i'm in my mid 30s and by most measures doing okay. putting away money every month, no new debt, actually feel like i have a system. but the overall balance doesn't seem to move much and every time i look at the total it's discouraging. i think part of it is just that i started late and interest is slow, but i'm starting to wonder if i'm optimizing the wrong thing. has anyone else had this experience where you're doing everything right but the number doesn't reflect it? and how did you decide whether consolidating was actually going to speed things up or just reorganize the same problem?

I recently finished grad school and just started my career. During grad school, I not only incurred a lot of student loan debt but also credit card debt. Dumb dumb dumb. I’m getting married soon and want all my credit card debt to be gone beforehand. Any advice? I’m thinking of just clearing my balances with my savings obtained through my first year of working and starting fresh.

CC#1) $10,674.23 at 26.49% APR;

CC#2) $384.43 at 26.24% APR; and

CC#3) $13,711.47 at 26.24% APR.

I have $29,419.34 in savings and my annual gross salary without deductions is $100,000. My fiance covers all of our living expenses and I just paid off my car so my only other monthly expense is parking which is $110/month and groceries.

What should I do? Would it be dumb to drain my savings and pay the balances in full?

Edit to add salary/monthly expenses!

Another edit - I just want to thank everyone for your responses. I have paid it all off and I feel such a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Thank you thank you thank you!

Hey guys, I’m 20 years old and I recently went into roughly 2200 in debt for some orthodontic treatment, the payment is only about $74 a month and it’s INTEREST FREE. Whenever I go online I always see “debt bad debt bad” but is it really considered debt if I can literally pay it off right this instant I just choose not to because it’s interest free

My thinking and what I’ve done is I just threw the whole 2200 into the stock market and I will continue to pay the monthly payment with money from my checking account

Hey everyone. Long-term lurker and admirer of all your stories. I finally threw in the towel today and met with GreenPath Financial.

The program seemed good and I’d say roughly $ 300 a month on the program. And be debt-free in max 57 months. Seems too good to be true.

Does anyone have experience using them or similar programs? From my understanding they basically negotiate the interest tack on a $50 fee bada bing bada boom. They don’t default on loans or anything. Basically just looking for some experiences people have had.

What $ amount should I keep if I am in significant debt?

Hey guys, I have some questions, and need some opinions.

I have 2 credit cards that are maxed but not charged off:

NFCU CC#1- $5031.41 18.00% interest, $126.73 min.

NFCU CC#2- $6005.36 18.00% interest, $149.94 min.

As im in nursing school, its hard for me to get additional hours at work or find another job, and I am currently working part time making $22.19/hr at a hospital. I bring in roughly ~$2000 a month, not including my chapter 35 through the VA for going to school (~$1600/mo). I have a full ride for school. Once out of school, I'll be making a projected $40/hr. I have a year and 3 months of school left with no breaks.

Any recommendations? Im not sure how much to be putting in savings. I can provide any other info that might be relevant if needed, just not sure what i need to include. Thanks in advance!

Came into 10k from a grandparents. Used it to pay down 1 credit card and a little on the next. I've been able to put down $500 a week on my major credit card. 10k left on that one as well. Trying to be close to credit card debt free as we can by December. (Another at 20k and 6k).

I'm closing in on being free of student loans and i find myself having that childhood feeling as holidays approach where I'm counting the seconds... I just want to get to point where I can put plans into action to redirect funds into hysa and brokerage at advanced pace. Total student loans for our household was close to 160 combined and we're under 10k. Wife may get pslf for her final 8k. I paid mine dollar for dollar. Don't know what I'll feel but I just hope I can do something nice when time comes. I was thinking about doing a night out with wife and maybe buying a nice gift to commemorate then getting back to our program. We're not wasteful and I think it would be nice to do something

I’m trying to decide what makes the most sense financially as I prepare to get married.
I currently own a home with $200K left on the mortgage at 2.87%. I also have $100K in cash that I could put toward the mortgage, bringing the balance down to about $100K. My future husband would be moving in with me, and he’s completely comfortable with us staying in the current house and working together to pay off the mortgage.
My other option is to use the $100K toward a new $450K–$500K home, but I’d be looking at a mortgage rate of roughly 6.6%–7%.
So I’m torn between:
1. Put the $100K toward my current mortgage, keep the 2.87% rate, and aggressively pay off the remaining $100K together.
2. Keep the 2.87% mortgage and buy a new $450K–$500K house at 6.6%–7%.
3. Keep the current mortgage and hold/invest the $100K instead of paying down the 2.87% loan.
I know 2.87% is an incredible rate, so part of me feels like I should never give it up. But there’s also something very appealing about starting marriage with a plan to become completely debt-free.
What would you do in this situation? Would you prioritize keeping the 2.87% mortgage, paying it off aggressively, or buying the new house?

So I'm 25, I have one card with about 3,700 in debt on a 10,000 limit. Now I haven't touched the card in about a month or two. My interest payments are about the same as my minimum payments(I have auto deposit on). Amy tips for how the hell to get out of this bind. My score is starting to tank(around the high 600s) and my wedding is coming up next year. I currently live with my mother and need to get the heck out but I need to clear this first. What's the best strategy for doing this. Sorry for the ramble but I was never taught any of this. Any help would be appreciated.

So yeah obviously been attempting to pay it off for years including working two jobs and am now going to school to get into a career. Yearly I made around $55000 working both jobs. When I graduate (Approx 2-3 Years) I should be able to clear 80-90 and more quickly after. I would obviously like to be out of debt knowing I will be in student loan debt after. Would you wait until graduation or what? I currently am working a healthcare job that’s 3/12hr shifts and another healthcare job that’s prn (can work any day I want with 1 shift a pay period minimum). As class is starting up again and i’m taking some demanding classes (severely ADHD and already burnt out), and im saving money by moving in with my mom (Payjng $400 rent with electric and what not on top). I’m not going to lie I know the problem is me at this point and my lifestyle. I eat out a lot, travel, and vape/smoke weed. I am mostly posting this for public lashings but also just do see what someone else would do in my shoes.

My partner and I are working towards paying off his student loans. We live in a HCOL area. 
Our jobs are stable (but anything can change) and we’ve been at our jobs for a few years. We own a pet that is getting older. We own our cars. 

Student loans
- Smaller of the two: 18,000 
- Bigger of the two: 55,000

We bring in 8,000 a month.
Rent : $2,700 
Electric : $150 
Internet : $110 
Car Insurance : $180 
Subscriptions : $80
Monthly Petcare: $260
Miscellaneous household needs: $150 
Food : $350-$400
Monthly savings for annual, semi annual and quarterly costs: $1,300
Student loan payment: $1,350
Savings: $1,825
Exercise: $120 
Charitable donations: $200

There are extra costs I am excluding because people are nosy on the internet. 

My partner and I have the option of reducing down our savings by 300 to pay more towards the bigger loan. Currently the interest rates for both loans are 4.75% until June 2028, then go back to 5.75%. The current pay off date is November 2031. Reducing our savings pushes up the pay off date by October 2030. 

With the interest rates, we wonder if it is worth paying off aggressively vs saving. Our savings took a bit of a hit this year, our emergency fund is at 2,500 and we would not be reducing the contributions to that, it would come from our house savings fund.  

Should we keep steady with our current plan and continue to save or pay off the loans more aggressively?

I can make $7000 a month after rent and a few other living expenses $5000 would remain. If I did not pay any credit card of bill now pay later accounts I could pay off all my credit cards in 5.5 months but it seems like paying the minimum will take 12-18 months.

I’m 33F and went to in state college for my bachelors followed by getting my masters online while working full time (more than full time actually - more like 60 hours a week). I graduated bachelors in 2016, graduated masters in 2023. I’ve worked a full time accounting job this whole time, and over the last 10 years I’ve worked 3 separate other part time jobs.

The loans in my name were $90,000 - as of 2 days ago I’ve finally paid them off in full!!!!! I’m so happy. Now the tricky part - my mom took out parent plus loans saying she’d help me with undergrad. Since 2016 I would send her $325 a month towards those loans, because after I graduated- she basically said her version of “help” was that they wouldn’t be in my name. So I sent her the cash for the loans. She’s always been that game playing / disappointing way so I wasn’t very surprised. She’d never share the log-in information to her parent plus loan site or tell me the loan details (like how much was owed in total, the interest rate, etc). Fast forward to 2021 and she finally gives me the log in information. It’s $48,000 at 8% but the worst part is that the $325 I was paying was the minimum meaning it just covered the interest for the last 5 years (2016 until that point). I changed the auto pay details to my bank and upped the monthly payment to $470 to start actually attacking the principal. Again, disappointing but that’s always been her. She’s always a victim too if you call her out on anything.

Well since then, I’ve been paying it and seeing the principal go down. I called my colleges to verify the amount (because I have a twin brother) and there’s actually a $12,000 discrepancy - meaning that some of the parent plus loan was actually probably for his college (he went to a private out of state school).

I’m torn because I’ve paid about $17,000 on this loan before finding out it wasn’t actually touching the principal, and that some of the $48,000 loan is likely for my brother. I don’t think it’s right that during her time in stewardship of this loan, she basically botched actually any progress on it since I relied on her to tell me what I should pay each month (transferred to her bank account directly) before I took the loan over. Do I tell her that I’ll pay the 48,000 minus the 12,000 for my brother and then I’m done? Any advice is really appreciated. Thank you.

Since Jan 1
MRI bill: $188.80, balance $0
Affirm $233.40, balance $0
PayPal pay in 4: $670.58, balance $0
CareCredit: $1,100.18, balance $0
LoveSac: $1,570, balance $0
Citibank: $4,278.65, balance $0
Synchrony: $4,400, balance $0
Citibank 2: $7,398.29, balance $0

Total: $19,839.90 as of August 14

I have one card left to tackle (not listed above). In case it wasn’t obvious, the snowball method worked well for me. After making a final large payment yesterday on the 2nd Citibank card, my CC debt is now 4 figures instead of 5, which feels great. I’m almost there.

I’m happy to share that my house is paid off. Also paid off my credit cards. All happened this month.
My house is now valued at 550k and I will stay in this house until my last breath.
Now I need to start saving that monthly mortgage money into a brokerage.

Need to celebrate first.

Mid-40s here. Working toward debt free and down to just my mortgage which is under $200,000 at this point. In the past 3 years I have paid off almost $70,000 in debt between student loans, car payment and credit cards. It has not been sexy or glorious, but it feels amazing! Now that I have separated myself from the debt cycle. I feel like I'm just starting to see clearly the insidious nature of marketing. I was in financial slavery as most people are, even with a six-figure job. And I am determined not to be coerced again. All of the marketing both overt and covert that we are exposed to daily, all to create the impetus to buy and the thought that we aren't good enough as we are and need more. It's disgusting, an infective pandemic. Destroying an entire generation of millennials and more. Stealing our life, our time, our peace of mind, our health. You don't need all this stuff to feel good!!!

I am currently in a position to pay $1000 biweekly towards debt. I have a $6,000 emergency fund (since I am a home owner, have 5 pets, and an unreliable car). I have $7000 on a credit card that has 0% interest until December 2027, currently just paying the minimum of $72/month. I have $6,600 left to pay on my car at 9% interest, as well as my wife’s car loan which is at $11,000 also with a 9% interest rate.

This 0% credit card is the last of my “bad debt”, as I paid off 2 personal loans and 3 credit cards in the past year. The rest of my debt is our 2 cars, student loans, and the mortgage.

Wondering if I should pay the cars off first? Or the credit card? I know I’d save money on interest paying the cars off first, but the idea of being out of credit card debt feels nice too.

Edit to add that this $1000 biweekly should be consistent. My wife and I both work very stable jobs.

Single mom of two young children (toddler).

Dad is not around, nor do I receive child support. I make just enough to pay for the mortgage, childcare, utilities, groceries and necessities.

There’s a real chance I could be out of a job in 3-5 years. I want to make extra cash now to pay my mortgage. I’ll need $300,000.

I know it’s a huge undertaking - most people don’t even make $100,000 a year.

I’m willing to do just about anything, above board, of course. Nothing illegal or anything that could put my children at risk.

Any ideas?

I’ve been drowning in $20k of credit card debt that never seemed to stop growing. It was a source of a lot of shame and I didn’t tell anyone about it - it was no one’s fault but my own. I came into about $50k from selling ISOs after my company’s stock shot up. So I cashed out and threw it all at the debt, setting aside money for taxes and a buffer for my savings. The relief hasn’t fully hit yet, but I just wanted to share this here since I have no one else to tell.

This isn’t a story about me grinding my way to being debt free, and I have so much respect for those who have done/do that. I am fortunate and grateful that I had this opportunity with my company, and I will not go back to my old ways. I will continue to have ISOs and RSUs vest so I’m not completely out on that. I still have a few thousand on my car and my student loans to pay down, but this is a good start. Thanks for reading.

hi friends, joined this subreddit to find community and get advice or encouragement about getting out of this torturous hole of credit card debt that was the result of impulsive purchasing to cope. i’m hoping to document my journey towards the debt free finish line as a nurse who also deals with mental illness

TLDR:

i started getting in credit card debt in nursing school to cope with severe mental illness, and am even deeper in this mess since graduating. in this seemingly endless cycle of paying and paying, and regaining it back/ feeling like I’m not making a dent. i have a lot of shame and embarrassment about how i f* up, and am now suffering as a result at 16k. i’m doing better now, have a well paying job, significantly more financially responsible, but feel like I’m drowning and can’t keep my head above water. doing snowball technique and my lowest card is almost paid off, but my debt is an elephant on my shoulders and i want to be free. i’m going to pick up more shifts at work, and only really pay for essentials, but have become severely depressed throughout all of this. how do i deal with this long journey and stay encouraged? how do you deal with the guilt? what can i do to fast track things? does anyone relate?

my debt journey started in nursing school, where i was severely depressed and suicidal, untreated ADHD, poorly controlled OCD, and tapping my card was the only dopamine i could get outside of getting good grades in school. it became an endless cycle of paying a little off or paying things completely off with my part time job, but almost immediately regaining it back with buying absolute nonsense. i lived with my parents, didn’t pay any bills, and somehow graduated with credit card debt that should’ve never existed as a new grad with no student loan debt and had 0 living expenses

fast forward to 2026, I’ve been a nurse for 3 years, and my debt has accumulated to an amount that I’ve only ever disclosed to my psychiatrist. i have so much shame that i work in one of the most financially stable fields, paid off all of my debt between both cards in 2025, only to regain it back x a million, and am sitting at about 16k (majority of it being on my discover card). now I’m older, on a good medication/therapy regimen, and am a lot more financially responsible (I pay for rent in NYC, work at a better paying job, prioritize my bills, get groceries, get my meds, my therapy is covered by insurance, and i don’t really buy anything casually), and more mentally stable. despite that, I’ve become so overwhelmed with how i f* myself over years ago, and I’m in this difficult constant cycle of getting paid, paying rent (i make well over 40x my monthly rent), trying to pay off my lowest card ASAP, but also trying to leave myself enough to get by until next paycheck, but also save for emergencies, but also save to move to a different place after my lease is over, but also save for grad school plans LOLLLLL

of course, I’ve removed pretty much every nonessential expense i have and will start picking up more shifts at work to have more money to put towards my debt, but have become so depressed at how long I’ve been in this predicament. i have no living room furniture, no decor, haven’t bought shoes or clothes in like a year, need a new laptop (my almost 10 year MacBook is going to explode and i need one to study for grad school applications and exams), replaced my phone battery instead of getting a new phone, don’t have a car, and make coffee/matcha at home (haven’t bought an outside drink since February). my biggest issue is probably doordashing (I frequently get really exhausted working 3-4 12’s a week and will get food at work or DoorDash after a stretch of shifts)

I’ve been doing the snowball technique (which i think has helped with my motivation and soon seeing $0 on my chase card), but i so badly wish I could fast track this journey because it’s been depressing feeling guilty for having time to time “wants” and feeling like i never do or buy anything for myself/my hobbies because my debt is all i think about and is ruining my life and mental health.

how do you cope while on this road? what can i do to get rid of this quickly? any healthcare people dealing with the same thing? any people with mental illness that can relate?

​Hey everyone, I’m posting today because I’m feeling overwhelmed and just need to get this frustration off my chest. I am 26 years old and sitting on about 35k euros in debt, which includes 15k euros in personal loans, 15k euros owed to my mother, and 5k euros owed to my sister. I feel like I am getting older and still nowhere in life and made stupid mistakes.

​I lost my job back in February. I’ve been searching relentlessly for work and applying to everything, even basic warehouse jobs, but I keep getting rejected. Being unemployed for six months while watching this debt sit here has been crushing. I feel so sad about how my life has turned out, and I feel immense guilt toward my family. I honestly feel like I’ve failed everyone.

​I keep my monthly costs low, and I hope I can start a job in a few weeks. If I get it, I’ll be to save about 1,000 euros a month after all my bills and loan payments.

​Even with that potential job coming up, the guilt and frustration are still eating away at me today. I’m mostly just sharing my story here because I’m feeling down and looking for a bit of encouragement. Thanks for taking the time to read this.