Debt Stress

[questions]

I need Advice!!! I am stressing over money! I have an awful credit score, have filed chapter 7, had a car re-possesed etc… these things mainly happened to me due to a divorce and a job loss, (no fault of my own, the company downsized and the site was closed).I only have one credit card I am behind on (balance approx. $700.00). The rest of my debt is old electric bills, cable bills, doctor bills etc… I need to chat with someone for advice before my head explodes! I do have a full time job at approx. $34000 a year. Any thoghts ???

[woodie96]

Without more information as to income -vs- expense breakdown, it is hard to help. Post your income and expenses and I'm sure some of these guru's can help you out and let you see a light at the end of the tunnel.

[littleroc02us]

So, you filed chapter 7 and you have credit cards. Didn't you learn that you can't resist abusing cc's. Cut those suckers up, stop paying them until you get the basics taken care of; food, lights, electricity, home, etc.... Then see what's left, budget and then stop spending. In the meantime you'll probably get tons of phone calls from the cc companies, but don't answer. When your ready call them and make them an offer to pay them off for pennies on the dollar. You will have to try this numerous times before they comply, but don't give up..

[briandownie]

When I was feeling down about the money I owed a long time ago a wise old fella told me to stop worrying about the money I owed. He said "it's their money let them worry about it!" That's not always easy advice to take but you're not doing your health any good at all worrying about it.

Take steps to improve your situation. Talk to the people that you owe money to and work out a repayment schedule that you can afford. Getting something is better than nothing and most will see the sense in it.

Look after all the essentials like the electric bill and forget about the stuff like cable t.v.

Work at paying off the credit card(s) but I'm not in favour of cutting them up. Just put them away for safe keeping. You never know when an emergency could come up and you might need them and because of your situation it might be very difficult to get one again.


Do you know anyone you can go to for help? Maybe you could get a personal loan that you could pay back with a reasonable amount of interest.

Brian

[TheStreetCeo]

As a whole it sounds like an uphill battle, but let's take some things off your plate.

You filed(past tense) for chapter 7- then forget about it, it's over you did it, stop letting it consume you.
You have an awful credit score-fine. You can change it but don't stress about it. It will fix itself with time and timely future payments to your debt.
Divorced-again, that's over and done with, move on.
Lost job- see above.

The rest needs to be prioritized. Do you have a budget? If not, let's make one. It's easy and in the end you will see whre you need to cut, if you do at all. After you take away some of these things you can't change, it may not be that bad at all.

[mrsmoneysaver]

The first thing you need to do is stop worrying about it. "What you resist persists". Follow the advice of the other ones who have replied. Start with using a positive attitude. Then it's one step at a time from there.

[nick__45]

When I was feeling down about the money I owed a long time ago a wise old fella told me to stop worrying about the money I owed. He said "it's their money let them worry about it!"
Brian

I need to meet this old fella. I could learn a thing or too from him. I always try to pay people on time every time.

[maat55]

Look at your finances as a business. List your expenses from most important to least. Cut everyone as much as possible( cut cable, cell, luxuries etc.)

Prioritize your payouts to utilities, food, shelter auto gas.....

Your first priority with any extra funds is to get caught up on utilities.

Your last priorities will be CC's, medical bills and old cable bills.

I do not know if you have a car payment or whether you are paying too much for housing, you will have to think these through and act accordingly.

You can sell a car to get out of the payment. You can find cheaper housing.

[cjscully]

The only thing I can add to the advice already given is to try to increase your income - more hours at work, a second job, some sort of freelancing...

The best way to make sure you're not stressed about money is to make sure your income is greater than your expenses, get the debts paid off as quickly as you are able and build an emergency fund. The first step is making sure income is greater than expenses. If your expenses are cut to the bone, then you need to increase income somehow.