Hi ~
A little background first - I was a single parent for 19 years, never paid anything on time, never had any credit. Kids grew up and moved on. I found these forums and diligently read and practiced what I read/learned. After 15 long years of struggles I had made it to where my score was at 750 and I had a couple $10k credit cards to my name (among several others). I was proud of myself. I then met a man who turned out to be a legitimate sociopath. The man took me for everything I had and everything I didn't have. By the time I realized what he'd done, the mind games, the lies, etc... My head had been buried in the sand and when I finally saw the light I threw him out. He totally destroyed me and my life, I was his third victim. All the debt 'we' had was in my name only. I realized everything he'd done he'd done in a very manipulative way, he'd played me well. So I went through hell trying to find the pieces and pick them up. I am in debt over my head. I tried keeping pace with the debt, mostly credit cards, (and I did for almost a year) until I lost my job and then went through hell this last year with health issues and being unemployed for most the year. I tried contacting card companies to make arrangements, lower payments, etc... and no one was interested. Synchrony cut every single card limit to the balance owed after the first missed payment so I quit paying them at all. I focused my resources on those that were willing to help and work with me. So needless to say I've spent most this year out of work due to health issues, surgeries, an accident, etc... and I feel like I've hit a wall. My credit scores have all fallen from that pristine 750 in the late summer of 2015 down to the high 300s currently. I thought I was doing the right thing continuing to pay on the cards I could, as I owed the debt, but I'm at a point that I have no clue where to turn for help. I want to do what would be best for my credit - would it be best to just get it all over with and file bankruptcy - take the hit and be done? Or continue to pay what I can and the credit cards and banks continue to report negatively each and every month and my score continues to fall? I have tried diligently not to file. I have no assets, I have nothing as I rent, but I do have two loans I would like to reaffirm - my truck and my motorcycle. I have just been back to work as of August 2017 and I make decent money but it's not enough to keep my head above water right now - it's almost half what I used to make. Is it best to just let it all go instead of continuing to fight a losing battle? Synchrony has closed all my cards and all the balances have been sent to collection agencies. I've received letters from all of these agencies but I don't know what processes they can take to come after me? Will they sue me or just let the balances sit in collections?
I'm just really lost and heartbroken at this point. It took me 15 years to build my credit and get my life where I was and I've basically lost everything. I figured with your experience here that someone may tell me that it's wiser to just file and get it over with and stop all the negative reporting or hang on and continue to pay and maybe I could get somewhere in a year or so making regular payments and paying down the debt. I haven't a clue so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If I've posted this in the wrong area please relocate me.
Thank you in advance!!
~Sunshine
