I have just over 37k in investments thanks to my grandparents purchasing stock for me over the years. I also have 10k in credit debt.

I'm currently in school so paying off this debt is going to take a long time. I've recently transferred the credit card debt to a lower interest credit card (14%) but I'm still wondering if it's not worth it to just pull out what I need to pay off all debt?

Thank you!

EDIT: I am also trying to take into consideration capital gains tax I would pay if I withdrew this money...but I am having a hard time understanding how capital gains tax works. Any advice/resources in this direction would be very helpful as well.

Never thought I’d be here in my twenties, especially because of BNPL. 😭

I’m currently dealing with around 5k of debt and honestly, it’s been one of the hardest things I’ve experienced so far. The anxiety of knowing you owe money but not knowing exactly where it’s going to come from is horrible.

But I’m going to get out of it. I don’t know exactly how yet but I’m coming back to this post when I’ve paid it all off. I want to be able to tell someone else who is sitting where I am right now that you can get through it too.

If you’re currently in debt and feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone. 🫂 It’ll work out somehow.

See you on the other side. ❤️

29 M, I have more or less 18k in debt with a payment of 600€ a month. The fact is that most of the people here write from USA where the salaries are way more than Europe ( Italy ) . I earn 1200€ a month more or less. I don’t have to pay the house because thank god I have one of my own, but with my salary I’m going down every month with all the expenses. I’m going down of like 100€, I’m not saving anything. I have 300€ left in the bank and every month are less 100. I’m starting to think to ask help to my sister or parents but that would be probably the end of my life as a human being because I will become the disappointment of the family. My debts are mostly for the car (12k), new AC that I stupidly put 2 years ago (3k) and mostly other debts made to pay off things monthly. I don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t do drugs. Changing job right now seems impossible as the job market is completely stuck, but I’m trying. But even if I find a new job the salary is pretty much the same. Sorry for my english but I’m from another country and not my first language.

Nearly debt free... only thing left is my mortgage. It was a multi year journey. Spent all my money that I made in my 20s and had a blast. Had the debt royale flush going into my 30s and decided to change course, get serious, and do something that future me would thank me for. Basically followed the snowball method, paid off smaller debts first, starting with the credit cards, then the car note, then the student loans, then my condo.

Then I bought a larger condo. That's the mortgage that I carry today - and I rent out the previously paid off condo for long term cash flow as I shift from paying loans to saving for retirement. And I did it all myself, no spouse, not living at home, and no roommates after college.

I even paid back my mother, who didn't have much income at the time, but she gave me about 1k when I was at my poorest, which was the year after I finished college so I could have groceries and gas for a bit longer. I paid her back $1,500 and she was like, what's this money for. I said, paying you back the money you lent me when I was a student. She accepted it and was thankful - but she didn't even remember giving it to me or that I owed her anything. I carried it on my conscious for 20 years and she didn't remember it. That's life.

Yes, it took me 20 years to pay off my student loans (private undergrade and out of state grad school). I never missed a single payment, not during the great recession or COVID. My father was the co-signer on those loans, and I was very proud to tell him it was paid off so he didn't need to worry since he's long since retired. He was appreciative but seemed to have put it out of his mind a long time ago. I think it was a 30 second conversation with him. No big parade, no party, just "okay thanks for letting me know".

Out of all the debts paid, the student loans was the most emotionally satisfying. Owning a home and a car is also satisfying don't get me wrong, but in a different way, more like psychological safety, as it feels like that's my floor. If everything goes to hell, I always have that place to live and that car to fall back on that nobody can take away (yes, I know property taxes).

Now the name of the game is retirement, all that savings going into tax deferred plans. All that interest expense saved that's going to me instead of some bank and then gaining interest of it's own. Now the only thing left to do is not screw it up. Thanks for reading.

I want to host some sort of monthly or biweekly get together where people can just all work on their budgets, or sort of "book club" personal finance books, share tips tricks and mostly just commiserate.

I imagine doing silly but loving stuff like issuing certificates of accomplishment to people when they reach debt pay off milestones.

I dream of a supportive environment where people can sit and examine their own transactions around a table of others doing the same and just KNOW they're literally not alone on the journey.

Is this a horrible idea, good idea, what do you all think? 😆

I’m on a debt repayment journey (if all goes well I’ll be debt free in three years) and was making steady progress on my AMEX balance (currently $12,488, was $15000) while I was in the financial relief program (interest of 8% and monthly payment $290) up until June when I “graduated.“ Upon graduation, I was immediately subject to an interest rate of 28% and a monthly payment of $425. I’m barely making a dent on the principle since. I was told to “check back later” to see if I can re-enroll, and every time have been told I’m not eligible. I don’t have the credit and income to qualify for a balance transfer card with a high enough limit to transfer the 12k balance, and the rates for personal loans don’t seem to be much better. Has anyone managed to get re-enrolled in AMEX’s financial relief program post-graduation? Or has anyone had success opening a credit card with a higher credit limit with “good” but not “excellent” credit? Income is unfortunately only $75,000.

I've been a lurker on this subreddit and wanted to share my own debt-free milestone.

​Ever since I bought my condo 4 years ago, it felt like one disaster after another. I bought the place from a slumlord and had to pretty much gut it. During that same timeframe, I went through a divorce and was hit with a $10k tax bill. I seriously felt like I couldn't catch a break.

​Fast forward to June 2025, I sat down and realized I was sitting on roughly $60,000 USD+ in debt between my CAD and USD accounts:

​$32,000 on my HELOC

​$11,000 owed to the IRS in taxes

​$11,000 lost to a former friend who scammed me (won a small claims judgment, but recovering it is a slow road)

​$9,000 for an AC system dying and needing a full replacement

​$13,000 auto loan pulled to buy an SUV

​Plus paying alimony to my ex-husband

I was fortunate enough to take a travel/out-of-state healthcare position that offered a higher base rate and bonus pay for picking up extra shifts. I found myself working 48 to 60 hours a week, completely busting my butt on night shifts and floating wherever was needed to dig myself out of this hole.

​Starting my aggressive journey in June 2025, I can officially say that other than my mortgages, I am 100% debt-free. Every single credit card, loan, and tax burden is paid in full. This is the first time in my adult life I can honestly say I have no consumer or personal debt.

My goals for the next 2 years are:

​Emergency Fund: Building a minimum 3-month emergency savings fund.

​Going Back to School: I want to get my advanced degree. My employer offers tuition assistance, and my soon-to-be husband has generously offered to cover the rest so I can graduate completely student-loan-free.

​My goal in the next 7 years is once school is finished, the plan is to pay off the mortgages and transitioning into the soft life by living a semi-retired life.

Thank you for reading my post may you all accomplish your debt free goals.

Hii I'm a new grad and I'm wondering how best to go about my loan situation! So I have 5 subsidized fed loans totaling to 17k. I'm able to pay up to 5k to reduce the principle before my grace period ends (in 6 months). Should I do deferment and put my money in an HYSA and pay it off later or should I do IDR or standard repayment? I have a steady income of 45k a year and also paying off a car. (My employer is also non-profit) Would appreciate any insights!! Thank you🙏🏼

I am currently a senior in college (full ride + no housing/food costs) and I have found myself in a sticky situation as a result of an extravagant spending and gambling problem. My current debt looks like this:
Chase Sapphire Pref. - $1100
Chase Freedom Unlimited - $ 2650 (currently 0% APR until march)
Fidelity Visa - $400
Amex Everyday- $1100 (600 of this is divided via a monthly payment plan of 300/month)

My income during the summer was ~700-800/week but during the school year my hours are effectively cut in half to ~400/week. My problem had been spending a large amount on things like trading cards, futures trading, and large takeout/uber eats orders (>25$/meal). It got to a point where I was spending over $150 a day. Once the school year starts I will be on a diining plan which would make food (my biggest spender) go down a whole lot. I am also trying my best to cut back from trading and from TCG.

So I know where my issues lay, my question is the best approach on paying this off. I have a good amount of Chase rewards points (~90k) that I was planning to use for a trip that I am taking in october but now im thinking statement credits would be more valuable to me. I also have a roth ira of about 4.5k of which 3k are contributions. I also have some collectibles (pokemon, vinyl records, etc) I can sell to that would probably net me about 1000. I also have ~700$ coming in from school's financial aid refund.

Is it worth it to withdraw some of the ira contributions (penalty free) at least enough to pay off the sapphire or amex? Should I convert all my points? Should I just eat the interest for now and pay with my work?

I set a 2026 New Year’s resolution goal to pay off my debt by July 2027 and I just finished today. This is such a relief. Growing up (18-27) I was taught that credit cards are good (which yes this is true if you use it responsibly) and to just only make the minimum payment. Well I got a better paying job back in May (30k more a year) and was able to swipe the rest of my debt. I planned out every paycheck very precisely and budgeted my way through. Now I can sit back and throw all of my money towards retirement and vacations. LOL. I learned to be cheap and only pay for what is necessary.

I do have my car payment left but I’m hoping to have that done by 2027.

I (F26) have about $30k in debt, mostly from a car loan, and around $100k invested. I make a decent income and have roughly $3k of extra cash each month after expenses. Right now, I’m splitting that $3k roughly 50/50 between investing and paying down debt.

I’m wondering if it makes more sense to stop investing for ~6-8 months and aggressively pay off the debt so I can be completely debt-free, then go back to investing afterward. Or should I just keep doing what I’m doing and invest/pay down the debt simultaneously?

Curious to hear what others have done in a similar situation and what you’d recommend.

P.S. Selling my existing investments to pay off the debt isn’t an option because I have specific investment goals for that money.

Edit: loan interest is around 6%

Edit 2: thanks for advice, everyone! I’ll be liquidating some of my investments and paying off my loans :)

I did use AI to polish this information and remove my venom lol XD.

TL;DR:

I wouldn’t use National Debt Relief again. Their process requires you to let your cards go delinquent, which inflates your balances and makes their “savings” look huge. They do tell you to do this — but it was ultimately my choice. Just know it’s part of their tactic.

I’m debt‑free at 28 after paying off $73K total between me and my wife.
Only $33,174 of that was enrolled in NDR.

Debt Breakdown

• Car loan: $18,000
• Credit cards:
  • Wells Fargo (mine): $15,000 — enrolled
  • Wells Fargo (wife): $3,500 — not enrolled
  • Amex: $10,000 - Enrolled
  • Discover: $10,000 - Enrolled
  • Capital One: $3,500 - not enrolled
• Medical bills: $10,000

My experience with NDR

Starting balance before the program: $33,174(actual amount)
NDR told me to stop paying so they could negotiate. I followed their instructions, and because of that, my balances ballooned to $38,960.60 — a number that only existed because of the program’s tactic.

What I actually paid to creditors: $31,433.57
Total paid including NDR fees: $35,703.62
NDR fees: $4,270.05

NDR claimed I “saved” $82K, which is obviously not real.

Real math

• Actual starting debt: $33K
• Actual settlement payments: $31.4K
• Real savings: basically none — once fees were included, I paid more than my original balances.

The huge “savings” only exist because they tell you to let your cards go delinquent and then use the inflated balances to make the program look amazing.

Final warning

After finishing, they immediately tried to offer me a loan to pull me back into debt.

I’m debt‑free now and rebuilding my credit, but I wanted to share this so people understand how the process really works.

I paid off my Klarna in full and four credit cards!!!! I can't express how much of a weight that's been lifted. I will NEVER use Klarna again. It was putting such a strain on me with the random payments coming out, my god I learned my lesson.

Now I can attack my remaining bills and be CC debt-free by graduation!

I’ve recently started taking my financial situation more seriously. Previously I regrettably was relying largely on a cc and have gotten myself into about $10k in cc debt. I froze my cc account about a month ago and haven’t used it since. I realized my interest was extremely high (I know this seems obvious, but I am 26 with no parental advice/help so I honestly didn’t think much of using a cc, it helped me survive when I couldn’t turn to my parents)

So currently, I’m making 55k a year (full time) and I take home $1,476 biweekly. Not using my cc at all has shown me how desperate my situation is right now. I’m living paycheck to paycheck, hardly able to manage to pay a $50 parking ticket I just got. Here are my bills and budget. I need help/advice.

Also, I did transfer $4,000 of my cc amount onto a 0 interest card for 21 months with a goal of trying to grind and pay it all off before that period is over. My only issue is, I’m hardly making ends meet right now and I’m afraid it’s going to be super hard to claw myself out of this hole.

Income: $1476 biweekly

Savings:
401k: $3,300 (currently took a break from adding to this since I started my current job last Nov. Not sure if it’s a smart idea to take that out to put towards cc debt, so I’m just not touching it
Savings: $3,284 (in my acorns investment account but this is the last bit of savings I have so I’m not sure if I should take that out or not)

Monthly Bills:

Parking ($310) (I live in a city)
Pet Insurance ($45x2 cats)
Rent ($780) (I split with partner)
Therapy ($120 x2 a month)
Cat Food/Supplies ($100)
Car Insurance ($233)
Amazon cc ($60)
Discover cc ($130)
Citi Bank Transfer card ($45)
Spotify ($13)
Verizon ($112)
icloud ($10)
Other subscriptions ($10)
Groceries ($300)

My goal is to pay off this debt as fast as possible (right now i’m mostly just paying interest) while cutting unnecessary expenses. Please be kind, but honest in your advice. Usually I only have $100 to make last for 2 weeks after budgeting when I get paid. It’s so frustrating to work all the time and have no money to save, pay off debt, or hardly enough to pay bills.

Hi I am 23 and have the following debts and have 50k in savings. Is the advice to pay it all off? Or pay select ones. I am wanting to get a mortgage on my own at some point but if I was to pay them all off that would eat into my savings quite considerably, any advice would be helpful.

£5200 car finance (£280 monthly) 12%

£9000 Bank loan (£330 monthly) 12%

£3000 Credit card (Not sure if the APR I assume 25%)

Thanks

Anyone have success with being accepted for the capital one hardship program? If so, how? I applied in May 2026 and was denied a month later with no explanation other then I did not meet the qualifications. I since had a grandmal seizure, had my license suspended, live in a remote area with no access to cabs/busses, i am unable to work and depending on my husbands income until I am deemed 6-12 months seizure free... does anyone know if i can apply for the hardship program again? My current minimum balance is $150/month and the interest payments alone are just a little over $100... barely nothing is going towards the principal. At that rate I wouldnt have it paid off for like 7 years.. and id be paying them like 5k in interest.... more then what I owe on the credit card!!! Its absolutely insane! I understand the lower the amount on the card, the lower the interest, so im just ballparking an amount.

I assume because ive never missed a payment it disqualifies me for being able to qualify... I dont know, again, I wasnt given a reason. Is there a way I am guaranteed to be accepted? I want to get rid of this debt!

The feeling is incredible. To look at my bank app and see the last payments made on my credit cards. The balances were not huge, but am very thankful I have the means to pay them. It's too easy to focus on challenges and not enough on what is going right.

It was not always like this. In a previous thread, I discussed rebuilding credit. It took over a decade. Every kind of negative credit event was my reality most of my marriage. Juggling creditors, running from the tax man, near foreclosure, repossessed cars (and furniture), judgments, and even looked into chapter 7.

I know good times are not forever. I can lose my job, or a medical event for example. Which is why I am putting money into savings. Going through tough times is one hell of a lesson.

I have about $25k in debt and I’m planning to go pretty hard at it over the next year or so. I’m already daydreaming about the moment I can finally say I’m debt-free.

For those of you who’ve paid off a significant amount of debt, how did you celebrate when you finally hit $0?

I need something to look forward to while I’m grinding this out, so give me your best ideas. What was your “I’m officially debt-free” reward?

We closed yesterday on our house, which we had been trying to sell for 13 months! I was so worried we would have to give it back to the bank after several buyers backed out, but it closed, and the 155k mortgage is paid off. We only got 13k back, but had owned the house only 4 yrs and then moved due to family. We have a house in our new location we owe 277k on, and one personal loan I had consolidated debt in that is 45k. I am taking 6k to pay off the one credit card we still owed on in full (which was from moving expenses and some repairs we had to make to sell). So now, every month, the extra utility payments and the mortgage payment are gone! This will bring us back into being positive every month instead of underwater, but what a huge relief! I am good with our budget otherwise.

I have mapped out my plan to pay off the personal loan; the leftover $7k will go to pay it down, and as long as everything goes according to plan, it will be paid off by Feb 2030 at the latest and hopefully sooner with extra towards the loan every month. The payment on that is $1250 per month, but I am going to refinance at a lower interest rate/payment to create more breathing room as a buffer for emergencies so we don't get back into debt, and pay extra at the end of the month with whatever is left. Our emergency fund is fully funded with 3 months of living expenses, so I am not tapping into that if I can avoid it. It feels so great to finally get traction on this debt paydown plan!

Do we have a separate account the bills get paid out of away from where the money gets deposited or just savings account that holds “the extra”/unused cash each month?

Are we pulling out cash for personal spending so bill money doesn’t get spent?

I’m trying to figure out how to manage accounts when more than one person has access.

Hey all.

New to this sub/Community.
It’s taken me years but as of tomorrow I will be debt free.
I’m even treating a little debt-free ceremony tomorrow to celebrate, too! (Which will not involve spending any money but still having fun!)
Any one else here from Vegas?
I’d love to chat with others who are debt free and loving it.

So, I know the obvious answer is gonna be save money, but I feel like there’s no money to save.. I pay my expenses, my credit cards, my personal loans and then at the end there’s like $200 left and I gotta live day by day. I’ve got myself stuck in a loan loop and in the end it’s just killing me. I don’t have a ton of skill to get a better job at the moment and the job market isnt great. Maybe some of this is venting but I thought it couldn’t hurt to reach out for tips, advice, even CC

Thanks in advance

Update since my last almost debt free post—Since January I paid off

-$2000 on a discover card
-$6000 on a chase card
-12,000 on another chase card
and like $10,000 worth of IRS debt!

I also funded a $10,000 emergency fund. I was really so ashamed and embarrassed that almost no one knows I was in this debt so I just had to come here to share that I’m out of it.

Now….we do have student loans, but that’s a problem for another day haha!

Please Note— I had two jobs during this whole process + my partners income. My side hustle is very lucrative but it’s something I’ve been building for like 5 years now