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This may be true, but there are a lot of other companies that won't hire you if you have ever filed for BK. Mostly in the financial sector. I worked for one. You may not need a high level security clearance, but any BK can still be a deal breaker.
Those same companies are not going to hire the OP who is massively over leveraged with consumer debt.
OP should consider bankruptcy in order to cut his/her losses and be able to move on with life. The level of debt described is not sustainable.
Those same companies are not going to hire the OP who is massively over leveraged with consumer debt.
OP should consider bankruptcy in order to cut his/her losses and be able to move on with life. The level of debt described is not sustainable.
You're right. But if he (or anyone reading this) has the hope of working for a company like above someday, they need to keep that in mind when considering BK.*
Nobody is going to loan you any more money with your credit score that low and as maxed out as you are (nor should they), so put that piece of advice a couple people have offered right out of your head. Here's my advice:
1. Learn to use a spreadsheet if you don't already. Ruthlessly track all of your expenses each month and see if there is any fat to be cut. You won't know that until you lay it all out.
2. Learn to use a spreadsheet if you don't already. Track every debt by balance, closing date, due date and interest rate. For now you can ignore the interest rates, they're all bad. Smallest balance first, debt snowball.
3. Learn to use a spreadsheet if you don't already. Project out your incoming and expenses including debt service three months ahead. Maintain that three month projection in perpetuity.
4. Round up every payment to the nearest dollar. It's not much, but you can say you're not making minimum payments on anything, and the bank algorithms like it.
5. Make payments only on paydays. Money in, money out...not in your pocket (even metaphorically).
6. Most people are paid every other week, 26 times a year. With 12 months in the year, every credit card will have what I call a "catch up" month twice a year in which you get an extra pay check before the next payment is due. This is where tracking and making payments only on pay days can allow you to apply a little extra somewhere, or put something into an emergency fund.
7. You mention that your income includes OT. Work as much of that as you can, and if it's not available or plentiful, time to get a part time job.
8. It sounds like you have a decent enough job. If your employer offers any kind of mental health or counseling assistance, I recommend taking advantage. You clearly got something going on that's caused you to twice walk down this path.
9. Normally wouldn't recommend this, but see if you can stop paying on the 401k loan for which I assume the payments are coming out of your pay check automatically. Some Googling indicates this is possible and it just becomes a taxed distribution (with penalty). Maybe free up some cash to work with since we just started a new tax year. You'll have to run all the permutations to see if this is worthwhile.
1. Learn to use a spreadsheet if you don't already. Ruthlessly track all of your expenses each month and see if there is any fat to be cut. You won't know that until you lay it all out.
2. Learn to use a spreadsheet if you don't already. Track every debt by balance, closing date, due date and interest rate. For now you can ignore the interest rates, they're all bad. Smallest balance first, debt snowball.
3. Learn to use a spreadsheet if you don't already. Project out your incoming and expenses including debt service three months ahead. Maintain that three month projection in perpetuity.
A spreadsheet isn’t going to help in this case. He’s looking at about $1200/mo to live on after making the minimum payments on all of these loans. Nobody can live on that, so forget about the debt snowball. Even working OT and delivering pizza on the side isn’t going to fix this one.
The banks that extended this ridiculous amount of credit need to be held accountable too. Stop paying on the credit cards. If one of these is a car loan, keep making the payments to keep the car. Might want to accelerate the payoff on the 401k loan, since 401k tends to offer better protection from creditors.
A spreadsheet isn’t going to help in this case. He’s looking at about $1200/mo to live on after making the minimum payments on all of these loans. Nobody can live on that, so forget about the debt snowball. Even working OT and delivering pizza on the side isn’t going to fix this one.
The banks that extended this ridiculous amount of credit need to be held accountable too. Stop paying on the credit cards. If one of these is a car loan, keep making the payments to keep the car. Might want to accelerate the payoff on the 401k loan, since 401k tends to offer better protection from creditors.
This.
The only reason to toss the 401k overboard is if you need that money to make critical expenses, like keeping a roof of your head. It's generally uncollectible by creditors in a bankruptcy. An unsecured creditor can't garnish a retirement plan.
A spreadsheet isn’t going to help in this case. He’s looking at about $1200/mo to live on after making the minimum payments on all of these loans. Nobody can live on that, so forget about the debt snowball. Even working OT and delivering pizza on the side isn’t going to fix this one.
The banks that extended this ridiculous amount of credit need to be held accountable too. Stop paying on the credit cards. If one of these is a car loan, keep making the payments to keep the car. Might want to accelerate the payoff on the 401k loan, since 401k tends to offer better protection from creditors.
If he was willing to file bankruptcy I don't think he'd be on here asking for advice. He also doesn't provide enough details regarding his living situation to make the judgement that $1200 isn't enough to live on. I live in an area with a few apartments that still have sub-$700 a month rent. Could be living with parents or family, could live close enough to his work to walk. We just don't know.
Grind your ax against the lenders all you want, but I look at it dispassionately. The debt exists in his name and he seems to want to do something about it.
If he was willing to file bankruptcy I don't think he'd be on here asking for advice. He also doesn't provide enough details regarding his living situation to make the judgement that $1200 isn't enough to live on. I live in an area with a few apartments that still have sub-$700 a month rent. Could be living with parents or family, could live close enough to his work to walk. We just don't know.
You're right about one thing, we just don't know. He might have a rich uncle living in Sausalito who would wire him the money if asked
I suspect this may be a troll post. The OP last visited city-data yesterday evening, but hasn't bothered to respond to any of the posts here.
You clearly have the ability to save. Stop trying to get rich quick and instead focus on getting rich slowly. With a high savings rate and a few smart decisions you could retire in 15 years, especially if you decide to get into real estate investing with cash flowing rentals.
You're right about one thing, we just don't know. He might have a rich uncle living in Sausalito who would wire him the money if asked
I suspect this may be a troll post. The OP last visited city-data yesterday evening, but hasn't bothered to respond to any of the posts here.
If it's a troll it's a high effort one. His description of his first time wracking up and paying off a lot of debt is very similar to my own personal experience. The difference being I didn't go back to the well the second time and used all the lessons I learned about managing money to dramatically improve my lot in life.
1) I was already working OT at my job, but now I'm working even more. I've started going in on my day off so now I'm working 6 days a week instead of 5.
2) I was previously contributing 10% to my 401k (5% to traditional and 5% to roth). I've now reduced it to only 5% since thats the max that gets matched. I know Ramsey says stop all 401k contributions but I'm not going to turn down the match. I also increased my W4 withholding to 1 so I'll get more money each check instead of waiting for a big tax refund at the end of the year.
3) I live at home with my parents, but I do help with the mortgage. $800 a month.
4) This is not a troll post/account. I'm not sure why anyone would even post something like this to troll.
5) I will NOT declare bankruptcy. Instead, I'm declaring war on my debt!
No major updates on the debt payments yet. Just making minimum payments for January and will start attacking on my next few checks. Still figuring out which one I want to pay down first. I also do have a couple balance transfer options I plan on using in order to bring some of the higher APRs down. I'm anticipating throwing an extra $2,000-$2,500 or so a month toward my debt. Any suggestions on which debt to attack first?
Right now I'm living like no one else so later I can live (and give) like no one else. Can't wait to be debt free and start building my wealth the slow and safe way.
Thanks for everyone's support, suggestions, and comments. Keep them coming!!!
Last edited by PayOff23; 01-24-2023 at 09:58 PM..
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