Hey Reddit! Throwaway account because honestly I am quite embarrassed about the situation I am in and some friends know my real reddit username. Username checks out. I am just shy of being $10k in credit card debt.
I ran in to some really hard times, lost my job, was in school but got kicked out, kicked out of my apartment, was arrested, and took credit cards for granted. This was a few years ago. Part of me I guess thought that if I ignore this, then it would "go away". I have heard about waiting 7 years for things to fall off your credit report. Because of that, I ignored all the calls and letters and now all my cards are in collections.
Wasn't until recently that I really decided I need to turn my life around. With being arrested I luckily didn't get a felony so I finally got a job. It is making $8 an hour. I am living with family so I don't have any rent to pay and basically food is pretty much free as well. I just realized I don't want to have to wait 7 years to get this debt taken care of to then be able to fix my credit score. I want to start fixing it now and take care of this so it isn't looming over me.
I started by calling my banks and getting to know how much exactly I owe. I called them and asked for debt verification letters as I have read on here is a good thing to do. Two of my cards are with the same bank and I got those letters right away. I know the debt is legitimate. The third card is with collections and they have yet to send me that letter. Still waiting to hear back from them. I just know from my memory I used about $5k on it. I know that debt is legitimate as well. I used it, so I owe it.
Cards:
- $1098.46
- $2885.80
- $5200.00
All together this is just shy of reaching $10k. I don't know the best route to take with dealing with this debt. I am 25 and don't want to wait 7 years for this to fall of my credit. Did creditkarma and credit score is about 510. I want to start bringing this up ASAP and not have this haunt me for years to come.
All accounts are with collections so no interest is being accrued. Getting a consolidation loan doesn't make sense then to me. Do I look into credit restoration/repair companies? I just need some help and advice. People on this subreddit have been amazing from what I have seen, so I made a new account. It is embarrassing but I want to take care of this. Please and thank you in advance!
Submitted February 28, 2019 at 08:50AM by getoutofdebt77 https://ift.tt/2GRsUQS
