Darrell

“Dear Steve,

Went on SSI about 18 months ago, and lost everything. Im homeless now. Getting my food at food banks, and shelter wherever.

My only sorce of income is SSI. I receive 850 dollars a month. I have around 10,000 in credit card debt. I also have about 2500 in payday loans i owe. I dont know what to do. This is my second letter to you. I did not hear back from you on the first one. I dont have one cent to hire a lawyer. Ive looked all around and cant find any places that offer free legal help. Im homeless now. Ive lost everything. Please help (ASAP)

Darrell”

The Answer

Dear Darrell,

It’s never good to start with an apology but I’m sorry I have not made it to your first request yet. I alter between doing the first in the queue and the last and I guess that first request is somewhere in the middle.

There is free bankruptcy help available through the network of pro-bono bankruptcy attorneys. You can lookup the provider in your state through this link. There will still be court fees to pay to file but that will be significantly less than what most people pay in total for bankruptcy.

Since your income is only SSI, you don’t sound like you have any assets to go after and you are not working, then a second option, as silly as this sounds, is to do nothing. You will probably be sued and you will lose but there is nothing for the creditors to go after.

When you do get back on your feet and start earning an income again outside of SSI then you could pursue bankruptcy to close the door on those old debts. In the meantime, if you are contacted by a debt collector, just be nice, but don’t make a single promise to repay that you can’t afford. Just know you will remain in collections for now and find a way to weather the storm.

Please update me on your progress by posting updates here in the comments section of your question. I’m very interested in how this works out for you.

The Secret of Surviving Through Difficult Economic Times. What I Learned On My Journey‘.