What advice should I give my daughter? - long sorry!

[Anonymous]

My daughter is 20 years old.  She's been through a lifetime already though.  Married, with 2 very young boys, and currently going through a divorce.  Her soon to be ex husband stopped payiing child support because that's the type of guy he is.  She has moved back home because she can't afford to support herself and two kids on a waitress income.

In the meantime, she got into some credit card debt.  About $1,000 worth, I guess.  Some hers, some her husbands, but all on her card - so she gets to foot the whole bill.  She has not been able to pay on her cards in some time now and they have been turned over to collections, of course.

I cannot afford to pay them off for her, so please don't suggest it.  Plus, she needs to learn how to handle her own credit too.  Mom and Dad cannot always bail her out, ya know?

Anyway,  her main financial priorities are insurance, food and paying off some other debts before she can even think about paying off her CCs.  I know I cannot tell her to ignore them, because we all know they won't go away, but what advice do I give her?  Until her loser husband starts paying child support or she can get a better job, she doesn't have any money to pay down these cards. 

I'm sure her scores are tanked because of this, but I don't know what to tell her to do.  Any advice?????

[Anonymous]

If she can not pay the cards she has defaulted on or make any types of payments on them, then the only advice I can offer is for her to keep her current bills current and not to take on anymore debt.

Is this on one CC or is the $1000 spread over a few?

[Anonymous]

I believe it is two CCs.  I think the original debt was about $200 on each, but with fees and finance charges, the amount is now close to $1,000.00.

She doesn't have any new debt, just old stuff she's working through, but some is more of a priority than others. 

Ironically, when her debt was more reasonable and her minimum dues were only $10-$20 a month, I probably could have floated her the money for that until she was on her feet, but not now.  Now, she has to work it out for herself. 

It's a lesson we all have to learn, so I hope she has!!

[Anonymous]

Has she called the creditors in question and explained the situation to them?  Perhaps they have some sort of payment program they can put her on that takes her income and other bills into consideration.  I don't mean to sound callous, but in the grand scheme of things $1000.00 is not a lot of money.  If she can call, she probably could arrange a $25/month payment plan or some such.  I remember doing this with an MBNA account years ago when I got myself into financial trouble.  A rep called one night.  I explained the situation, and she told me about all these programs they had.  The creditors will work with you.  You just have to talk to them sooner rather than later...Hope this helps. 

[Anonymous]

Who is reporting  the OC  CA or both? What is the DOFD/DOLA and your SOL?