Hi everyone,
While struggling in graduate school, I found myself in $15k of credit card debt, then I lost my job and it was a disaster a few years back. I ended up getting on ACCC's DMP and am now down to about $6k credit card debt with a credit score of 680. Bummer part is I have no line of credit for emergencies and recently lost my job due to extreme illness and hospitalization.
I'm considering taking out a $6k loan to pay off my debt, so I can open a line of credit to an emergency card and have that for the woes of life (i.e. i'm having car trouble and am unemployed + still in school...looking for a new job).
I luckily currently have my tax refund to hold me over for about a month, but hiring processes take a long time these days and I'm wondering if anyone on here has experience transitioning from a DMP program to a loan, and if so, if there are any loan types/companies you'd recommend. I'd like to explore my options and then talk to ACCC about switching. It's been really difficult, as my job of three years had me living paycheck to paycheck, and despite being great at budgeting, I still come up short in emergency situations (had my catalytic converter stolen, for example).
Given my credit score and progress with my debt, what avenues do you all recommend? What are my options here? I simply never made enough to save much in an emergency fund, and what I had was quickly depleted during my health emergency.
If I ended the program with a loan at 680 score, I think it's plausible that I could soon get a credit card for anytime a huge expense happens. I don't have family support, so I'm just trying to figure out if it's time to end the program with a loan and finally open a new card for emergencies. It's been one of my biggest stressors to watch my savings turn to $0, and i'm building it back up, but a credit line for just in case sounds like a huge relief to have in my back pocket.
Thanks for reading! Let me know your thoughts.
