How do I dig myself out of a financial hole?

Maybe look through Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for anything you can clear out via a garage sale. There’s really no reason to spiral into a panic over an extra $150 hitting your account right now. Honestly, the best move might be picking up a side hustle for a few afternoons or on the weekends to start chipping away at those smaller balances. You could also try cutting back on the non-essentials—maybe bike to work instead of driving, pack your own lunch, skip the daily Starbucks run, or cut back on going out on Friday nights. If you tighten up the belt on things like smoking or impulse shopping online, you'll find you can save some decent change every month. I always suggest tracking everything on paper; it’s surprisingly eye-opening when you see it laid out. Just whatever you do, don't go out and take out a new loan. If you can manage two jobs for a couple of years and stick strictly to just the essentials, like groceries and utilities, that debt will steadily shrink. A $7,000 debt isn't exactly a life-altering catastrophe, but it definitely requires some serious self-discipline to get past.

Edward Evans7 said:They actually rolled out that new feature in the Verizon app just the other day.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A20 via Reddit

I was thinking the exact same thing.

So, if you haven't already, just sign up for the Verizon app and head over to More > Profile > Payment Deferral.

The system just automatically freezes your card. It’s stated right there in the app. 😉 I was talking to folks at the ECB, but my advice is to push back everything you possibly can.

Karen Cook7 said:Look, you don't actually have that much debt.
If you managed to pull a loan for about 100 $0.00 over 7 years at a 4% interest rate, you’d be looking at paying back roughly $46667 over an 84-month term $550.
That's totally doable on an average New York City salary $1833
.
But honestly? The smartest move would be to just pay off all those credit cards. Or, if you really have to keep one, maybe refinance it—that way, if you ever try to buy something or withdraw cash, you'll have to tell the bank you lost the physical card and need a new one sent out.
Maybe by then you'll have cooled off on the shopping sprees.
Just stick to using cash for everything else.

If you think you aren't going to change your spending habits, taking on more debt—like this loan—is a bad idea.

It’s easy for you to sit there and type that it isn't a big debt, but in reality, for someone living in a rental, that is a massive amount of money. In truth, a renter—and frankly, anyone for that matter—really shouldn't be carrying any debt at all, or at least keeping it minimal, because you never know what life is going to throw at you. Here is a somewhat trivial example: we all get older and our teeth start failing us, and if we're already drowning in debt, we won't even have the funds for dental work, leaving us to walk around with a missing set of teeth.🙂

I see some people are just here to troll and mess around, but I guess that’s just how it goes...
When I took out my last $40,000 loan $0.00 about three months ago, things weren't exactly booming at my company, but it was just that typical winter slump we always hit in this industry, and I was really banking on a much stronger year ahead.
I didn't just blow the money, either; I used it to replace the roof on my house, which honestly might have collapsed on its own if I hadn't stepped up.
Then, of course, the pandemic hit, and it basically finished off my business. Since most of our work involves traveling to different sites, all that movement became impossible because of the lockdowns, leaving my boss with no choice but to shut down the whole operation for good.
There’s no going back now, so I’m just trying to keep my head up and figure out how to make it through this mess in one piece.
Right now, I’m renting an apartment in Washington, D.C., and between the rent and my loan payments, I’m paying about $700 $400 a month. Once you add in the utility bills from my permanent residence outside the city ($200), I’m looking at nearly half of everything my mother and I bring in together. On top of that, credit card interest and various debts are eating up another $1,500-$667.
I’ve been picking up extra shifts driving for DoorDash in Washington, but it’s such a crapshoot that you can never really count on a steady paycheck...

The solution: just move to either New York or Delaware for a few months to a year. Pay off $1,000 a month and you’re all set.

Sent from my iPhone using Twitter

Look, if you’re truly in a bind and need $667 by next month—and I mean you genuinely don't have the funds lined up—and you're facing
issues covering various extra expenses or fees, I could potentially
lend you the money until you land that new job you mentioned. No interest, no strings attached.
Just shoot me a DM.

rowdyotter12 said:Look, if you’re truly in a bind and need $667 by next month—and I mean you genuinely don't have the funds lined up—and you're facing
issues covering various extra expenses or fees, I could potentially
lend you the money until you land that new job you mentioned. No interest, no strings attached.
Just shoot me a DM.

🙂
No thanks, I'm all set.
Just being myself, I suppose. 🙂

By the way... I’ve got enough saved to cover myself for maybe another month or two, but in the meantime, I really need to find a more permanent solution to my current situation. I'm juggling three different loans right now, totaling just under $1,200 a month, and they're set to run for about five years.
The ideal fix would be landing a steady, long-term job where the pay is $1667 at least decent.
I actually had a role like that—even better, honestly—for the last two years, but thanks to this recent economic downturn, I'm back on the hunt for something new.

Maybe look into consolidating those three loans into one single payment, plus all that credit card debt. I guess there might be some options for loan deferment too, so it's probably worth asking about.

Good luck with the job hunt!

So, he mentions in his initial post that he’s landed a new gig.
Now, the million-dollar question—what's the actual salary?!?!
Honestly, I’m completely lost at this point.

rowdyotter12 said:So, he mentions in his initial post that he’s landed a new gig.
Now, the million-dollar question—what's the actual salary?!?!
Honestly, I’m completely lost at this point.

I ended up staying for three weeks before deciding to hand in my resignation. It just wasn't the right fit for me, and to be perfectly honest, some health issues I've been dealing with flared up quite a bit due to all the stress I've been under lately—plus, the pay wasn't exactly anything to write home about.

fadedorca66 said:Maybe look into consolidating those three loans into one single payment, plus all that credit card debt. I guess there might be some options for loan deferment too, so it's probably worth asking about.

Good luck with the job hunt!

thanks 🙂

There’s always some new refinancing deal designed to wipe out your old loans.

Then in a few years, you’re looking at another refinance just to cover the first one.

It’s a never-ending loop. 😁

Look, I get it. For most of my life, I didn't waste money on junk—it was all about real estate and then eventually grabbing a high-end car, maybe $50k or so. But life hit me with a couple of bad breaks, and suddenly, I was underwater.

Every time I feel like I'm finally getting back on my feet, something trips me up. I’ll land a new gig, and a few months later, the whole company is basically circling the drain—happened to me three times now. At one point, because of where I worked, even my checking account got frozen.

Things are okay now, though. I pull in a solid $8k a month, plus some side gigs here and there, but I’m still dropping $4k on bills and debt—just me living in the house.

So now I’m chasing another loan—a personal loan to kill off that old refinance from when things were rough. Basically, I'll bump up the monthly payment by $167, but it knocks five years off the term and nets me about $5k in cash. Honestly, I'm just trying to be debt-free by 45. My son will reap the rewards down the line since he'll inherit the house—if he actually appreciates it, that is.

I'm out here fighting mortgage battles, while others are struggling with car notes... everyone's got their own grind, I guess.

Kenneth Jones70 said:There’s always some new refinancing deal designed to wipe out your old loans.

Then in a few years, you’re looking at another refinance just to cover the first one.

It’s a never-ending loop. 😁

Look, I get it. For most of my life, I didn't waste money on junk—it was all about real estate and then eventually grabbing a high-end car, maybe $50k or so. But life hit me with a couple of bad breaks, and suddenly, I was underwater.

Every time I feel like I'm finally getting back on my feet, something trips me up. I’ll land a new gig, and a few months later, the whole company is basically circling the drain—happened to me three times now. At one point, because of where I worked, even my checking account got frozen.

Things are okay now, though. I pull in a solid $8k a month, plus some side gigs here and there, but I’m still dropping $4k on bills and debt—just me living in the house.

So now I’m chasing another loan—a personal loan to kill off that old refinance from when things were rough. Basically, I'll bump up the monthly payment by $167, but it knocks five years off the term and nets me about $5k in cash. Honestly, I'm just trying to be debt-free by 45. My son will reap the rewards down the line since he'll inherit the house—if he actually appreciates it, that is.

I'm out here fighting mortgage battles, while others are struggling with car notes... everyone's got their own grind, I guess.

I totally feel you. There are people in this Amex thread who have balances hitting $6667 limits on Chase cards starting from $33333... to them, this sounds like a foreign language...

It’s not a disaster—it’s just what you do when you run out of options.

Either you grind it out and get everything squared away by 45 so you can actually leave something behind for your family, or you spend the rest of your life—and your kids' lives—living like renters...

Heading over to Chase tomorrow; they’ve got this mortgage deal bundled with insurance.

Wells Fargo offers a "refinance" option, but let's be real, it's just a fancy name for a mortgage. 😁

Anyway, my place is worth about $450k tops—won't go any higher than that. I need about $43,000 to roll all my other debts into one and stretch the remaining term to 12 years with some extra cash on top. Basically—higher monthly payment, but fewer years left to pay.

The goal is to be totally debt-free by 45. 😁

Problem is, I probably need a property valued at $600k+ to make it work. But Chase is pitching this bundle—clearly a mortgage plus an insurance policy—since I really don't want to have to find a co-signer.

I'm hoping they'll let me just pay for an insurance policy and set up a life insurance assignment in their favor so I can settle this whole thing—one loan and I'm done.

So, you're thinking about borrowing money from someone just to cover you until the month is up?

Look, if you're in construction, there's plenty of work coming up in the next month, whether it's over in Chicago or down on the coast... and with that new site opening up in Austria on July 1st, there’s bound to be even better paying gigs available.

Kyle Nelson2 said:So, you're thinking about borrowing money from someone just to cover you until the month is up?

Look, if you're in construction, there's plenty of work coming up in the next month, whether it's over in Chicago or down on the coast... and with that new site opening up in Austria on July 1st, there’s bound to be even better paying gigs available.

They went ahead and pushed my plans back on me again. $667 I have my Diners Club bill coming due in exactly a month, and I’m looking at a $1,000 balance that needs to be cleared, followed by another $1,000 in two months, all without any extra interest kicking in. I decided against opting for that credit moratorium option since I really didn't want to deal with those pesky added fees. At this point, I think the best thing to do is just take this as a lesson learned and try to be a bit more disciplined across the board.

Hello,

I see there are some people here who offer great advice, so I’m going to jump in and ask for some guidance, Diego Rivera—please excuse the intrusion. 🙂

To be honest, my financial situation is a bit complicated. It isn't a total disaster, but it feels overwhelming to me right now:
- Over the last few months, I got caught up in a cycle of high-interest online loans and credit card debt because I needed cash urgently. Currently, I have about 7 $0.00 outstanding online loan debts.
- My Diners Club account is blocked due to an unpaid balance of $13,500; essentially, my credit standing is messy right now because I haven't been able to clear it.
- My Amex (which is actually a Visa Premium card) was also blocked for about $500 until just a few months ago, but I've managed to pay that off.
- On the bright side, I have a permanent full-time job earning 6 $0.00 per month—however, I am scheduled to go on maternity leave in two months (should I disclose this to potential lenders?)
- I’ve been with JPMorgan Chase for years, and my overdraft limit is 7 $0.00
.
I realize that this level of debt isn't catastrophic compared to what some others face, but to me, it feels like a crisis. My goal is to clear everything out and start over with a completely clean slate, which would require roughly $21 $0.00.

1. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it even worth attempting to apply for a consolidation loan given my recent payment history and those online loans?
2. If it is worth a shot, am I legally or ethically obligated to mention that I’ll be going on maternity leave in two months?

Thanks, everyone!

I stuck it out at this job for seven whole months just because I needed a loan, and now it was all for nothing. Because of everything happening with the pandemic, the bank tightened their requirements, and it turns out I’m on a blacklist, so getting a loan from my bank—or any other bank—is completely off the table. It all traces back to a $40 issue that really screwed me over. Even though I paid off my old debts (the bank actually admitted that to me) and worked out a solid payment plan with them (I was unemployed for about six months last year, which is why things went south), they're still claiming they didn't report me correctly, even though the credit bureau says otherwise. I have two tiny loans that JPMorgan Chase set up for me to cover an overdraft and some small charges on my Mastercard, and I'm almost finished paying those off. I stay on top of all my bills and don't buy anything expensive since my income isn't that high, but that Mastercard charge was a necessity. Anyway, I desperately needed that loan, and now I'm stuck.
So, does anyone know where I can borrow $25,000 $0.00?
And why would it be a bad idea to turn to payday lenders? Honestly, selling my soul feels like my only option right now. Looking through these loan advertisements, desperation is starting to outweigh common sense.