Does Anyone Have An Inspirational Story Of Overcoming Really Bad Debt?

Too bad your having to deal with this, but your ahead of most in your situation. Bettering your education is always a good investment. So good move there. Best of luck to you, and your growing family. I hope you're able to bounce back, but we're all hurting these days. Some worse than others, but your not alone. Obama say's he's working on it.

 

People call Dave Ramsey's show all the time with their testimonials. I don't know what station he's on in your area, but you could probably check his Web site for that.

Hang in there -- tough times don't last; tough people do.

 

The only thing I have to make you feel better, is knowing that this kid in Chattanooga is NOT your son...

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I had similar issues J.

I used a redundancy package to retrain for a new career,blew a small portion of it on a trip to Nashille and in December 08 began looking for a new job just as the recession kicked in.

Initially I applied for entry level jobs that I'd trained for to get some experience by working for an IT consultant on a voluntary basis. After 4 months I'd applied for over 120 jobs incuding a many minimum wage do anything jobs and got zip.

We were down to paying the mortgage by credit card and it looked like we were going to lose the house. It was grim and mounting debt scared the crap out of me.

All the while I was getting experince in IT but no money. In May I got offered a 12 week contract for £400 per week.The guy I was volunteering for responded by offering me a permanent gig but only on minimum wage. I took the minimum even though it was depressing because it offered longterm security and was enough to stop the debt growing.

Not enough to pay any debt off though and it wore myself and Leanne down not being able to buy things and go places we wanted.The house was safe though.

I was working 50-60 hour weeks for min wage with no overtime but at the same time I was doing what I set out to do in a new career and kind of living the dream even if at the bottom of the ladder.

In November I asked the guy I was working for for a raise and he told me that he couldn't afford to pay me any more than minimum. He told me that I had a job as long as I wanted it but that he would understand if I started to look for other work.

I applied for 20+ jobs that weekend and secured 3 interviews, I asked for an afternoon off work and my boss figured it out and fired me.

I was very rusty and blew the 1st interview. I got offered both of the other jobs and accepted the best one. I was one of three shortlisted for an interview out of 171 applicants for the job I accepted. They were very impressed that I'd made a career change at 40 and had been willing to work on a voluntary basis to get a start.

It's a great PLC company and things are finally looking up. The money is a big step up from minimum wage but even so it will take us untill maybe Feb-May 2011 to clear our debts outside of our mortgage.

I regularly move the credit card debt around to interest free cards. The mortgage company agreed to let us just pay the interest on our loan for 12 months after we wrote to them and asked them for help.

I've no regrets.It was tough and stressful at times but I'm now doing a job that I love and the debt seems a small price to pay.

I would say that as soon as your in a position to begin paying off the debt the burden feels lifted. Once you get to the point that you can see light at the end of the tunnel it will feel better.

I have nothing but respect for you starting out training for new skills. You won't regret it in the longrun. It's hard to appreciate how big a thing it is that your doing when your deep in it but when you get your first job in the new career you'll be walking around smiling to yourself often.

 

You know what some people say; "you have to take one step back, to take two steps forwards".

 

I bought a house...

 

^Come buy one here. haha

What kind of debt is it? Credit card? Auto? House? All the above? I'm the last person to give financial advice, because I'm an impulse buyer. Actually, I've got a lot of basic ways to trim my debts and make money, but I don't have the dedication or attention span to stick to them.

Not suggesting this, but I have a friend that entered chapter 13 bankruptcy about a year and a half ago because he really had nothing to lose since he had just been stupid with credit cards and cars. Well, less than a year after he filed- his credit score was already better than it had been before bankruptcy.
That's the last thing to do with debt problems, but if you had to... I'm sure the way the recession is, it'd be overlooked in the future much easier than the way it once was. Unless it's chapter 0, where you pay nothing back.


School is always a great thing to do while in times like these though. I'm doing the same, but luckily I have my foot in the door gaining the experience related to my major.

Worst come to worst: Ditch the decent cars and get reliable beaters. Kill the internet, HD package, etc. Easy way to save handfuls.

 

Never ever get a credit card.