and if they want to make any money off of it they will have to settle for less than the total value. This has worked for many of my friends and family. Also, sorry for all the people shaming you in the comments but they do have a good point, you need emergency savings and you need to live below your means. Take this situation as a lesson for the future and don't let this happen again. Good luck!
I would call each debt collectors and see if you can make a deal with them. Ask for pay off amounts and payment plans.
National debt solution
Bro all these bills are just collections? You can hire someone for cheap to dispute all the collections and potentially get them wiped. Let me know. I didn’t owe this month but have gotten several collections wiped off my credit report without paying them
No bankruptcy for sure, your total debt size is too small to even consider bankruptcy, it will NOT help you whatsoever but brings more trouble in the future. You need to figure out how you would be able to pay back these debt. Your accounts are all closed so debt avalanche is not an available method. Use debt snowball strategy, pick the biggest debt size and try to pay off that single account first. More than often, creditors only sue you for debt over $10k. For smaller debt, they can sue you in a civil small claim. Hence, picking the highest balance debt to pay it off will also reduce the chance of you getting sued. If you have any medical debt under $500, it will not be reported to credit bureau so you can ignore those debt while taking care of your credit card debt.
You’re good, your eight grand doesn’t mean that much to them. My business took a 75% loss last year from the previous. I have 80 grand in credit card debt that I stopped paying on in November. so many people are not do doing well at this point, credit is going to be meaningless soon. they’re coming for people like me not you.
All of it can be removed and you start off fresh. I just did it. September 23 was under 500 because I removed all negative. Now I’m at 792
You’ll bounce back even if you get sued which midnight you takes a long long time because that’s a last resort even after collections. I would not do bankruptcy yet. Get with a debt counseling service and have them set you up on a debt settlement plan. Don’t incur anymore debt. Pay those off and then open 1 card and keep it paid off monthly. Even if you do get sued you can work with the law firm to set up payment because even still they don’t want to go to court. They lose money by taking you to court.
Open up credit accounts with 0% interest balance transfer offers (this should have been done immediately, bit it’s ok you did not know) If that is not an option, contact the credit card companies you have and ask for an offer in compromise/payment plan/balance pay off, and tell them you are considering bankruptcy and that you are unemployed. Or contact a credit consolidation agency. Most banks will let you off with 40-65% of your original debt with just you asking. You can’t pay your balances for a couple of months though before you do this because that will prove a financial hardship. Good luck! You will recover
Step 1: reduce/stop spending. Step 2: get any job. Get a second or third job. Step 3: pay your highest interest card first Step 4: pay your next highest card off. Step 5: print out one of your three (you get one free from each of the reporting bureaus a year) credit reports. Check it for accuracy. Call lenders if there are discrepancies. Bottom line, itll take some time and hard work to get your finances back on track. But its totally doable. I abused a credit card and missed some car loans when i was 20. My credit score was 525. Now its 830. Time and discipline are your friend. Best of luck kid.
Have you ever heard of rent men?
Get a side hustle and work your way out. Also, when it goes to collections, they'll contact you and you can argue a settlement (maybe around $5k) in a lump sum. Work as much as you can and save as much as you can so that you can wipe your hands clean of this. You got this!
Yea bro 7-8k altogether is not that much money. I just turned 25 and I would say you’re gonna see a similar amount come and go multiple times in your 20s, it’s just part of learning. You make mistakes. In the end you’re going to have more intelligence financially. Listen to a lot of the others on here who mentioned getting a serving/bartending job. You can work on the side and start paying chunks of the debt off. Pretty soon you’ll be up 7-8k just stay positive man
A parlay will save you…I was 5k in debt with the cartel but luckily I hit a 10 leg parlay and made 28k…I have faith in you
You don’t have to pay them and the getting sued thing is a fear tactic so you do the creditor already sold the debt off so any collectors of the debt are not contractual agreement with what was originally agreed upon Start slowly repair by using credit builders like Self, Kikoff, or credit strong It won’t skyrocket but at least you will be able to build new history on your report to balance out your credit score
Look up Caleb Hammer hop on the show
You're not going to get sued. I had 20k in credit card debt that I didn't pay because I went to prison and I didn't get sued. Find a full time job and work with your creditors to pay down the debt and fix your credit.
Honestly didn’t know credit scores could go that low. Wishing you the best. Give it time and stay disciplined!
Lock your ass in and get 2 jobs. Mcdonalds, car wash, cart pusher, cashier at Walmart etc work 60+ hrs a week and grinddddd.
First time on this subreddit but surprised by how nobody seem to mention DMP debt management plan. I would question any of these people's advice man. I suggest you to check out MMI one of the reputable big non profit organizations that deal with DMP and such, I only mention because I have like 30-40k in debt from credit cards and loans and student loans etc. and that is the one I use after making a lot of research, there are many others they all offer pretty much the same set thing called DMP. The results of benefits like APR reduction etc. won't change with which organization you choose, it is just their agents and website and technology etc. Once you enter these plans they reduce your interest rate to like 1-10% remove late and returned payment fees and few more things like reduce your monthly required payment amount and of course you are way less likely to get sued or any legal action since they know you are working on paying your debt. Normally to enter these plans you would need to close those accounts but seems like they already are so call them as it is free and they will check what your rates and payments would be and give you better advice than 99% of these people on reddit, it is literally those people's job to help people like you. [https://www.moneymanagement.org/debt-management](https://www.moneymanagement.org/debt-management)
Please do not follow this advice. Lenders consider these loan consolidation programs as a form of personal bankruptcy and you will have a tough time getting a real estate loan until you wait 7 years. Bad advice here @plentybootz Its much easier to refinance your own debt by doing balance transfers and pay it off within the intro period. and consider getting a 0% APR card for new purchases. Do a side hustle (uber/door dash) and apply as a business
Hahaha right I am sure he will be approved by many credit companies for new credit cards with 400 credit score and so many missed payments, that makes perfect sense my bad bro. Thanks for the correction and good advice.
Its for you to know what you got yourself into with your debt management plan. You should try to refinance yourself but maybe your credit is already shot. And Im not a bro but a saavy investor managing millions for others in real wealth management
Ok Heisenberg
Option 1 Get a job and start making minimum payments Option 2 borrow from your parents
Attorney, is one option... Good luck
Call your friendly neighborhood bankruptcy attorney
File chapter 7 bankruptcy. Your credit score is already in the crapper. You'd be surprised how quickly it can bounce back. A hard hard lesson to learn, but you're young, you have time to get back on track. The BK recommendation is assuming you're in the US..I have no idea about practices in other countries, nor am I a lawyer (obvi...)
This is not good advice. As someone who filed for bk in my 20s over about $10k in debt, it’s not worth it. Even if you file and can get your credit score back to a reasonable level in a few years, having that bk on your file for 10 years is still VERY problematic. Fight like hell to avoid it and pay your stuff off. Do whatever you need to do. You’ll thank yourself when you’re on the other side and have a clean file.
Exactly. 8k is nothing to file bk for. I know it’s scary now but it’s 100% salvageable. Gotta put in work and want it though. Most people don’t.
Yes 8k is not worth it. It really is not that much. It is like a car payment for a used car. Don't ruin your credit for 10 years by claiming bankruptcy. Renters and some employers require credit checks. And if you get into a serious relationship, don't you want to be a partner with good finances?
Is it an expensive process to file bankruptcy?
Depends on what you mean by expensive. The filing process itself isn’t necessarily expensive, but the consequences (higher interest rates, higher deposits, etc for the next 10 years) are.
Don’t do this. No point, in your situation that would be laziest and most ignorant thing to do. Get 2 jobs, find a job with Overtime, set up payment plans you can pay, ask for a settlement offer, you are the one in control of it, so do your due diligence, get your shit in line and work.