Im going to let the more experienced people give their input but i wanted to stop by and say Im sorry to hear about all this happening to you. 2020 has been pretty awful to us and some worse than others. I dont have any experience with BK and its effects on your profile but i do know that if you do end up filing, there is light at the end. Theres lots of stories here of people rebuilding nicely after.
With that being said, if you are able to work overtime and can start attacking these cards that may be your best bet. In this covid era, i think you can call and try to set up some kind of arrangement with these banks. Maybe get them to lower your interest rate for a set amount of time? So you can more easily tackle the balances. I would def stop spending on the cards as well if possible. If it were me i would maybe try to pay down those smaller ones and try to get a BT card for the medium sized ones...if thats not an option theres personal loans to consolidate it all into 1 payment...Again, im sure some more experienced myfico'ers can chime in here?
I do want to wish you the best of luck on your journey and i do hope that your 2021 in healthy and happy.
I don't know how upside you are on your vehicle, but I would get rid of it, even if it was a repossess. You have collections and a lawsuit, so unless you win those both and they don't report, your score is already tanked. This is more about finances and surviving than it is about score right now, IMHO.
You're bleeding out almost $1300/month for a car, a phone, and storage. Get rid of them. Today. I also wouldn't care who else is on my phone plan. They need to figure it out on their own.
That's what I would do if it were me.
This is just my opinion. With such young children I don't think you should work more hours than your basic job requires. I'm sorry you are struggling. A few of those cards should probably be cut up so you don't shop when you are stressed (VS, ULTA, Etc).
What are you hoping to do as an alternative to bankruptcy? Consolidation loan? Would you qualify for a large enough loan to cover everything?
@jr76203 Is everything still current? Is any family able to give you the money to help pay off the debt and you pay them back? If not I think BK might be your next best option I know its not what you had in mind. But it will certainly help.
Have you shopped around for car insurance, because your rate is ridiculously high. Also, I abhor storage costs. Are you sure what you're storing is worth the monthly cost? Think about paying that storage for a couple of years (it will take time for you to recover from this), and you're looking at an almost $5k storage bill. Are your things worth that much? Can a relative help with storage? If you can get rid of the phone plan and go to something more reasonable, I'd do that too.
Good luck to you. 2020 sucks for sure.
