Hello, I’m a 26 year old in the US and I’ve found myself in an unfortunate situation where I’ve had to take out personal loans in order to make it by. I don’t have any family or friends to turn to, so I’ve very naively turned to sameday personal loans with insane interest rates.
Everything combined I am $6,722.68 in total debt.
$2,627.21 of that is the personal loans that I am making bi weekly payments of $498.39. However this is biweekly so monthly I’m paying $996.78 on these loans.
My biggest concern is these personal loans because the interest is insane, and the biweekly payments are intense.
My other loan of $4,098.47 is though my Credit Union, I had to get it because the warranty for my car didn’t cover the entirety of my car costs when my engine blew up.
I pay $226 monthly towards that loan.
Additional info if it matters, i pay $650 in rent, $328 on my car payment and $160 on my car insurance.
So my total monthly expenses are $2,134.78 (roughly)
And with my varying hours i can bring home anywhere between $2,000-$2,800(ish) a month depending on my hours.
AND on months where I have a little more wiggle room i am making bigger payments.
My credit score is 623. I’ve never had a credit card in my life, hence why I haven’t really been able to build credit outside of on time payments.
I’ve tried looking into debt consolidation but due to my poor credit and my debt being under $10k, I have been unable to get approved for anything.
Despite all of this I make my payments 100% on time, I am not delinquent on anything. (I have small medical debt in collections, but all of my personal loan payments I am fully caught up and I make all my payments on time.
However, this is killing me 🙁 I feel real lousy about my situation but I put myself here. When it’s all said and done, I’m barely scraping by between these payments and rent and monthly car expenses.
I often times don’t have enough to pay more than minimum payments.
I’m very fortunate that my boyfriend pays for groceries, however he’s not in a position to help me with my debt, and I would never in a million years want or expect him to help.
I work full time and my schedule is unpredictable, I work as a delivery driver for a medical company and my schedule is different every week because it’s based on demand. So finding a second job has felt impossible because I don’t have a secure schedule to go off of.
Sometimes i feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do about this, but the feeling of impending doom remains. Any suggestions/tips/words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated, thank you. It feels like my nose is barely above water and I want nothing more than to get out of this.
Debt Advice for a 26 year old gal
byu/BlasphemousSpasm inpersonalfinance
Posted by BlasphemousSpasm
2 Comments
You need to find a job that pays more. It is that simple. You do not make enough at your current job to get yourself out of debt. So either find that other job…or get a side hustle, or some combination of new job that pays more with flexibility for side hustle.
In the long term….I can only suggest that you try to level up your skills all the time so that you can get jobs that pay more. Certification, education, college, apprenticeships etc. Career path stuff.
You’re not in as bad a shape as it feels right now. I know it doesn’t feel that way but hear me out.
$6,700 in total debt with zero missed payments at 26 isnt that bad of a situation. A lot of people your age are carrying 5-10x that. The hole isn’t as deep as it feels when you’re in it.
The personal loan is the one to attack first. That interest rate is probably pretty high, which means every month you wait it grows. Throw every extra dollar you have at that one specifically. Even an extra $50 a month makes a real difference at those rates. Pay minimums on everything else and go after that loan like it owes you money lol.
On the credit score — you’re actually building it right now just by paying on time consistently. At 623 with clean payment history you could realistically see 680-700 within 12 months. At that point consolidation becomes a real option and could cut your monthly payment significantly.
One thing worth looking into, a secured credit card. You put down $200-300 as a deposit, it becomes your credit limit, you use it for small purchases and pay it off monthly. Builds credit fast and costs you nothing if you don’t carry a balance.
You’re doing the right things in a hard situation. The math gets better, the personal loan has an end date and you can fast forward that end date with a few extra dollars each month. Your credit score is moving in the right direction, and you haven’t missed a single payment.
Keep going.