51 years old, married, 2 adult kids. After a lifetime of living paycheck to paycheck, we are finally down to just a mortgage!

I just need to share this milestone somewhere because the feeling of relief is absolutely overwhelming.

My wife and I are 51, we raised two adult boys, and for the vast majority of our marriage, we struggled. We were the textbook definition of living paycheck to paycheck and accumulating debt. It always felt like the moment we started getting our heads above water, something else would drag us back under. I can't even imagine how much we paid in interest over our lifetime.

But this year, finally we paid off everything and even built a bit of an emergency savings.

We officially paid off the car (2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid) and cleared every single cent of our remaining non-mortgage debt this year!

For the first time in our adult lives, when our paychecks hit the bank account, the money doesn’t immediately vanish to interest, minimums, or financing. Aside from our standard mortgage payment ($1,300), we owe absolutely nothing to anyone.

Just thought I'd share for those who are in the middle of the grind. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

A year ago I had 795 credit score and no debt- here I am 15k+ in student loans and nearing 20k+ in credit card debt with a drained emergency fund. Happened fast yall.

Before grad school, I was working 3 jobs to save as much as possible to minimize grad school loans, as I know the ROI on a MPH would not be huge. I know I did not pivot into this field for the money, as I hoped to become a public servant and do public health research, but I didn't do it to completely financially ruin myself either. But here we are. I took out $15k to cover tuition for my last semester of school. Then, I was hit with a series of very expensive vet bills that pet insurance did not cover. As well as emergency car repairs after my car nearly died on the highway and had to be towed over 100 miles.

Now, I'm nearly 6 months into a horrific job market while nannying part time and applying to jobs. I'm uninsured, scraping together just enough to pay rent and utilities, and my consumer debt is growing just for survival. I rent with 3 roommates and can't cut much there. I've done a balance transfer of about $6k to a 0% interest credit card, and I am starting a new part time job soon, but I'll still be in the red.

Basically, I'm just seeking validation that this is temporary and that I will be okay. Or not. lol. I'm 28, have no real family, but somehow I'm feeling like I'll be ok- but maybe I'm just disassociating and need a reality check. I don't feel like I have much of an issue with money generally- like I feel like I'm pretty responsible and have made wise choices thus far, but my current situation tells me otherwise.

idk. That's showbiz I guess.

Thanks y'all

I’m 21, and when I was 18 I took out $15k in private student loans to pay for out of state tuition. It didn’t even cover one year and I was forced to drop out with both private student loans and extra money owed to the school for what the loans didn’t cover. I didn’t have any support from family for school, but I received grants that covered very little. I specify this to say that I wasn’t taking out loans willy nilly, every cent went to school but it still wasn’t enough. I still owe the school around $2k for what my grants and loan didn’t cover.

On top of that, I have medical debt accumulated from multiple providers over the span of three years living on my own. One of those debts was recently sent to collections.

My student loans payments have gone up to around $300 which doesn’t sound too bad but I only average ~$900 in pay every month and after applying for over a year I still cannot find a better paying position, let alone a second job. I’m worried about my wages being garnished as my paychecks are genuinely nothing as it is. My last paycheck was only around $350 and as you can imagine it was sucked right up with bills and groceries.

I was looking into bankruptcy in my state and there are some special cases in which student loan debt can be settled through proof of hardship or something like that. Has anyone had success with that? I know most people say student loans are not covered under bankruptcy but is it really possible to have a special case?

I understand that filing bankruptcy could include valuables being seized but I have nothing of value. I don’t have a car, no expensive furniture or clothing, no stocks, no savings, no collectibles. Almost everything I own is from thrift stores. I don’t have any credit card debt as well because I don’t have a credit card. After my student loans crashed my credit score, nobody would give me one (understandably) and I don’t really want one.
But since my credit score is already awful, would bankruptcy even change anything?

I know I’m young and maybe through strict financial discipline I could make something work but I feel like I’m drowning in finances. I already buy the cheapest things, utilize the cheapest stores, wait to get groceries even when there’s no food left, and save what I can but there’s never anything left. The debt only grows, I keep getting calls from collectors, letters in the mail, all demanding more money than I see in a month. I feel like I just need a clean slate, a fresh start to get myself to financial freedom. I did what I had to do at 18 to keep myself off the streets, even if it was temporary. I’m not looking to be rid of my debt only to turn around and get more, I just want the chance to try again before I get older.

So, is it worth it? Is there more that I’m missing with bankruptcy that I should be aware of? If anyone has any personal experience with it, I am all ears.

Hello -
So I called Chase to see if I could qualify for a hardship program and gave her (4) of my credit cards I was hoping to get help with. She went over details and mentioned (2) different programs... One is 12 months, cards are frozen then able to use after... The other was 5 years and the accounts are closed permanently. I chose option 2. She asked for my monthly household income, i told her and she came back and said I wasn't eligible (unsure if it's because I make too much or too little - she didn't say).

BUT - she said I may be eligible for their external program which is a non profit. She gave me the phone number. I've yet to call to get details but wondering if anyone has been in my shoes and what this external program is? And if those who were declined end up approved for this other program? She said it was a Chase approved partner and non profit. That's all I know.

Any idea?

January 2026 we were told there is a 50/50 shot my husband may come out of surgery and never walk again.
Surgery February 2026 surgery, long painful recovery.
Went back to work in May 2026 light duty.
July we took a huge vacation, slightly out of our budget. But we were celebrating!
Husband went back to work regularly duty in July, he has lived at work since! 60-70-80 hours a week.
And I have been very busy between 3 part time/casual jobs. Still being able to hold down the fort and be there for our kids.

He has had a lot of extra time at work, sitting around waiting for things to break or down turns where he waits for others to do their job so he can do this.
He sits and reads financial reports. And has built a pretty impressive spread sheet of daily/weekly/monthly interest. And how we can pay off asap!!!

Fast forward to today 10-24-26
$9k in savings.
$3k in checking.
Putting 16% in his 401k (they match another 3%) 19% total
He maxed out his pension hours for the year
Kids have savings accounts pushing $10k each.
We have $0 in credit card debt
Our major 2026 financial goals will be hit before the end of the year. Pay off cards and camper
Currently sitting at $140k total debt (includes house, 2 vehicles, medical bills, camper and 2 tractors only off). And heating cost was paid in full this season.
Every bill is now 1-3 months a head.

I actually feel like we can breathe!
Like happiness can happen!

If he goes back for another major surgery, we may not have as in savings but we sure have a plan to not have debt!

discover 9.9% apr, balance 11,599
chase 27%apr, balance 4,973
BOA 0% apr balance 1,890

i’ve racked up this debt over the years, and my goal is to pay it off by April 2027. I have a spare 2,000 a month that i’m going to put towards my cards. My plan is to do that until March. I’m expecting a handsome tax refund, about $7000. Once I get that, then i’ll only have about 1k left to pay off. Plan is to tackle Chase first, then discover, the BOA. Wish me luck everyone

Pretty much what the title says. I have about $30000 in credit card debt.

Capital one-$19,812.82 (23.57% APR-$290 min)
Visa-$5,742.03 (16.99% APR-$114 min)
Boa-$3513.00 (0% interest till February 2028-min $35)
Citi-$1,628.00 (0% APR till February 2028-min $41)
Car loan-$8.318.41 (6.9% APR-min $388)

I have tried a few different loans and have been denied. I feel like it would be easier to have one payment rather than a bunch. I ended up qualifying for a $30,000 loan through SoFi at 25.47%. I am debating taking it to pay off the two credit cards with high APR. if so, I would have about almost $4500 left over. If I go with the loan, should I put the extra $4500 aside in case I needed it for the loan, other payment, or car payment? I take home $1412.13 biweekly, and my goal (doable) would be to put one paycheck to the loan every month, and then save the other paycheck for bills and such.

I’ve tried budgeting with my paycheck right now and I feel like I can’t ever get ahead. Any advice on this?

I was made redundant from my last job end of August, with 10 weeks redundancy pay and 3 months notice pay. I was fortunate to get a new job within a few weeks.

So far it has ended up being the best thing that has happened to me. I didn't realise how underpaid I was. The new job pays over £15k than I was on before (minus additional travel costs.)

We have an 18 month old and the extra costs, combined with maternity leave, had left us with oover £12k in credit card debt and paying approx £600 off the credit cards each month.

As soon as you start using a credit card for essentials it just starts to snowball.

The redundancy money has been an absolute god send.

I just received my first wage and such a great feeling to pay off one of the three cards completely off. £5k. Which is going to save us over £200 a month.

Things have been super tough the past 12 months, and I just wanted to share this good feeling.

We still have over £7k of credit card debt, but I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

I appreciate these opportunities don't happen to everyone, but a terrible situation turned out to be one of the best situations.

I'm disabled (in Alabama if that matters) and the last couple of years have been rough since losing my mom to cancer who, aside from being an amazing mother, also helped pay for things and kept me afloat.

My disability income is around $1,100 a month and it's my only source. I have $13,400 in CC debt across 6 cards and the monthly payments across them are about 45% of my monthly income.

Chase $3,290 / Discover $3,573 / TSC Visa $2,837 / Wayfair (I had to replace my couch last year and it's the only thing comfortable enough for my spine) $1,273 / Synchrony car care $1,312 / Care Credit $1,137

I haven't missed any payments mainly because I've been scared to. I'm terrified of being sued. But I can't keep up anymore. After bills, I'm left with less than $100 per month for food and because groceries are so expensive I've had to break down and charge some food to my cards just to have enough to eat which only adds more to my debt.

My home insurance is due in January and I'm not gonna be able to pay it and having an uninsured house scares the hell out of me. I'm barely gonna be able to pay the first half of my annual car insurance bill. So, I've been considering not paying these cards anymore so I can have some extra for food and extra to set aside to help cover insurance, maintenance I've had to neglect, etc.

I can't work so I don't know how else to get extra cash. I even considered donating plasma but because of heart health issues in the past, I don't think I'm eligible and that was the only way I could think to bring in a decent amount of extra money.

I hate to default, but.. how likely am I to be sued? Did you have this level of CC debt and made the decision to stop paying? If so, what happened? Tysm

Hey everyone. As you can tell by the title I am in a bit of a pickle. I am a recovering cocaine and gambling addict and to feed my addiction I was stupid and early last year got a lot of loans.

This includes Wallet Wizard 1k,Fundo Loans 2.8k, Cashpal 2.3k,Beforepay $50,Mypaynow $350, Afterpay $250,Zip $500. I also have a couple train fines and my baby mum put her electricity in my name however is with a new company and that says 6k but I don’t know how that works because we aren’t even with them anymore plus we don’t use the power from that company. I also have 3 bank accounts with one minus $77 and they have threatened to close it if not paid which I don’t really care about as I haven’t used that account in a year.

The scary part is I genuinely don’t know if that’s everything there could be more I’m forgetting about. I have not paid a cent to any of these in a year and I feel like I’m close to being either defaulted on my credit score or legal action will be taken over me. If anyone has advice I appreciate it

Thank you

I live in Virginia Beach. Im financially trapped. Im almost 2 months in the red because I was training for prime inc only getting 300 a week for a month and then got let go for medical reasons. I have 10k of credit card debt and a 14k loan on a truck thats only worth 8-10k at best. My next job doesnt start until the 13th of November and pays bi weekly, so i likely wont get paid until late november. Ive been rejected from every loan. Unemployment got denied for some reason and i cant appeal because they sent my paperwork and pin to the wrong address, so ive been four weeks without any form of income. Not to mention because i didnt finish my contract i now owe them another 4k, and my last job 800 for breaking equipment. Im behind on my half of the rent for see above and obviously cant afford any insurance, phone electric etc. I need help I dont know what to do and ive even been told that debt consolidation is dubious at best, and im worried about bankruptcy because if they take my car before i get paid im even more in the hole than before. All i wanted was a better career and now im screwed.

I was in bad cc debt for months, most card 10-20$ over the limit.
I’m happy to announce my cc debt has gone from 1980$ to 1250 in ONE month. Here’s what’s left:

1. 925
   
2. 287
   
3. 43

The third card i paid 244$ towards today so that’s why it’s so small. When i get paid again I’ll destroy the last 2 cards.

Hey y’all!

I’m in the process of paying down all my debts and I wanted to get some advice regarding the final ~$20k. I have been aggressively paying down my student loans over the past two years and have paid off approximately $50k. I have about $13,000 left. I make about $100,000 a year and I rent with a partner who pays his half of our expenses. We recently found out that I am pregnant and I’m trying to make the best financial decisions that I can so that we can save a little money before the baby comes next summer!

Car Loan: $8162.70 (4.9%)
Monthly payment: $388, until Jun 2028

Fed Loan 1: $3974.02 (1.75%)
Fed Loan 2: $5057.89 (1.75%)
Fed Loan 3: $2184.22 (2.73%)
Fed Loan 4: $2731.52 (2.73%)
Monthly: ~$185

I have budgeted out another $13,500 over the course of the next five months to pay off my student loans. I was taking advantage of the interest rate reduction. But now that my loans remaining have an interest rate lower than my car, I wanted to know if I should just be paying off my car first?

Thanks in advance!

I've never been under this much financial stress before. I just graduated university and in the final week, my younger brother got into an accident where I had to pay all the medical, car, and other fees. I gave all my money, which was only a few thousand, but it was more than I ever had saved especially since I'd been living alone while studying and working since 17. I knew he had more saved than me since he lives with his friend's family and doesn't pay rent or anything like that while I do. So I asked him to pay me back at a comfortable pace but he said he spent 18k IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS. He basically said he has to pay off his own stuff before paying me back even though I told him I just gave him all my money and even woke up in the negatives the day after.

I know this is gonna be a short term struggle but I was trying to get a loan of 5k so I can comfortably pay all my bills and personal medical fees while I increase my shifts at my job. However, not a single place has accepted my loan requests because of how low my income has been the last 3 months which was obviously while I finished uni AND had an internship. Besides that, I make 3-4k when I'm off uni. Other places haven't accepted due to my job being a casual position even though I've worked there for 2 years and my manager basically lets me choose my hours.

I asked a friend to apply for a loan for me while I repay her the monthly fees since she had been working more than me. But she had the same issue of unstable income due to uni or not having enough saved to be approved.

I don't know what to do and I have my rent coming in another week while my account is sitting at $30 since my last hundred was spent on my own medication. I've considered asking my other close friends but knowing their unstable incomes because of uni as well might just get more disapprovals.

What do I do????

Edit: You people are genuinely terrible besides the ones offering real advice and some semblance of sympathy. "Wtf is the logic". My brother is in a major accident and me being his emergency contact is supposed to just say "oh he should be fine he has more money than me"? So after my entire life of having a strong bond with him I'm also supposed to KNOW FOR A FACT that he wouldn't return it? Amazing people here.

I never really felt the interest when it was just a monthly number on a statement. It was abstract, easy to ignore.

Started doing something dumb simple a while back. I took whatever interest each card charged last month and divided it by 30 to get a rough per day cost. Wrote that little number next to the balance in my notes.

Honestly that changed the math in my head more than the APR ever did. A card costing a few bucks a day just sitting there feels different than 24 percent or whatever. It made the minimum payment feel less like progress too, which tbf it kind of is not if the interest eats most of it.

Curious if anyone else thinks in daily costs like that or if I am just tricking my brain in a weird way that happens to work

I am a college student in my final year of school and over the last 6 months and a spendful summer and a collection of horrible habits I have racked abt ~9.5k in CC debt. About 4.4k is in interest free debt until the end of my CC promotional period. However, I have a roth IRA of about 4.5k that I have been building since I started college. I still work ~ 20-25 hrs a week making 21$/hr in one job and abt ~ $27/hr at another so I am not getting hurt too bad on the credit front as my minimum monthly payments are never missed. I have been trying my best to change my habits, which involves spending less on expensive hobbies and minimizing takeout spend.

But I had an idea to make a little bit of extra income each month; what if I liquidate all my Roth IRA assets, put it in a money market fund, or other high yield interest paying investment for the time being and then withdraw the monthly interest payments to take in some of that income. I know I wont be penalized if I withdraw any non-cap gains deposited so I technically would be withdrawing on the principal investment, but it would still help out. I rather miss out on stock/etf gains than not have the cash flow now and be vulnerable to potential losses (although I am going to have a hard time selling my stocks and ETFs I have been building up that are all >70% gains).

Someone tell me why this isnt a great idea if it isnt

Hi there, I’m in some debt and need help. Is anyone in here able to help me and give me guidance on making a plan to help me payoff my debt?

Crowned Credit has both positive and critical feedback online, but I'd like to know what the service was like day to day.

If you worked with them, were the updates useful and could you tell what was being done on your credit report? How did they handle questions when you weren't seeing a change?

Hi! I have ~$10,000 of credit card debt spread across 5 cards. I’m getting an insurance payment of $2,100, hopefully within the next few days. I’ve been thinking about whether I should use it to pay down my highest interest card, pay all the cards down some, or completely pay off my two lowest balance cards and some of another card?

Today I paid off all my debt. I originally had about 25k between cards and a personal loan. I sat down with my father and he helped me build a budget and work towards paying high interest down first. He never paid anything for me but having that down to earth conversation and help with budgeting was amazing. We talked almost every day and every week we'd have a check in on my balances. I paid down to 15k over the last year. In August someone hit him in traffic and put him in a coma that lasted a week. Today his life insurance check cleared my debt. I have friends and family and a wife to share this news with but the person who I want to be here for it isn't. I know he'd be over the moon. I figured I'd share with you guys. I guess I now fall into the parents paid for my debt category, just in a round about way. He might be a little mad though because he specifically didn't help me financially on purpose. He was always a ,"you need to learn the value of money" guy. Which I always thought was hypocritical because I'd been working since I was 13 and my sister had everything handed to her. Hindsight is 20/20. I actually don't feel any different, I was hoping I'd feel free. Maybe tomorrow

Hi looking for all opinions.

Starting in about 2 weeks I’ll be making about 600 a week until Feb I need to pay down just about 15k in debt. What’s my best method ?

Cc debt across 4 cards about 13k
Tax debt: 3k

Monthly bills 1400

All cc interest is high asf I’ve tried qual payments on all monthly and it’s like blowing at a forest fire so what now ?

TIA!

to sum it up, i am moving back in with my parents after experiencing financial hardship and mental health struggles which caused irrational and irresponsible financial decisions.

i have 28k in credit card debt spanning across several credit cards. 11.5k is owed to amex, and the rest is either in collections or has been behind on payments. i plan on paying the collections off by negotiating with the creditor/collections agency and settling the debt for a lower amount in exchange for a pay for delete. some accounts are approaching 3 years in collections. i live in new york so the statute of limitations is 7 years. i dont want to wait for the collections to fall off after 7 years, so im going to push to get them deleted after they are paid.

my credit score is terrible now, 540.

i make 37,200 yearly (income after taxes)
my monthly expenses total out to $800. 12 months of expenses will be $9600.

the goal is to pay off all 28k in a 12 months, max 18 months allowing for flexibility.

what are my chances of recovering my credit score to 700+ once all the debt is paid off?

October 19th - $123,264 (All bad decisions)

Last month’s -

https://www.reddit.com/r/debtfree/s/0S9niSThQw