“Dear Steve,
We are in our 50s. We’d been doing well and racked up some serious debt. Ashamed to say how much but … over 70,000. This includes credit cards and loans. Not including our home. Last month I lost my job and have been looking (yes, looking hard!) but have not found anything as yet.
We have already deferred 2 loan payments back 1 month. Also set the car payment back 1 month. My husband has a good job but there’s about a 1,000 a mo. deficiency (which is a little less than my old paycheck). Not sure what to do. We’ve stopped using the cards. I’ve cut groceries to the bone. What else can we do?
Is there a way to temporarily cut expenses until I have another job? I don’t get unemployment.
Kathe”
Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.
Latest posts by Steve Rhode (see all)
- Plastic Pandemic: US Credit Card Debt Surges Nearly 20% in Q1 2021! - May 12, 2023
- The IRS Resumes Collections Notices: What You Need to Know Before It’s Too Late - May 12, 2023
- How Can I Deal With Payday Loan Debt? - May 12, 2023
thanks steve, keep up the good work answering finance questions, you have some excellent content on the site.
Jonathan@Friends&Moneys last blog post..How To Talk About Debt Problems With Family Members
It sounds like you are taking a very proactive appraoch to dealing with your debt. I am not a financial advisor and my advice comes wholly from a personal perspective but i would consider contacting some of your creditors directly to see if you can renegotiate payments. Afterall I think that they would prefer to have regular smaller payments, rather than non at all. My experience is that the earlier you contact creditors the less burdensome your debt problems might become in the future.
Jonathan@Friends&Moneys last blog post..How To Talk About Debt Problems With Family Members
Jonathan,
Great advice.
Steve