Hey everyone!
My first direct deposit just hit and it brought up a lot of immediate feelings. Today was a very triggering day, and I wasn’t able to make a meeting.
I feel a little overwhelmed, scared, sad, and…“flighty”
My addiction is telling me to go take a little drive to clear my mind, when in reality I know I need to take my butt to BED!
Any advice on how to catch up on debts, credit card collections, taxes, other expenses?
I know I have to talk it through with my sponsor, but I hate bothering her this late. I just feel overwhelmed thinking of how I want to start paying everything back right this very moment so I don’t blow this money too.
Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
Thank you for all the support I’ve been receiving these past TEN months in RECOVERY!!
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Debt sucks, but it’s a part of life.
I tend to let debt stress me out, I’ll lose sleep worrying about it, not that worrying helps at all. Sometimes it’s hard not to worry.
What I do is make a spreadsheet and list all my income and all my expenses and debt.
I’ve figured out what it costs to live, then how much I have left to pay down debt.
Then I have the interest rates listed so I can prioritize what gets paid first.
There are some debts that I can afford to let stand, like collections, they aren’t going anywhere.
There’s also things you can do, like ask credit card companies to lower your interest rate.
If you can’t cover all of your debts, you can ask for some forgiveness or alternative payment plans.
Debt consolidation might be an option, it doesn’t payoff your debt, just transfers to a different entity, but it will get other debtors off your radar.
I think prioritizing and having a solid financial plan is the best way to tackle debt. Set goals then plan to meet those goals. Check in and recalibrate every month or two, and celebrate your wins. If you knock one off, treat yourself. It can be a long arduous process, but you will be far better off at the end and likely, you will be a financial wizard!
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Your going to have all of the money you used to waste on your doc so divide this up and offer it to your debters, something small is better than nothing at all. In 7 months time I will have cleared a £10.000 debt it took 4 years but financially I’m still better off monthly bc of all the money I was wasting. Also a bit of honesty with people doesn’t hurt, some will not be sympathetic to your situation and rightly so but some might.
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It helped me to list my debts from smallest to largest. That way it was satisfying to pay off the smaller debts and see the balances shrink quickly to gain some momentum. Then when you have a firmer grasp you can start paying off higher interest loans.
You don’t know what you owe until you make a list. Then it becomes almost an addiction in itself to pay them off.
I have owed large balances on credit cards and student loans for a long time and know how tough it is to pull yourself out. I am currently 9 months away from owing anyone a single penny. It can be done! Start with a list.
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my accountant left me in dept when he did a runner 56k i decided to keep my landscaping company trading as i lost three when i was drinking and made inquires and went on a DAS it allowed me to pay back his mistake over 8 years and i got a good accountant who worked with me . that was a few years ago now im retired i have no debt my wife and i have money invested and have some for our world travels , my house was valued last year at 250k so have good assets DAS DEPT ARRANGEMENT SCHEME
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Thank you everyone for all of your advice!! Love you all.
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A friend of mine is a mortgage loan officer and she helps people improve their credit score. I eventually want to buy a house within the next few years once the market crashes again and I talked to her about things. I had a few small credit cards and a loan that I had defaulted on and all of them were in collections. They are all so old that none of them are accruing interest anymore. She had me organize them and start on the smallest ones first. She told me to call them and see if they’ll settle for less, and if I could afford it, then go ahead and pay it off, otherwise set up an installment plan to at least get the ball rolling, and I can always call back to ask to settle on the remaining balance later. The main thing is attacking the smallest one first. Once that one is done, go to the next smallest and repeat the process - call them to see how much a settlement would be, set up a plan, pay it off.
I have paid off $2,000 (USD) of debt since February. This is in the midst of having to move, making job adjustments, and paying all the bills single-handedly. I still have about $5,000 to go, not counting my auto loan with a remaining balance of $12,000 and two medical bills I’m paying off totaling $2,500. Those I’m in good standing with, though, so they are actually helping to strengthen my credit score.
I’m actually looking to refinance my auto loan after my credit report updates and my score should jump up a bit again. Then I’d be able to lower the payment by about $80/month.
I started this year with a FICO score of 518 and I’m now at 624. My goal is 715 for buying a house.
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i asked something similar a while ago on here and got some fantastic advice from the kind folks here that id love to share with you…
