Throwaway for obvious reasons. Forgive me if I'm not posting in the right place.
I've fucked up hard and I'm not sure how I can fix this. As in the title, I owe $41,000 all up.
I earn $68k a year (works out to be around $4350 a month after tax).
As it stands I owe:
This is causing me a lot of stress and I just feel shit about it all - it totally does wonders for my mental health (how's this for cruel irony: I ended up drinking a lot more than I did previously), because while I'm servicing my debt (just barely... all it would take is me losing my job and I'd pretty much neck myself), I really, really don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. It's amazing how quickly things can snowball out of control in three years - three years ago I had only $4,000 in loan and CC debt and it would have been paid off completely that year, then I had to move house quickly at extremely short notice (so again, $$$) and then my expenses skyrocketed and I made some very, very poor decisions.
I came to you guys because I really, really don't know what to do next. I'm probably not going to be able to afford to pay any bills when I get paid this month thanks to my poor decisions with the cards.
What are my options here?
I've fucked up hard and I'm not sure how I can fix this. As in the title, I owe $41,000 all up.
I earn $68k a year (works out to be around $4350 a month after tax).
As it stands I owe:
- $4,500 in student loans (this is automatically taken out by the government at tax time so I don't really have much say in the matter)
- $7,500 remaining on my car loan (at $663 a month) - I'm not sure what the interest rate is, thanks to dealer shenanigans and me not knowing much about how it all worked at the time, but it's below 7%. This car loan is for a five year term (works out to a total cost of $39k, interest included) and I'll be making my final payment in December. Unfortunately I also get hit by a quite large cancellation fee if I pay this loan out early (as all payments are accounted for).
- Two credit cards, unfortunately both maxed out. One is $14,500 (which I'm trying to pay down as it's a high interest card - 17.99%) and the other is $7,000 (at 13.49%, but has an fee of $59 a year). I used the lower interest card to pay down the higher interest card at first, then it quickly derailed from there, as I had some big expenses come through. I often use the lower interest credit card to pay bills, then put as much money on it as I can, then the whole cycle starts again...
- $9,500 remaining in a loan with my bank. This was originally taken out the year before to pay for moving expenses and purchase of furniture, and also in an attempt to try and consolidate my debt.
- $1,000 overdraft which I regularly tap into...
- Rent - $1140 a month. I share with someone else.
- Phone and internet - $170 a month. This is combined, and is required for work.
- Health insurance - $130 a month. I have to have private health insurance - it's used quite often to cover medical bills
- Subscriptions - Netflix, Amazon, gym (works out to about $80 a month all up)
- I do sometimes eat out, have begun planning meals in an effort to reduce this
This is causing me a lot of stress and I just feel shit about it all - it totally does wonders for my mental health (how's this for cruel irony: I ended up drinking a lot more than I did previously), because while I'm servicing my debt (just barely... all it would take is me losing my job and I'd pretty much neck myself), I really, really don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. It's amazing how quickly things can snowball out of control in three years - three years ago I had only $4,000 in loan and CC debt and it would have been paid off completely that year, then I had to move house quickly at extremely short notice (so again, $$$) and then my expenses skyrocketed and I made some very, very poor decisions.
I came to you guys because I really, really don't know what to do next. I'm probably not going to be able to afford to pay any bills when I get paid this month thanks to my poor decisions with the cards.
What are my options here?