Start with a budget: all your income. All your expenses.

Download everything from your banks and credit cards for the last 3 months to excel and sort it into a ledger. Figure out where money is going.

Sort expenses into categories: rent, utilities, subscriptions, necessary food, unnecessary food, entertainment, misc.

As others have mentioned, you may be a good candidate for bankruptcy. But understand that you almost certainly make too much to qualify for a wipe-the-slate-clean Chapter 7, and would have to do a payment-plan-for-3-5-years Chapter 13. There are calculators online to help you get a rough idea of what that might look like.

Another path you can consider before bankruptcy is to try and work towards a one-time settlement for a % of what’s owed. Credit cards companies generally won’t consider making a settlement offer until they’re fairly convinced that getting something, even if it’s just a %, is better than nothing. So understand that this plan involves you stopping making payments and getting very behind, and instead building up a cash reserve that you’ll eventually offer as a settlement.

Some warnings about this plan:

1. Stopping payments on the cards will tank your credit. Likely not as hard as a full bankruptcy, but it’s still going to hurt. So if you need credit for something (not want, but need, like for an apartment application), get that done FIRST. Because it’s going to be awhile before your credit score improves.
2. Your creditors are going to be VERY vocal about your lack of payments. There are laws about when/where/how they’re allowed to contact you (research that and know your rights), but be prepared for them to chase you. Like you’re about to become the recipient of a LOT of phone calls, from people who are well trained in high-pressure techniques to extract money. This will NOT be comfortable. Don’t get drawn into long conversations and let them work you over. “I’m sorry, I can’t afford a payment this month. I’ll let you know if things change next month. Goodbye.” And then hang up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. You will get a lot of calls, so you’re going to need to get comfortable with doing this.

As for process - all those payments you’ve stopped making? You’re going to be setting them (and however much else you can) aside into a special savings account. You don’t touch this savings account unless something is bleeding and on fire. Because this is your settlement fund, and settlement = freedom, so you want us grow it ASAP.

Once you save up enough in that account to offer maybe 15-25% of one of the outstanding card balances, offer that as a settlement. Some guidelines on this:

1. Words matter, and the words are “settlement in full” (no payment plans, no partial settlement, literally “settlement in full”)
2. You don’t send them a single dime until they’ve sent you that settlement agreement (“$X is settlement in full for XYZ account”) IN WRITING. Email, snail mail, fax, whatever. But it HAS to be in writing, otherwise they might “forget” the agreement (“oh, Bob doesn’t work here anymore, we have no record of your conversation” type none sense) and keep on chasing you.
3. The agreement is not just in writing, but also physically in your hands!. “It’s in the mail” won’t work. No money sent until it’s in writing, in your hands!
4. THEN you pay them, via money order. NO personal checks, NO electronic access, or they might “oops” take more, and then you’ll have to travel to hell and back to try and claw that money back.
5. Wash, rinse, repeat the process with the other two creditors.

Also note, this settlement negotiation process won’t be as simple as “I’m offering you 20%. Oh, cool, here’s your settlement in full email precisely as you requested. Why thank you, kind sir, your cashiers check is in the mail.” Nope, Not by a long shot. Collectors are often paid on commission, so they’re going to spend awhile trying to convince you that you’re just the most terrible, horrible, no-good person ever for not agreeing to pay more than you’re offering. Some collectors are really scummy and will do this in truly nasty ways.

So again, combat the shenanigans by keeping these conversations short. You’re on the phone longer than maybe 30-60 seconds without an agreement? Then it’s time to just hang up. So “I’m offering $X as settlement in full.” And if they respond with anything other than maybe a legitimately reasonable counteroffer (like “I can’t accept $X, but how about $X + $500?), then just politely cut them off and hang up. Do not get sucked into the vortex of car-dealership-worthy high-pressure sales techniques. Just hang up, then call them back in 2-3 days and repeat your exact same offer. Rinse, repeat, until they accept. May take weeks, possibly months if they’re really stubborn.

Also note, one of the most common scare tactics involved in this process is them threatening to sue you. They’ll make it sound absolutely dreadful, and like they’re ready to file tomorrow. Well:

1. This is generally a bluff, as it costs them time and money to sue, and they’d much rather avoid all that. I mean, that’s why the collector’s job exists - to avoid dealing with the costs and hassles of attorneys and court prep and enforcing judgements. So recognize the scare tactic for what it is.
2. Tell them, quite honestly and matter-of-factly, that theirs is by far not your only debt, and if they sue you’ll almost certainly get forced into bankruptcy, which could result in them getting far less or even nothing.

And if they actually do sue you (which is again, unlikely, especially if they’re presented with a reasonable settlement offer), then you can evaluate bankruptcy then.

Final note: yeah this is a really, really crappy situation. I know you’re scared, exhausted, ashamed…and I know because I’ve been there. But you are FAR from alone, this CAN be fixed, and while it’s certainly a big hurdle to figure out, it does NOT define you. You are worthy of love and peace and respect, yes, even though you currently have a negative net worth. I mean, I’m a stranger on the internet who can not only attest that it’s possible to come through the other end of a similar situation in one piece, but have gone on to get my finances in good shape, and have so much empathy for what you’re going through that I took the time to write basically the War and Peace of settlement descriptions.

So hang in there.. You are worthy. It will get better. You can absolutely make it past this and go on to great things!

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You make objectively good money, just not in the Bay area. The first step is getting that into your brain. Honestly speaking it's kind of low considering there are stories about teachers clearing north of 90k that can't afford to live near work.

It would take 16 months of your entire paycheck going to credit card payments for it to be gone.

Do yourself a favor. Cut up those cards, you don't know how to use them.

This will stop you from accumulating even more debt. Depending on your other expenses you may be looking at 4-6 years of repayment on them. I would consider bankruptcy but that should be done with more information bc again we don't know your other expenses. Assuming 20% on those credit cards you are paying 18k a year in interest alone.

I've had 12k in credit debt before and it took me like 3 years to get out of it and finally be responsible about credit use.

If you have $90k in cc debt you’re clearly living beyond your means.

First step is figuring our where all your money is going. Given you live in Bay Area, a lot probably goes to housing. What else? Student Loans? Car Loans? Dining and drinking? Travel? Expensive hobbies or expensive shopping habits?

You literally need to go through line by line for a few months of spending and figure out what you’re spending all your money on. This wis painful and embarrassing for most people but you will never get a hold on your debt if you don’t know where your money is going.

Once you know where your money is going, you can make a budget so you stop accruing new debt. It’s a simple formula - spend less than you make. But back to my first point, you can’t do that without understanding why you’re spending more than you make.

Once you’re living within your means, are no longer accruing new debt other than interest, and have a surplus in your budget, you can start paying off debt starting with the highest interest cards.

One last thought - if you’re spending some insane amount of your net income on housing, say 50-70% as some bay area folks seem to - and you have an option to live somewhere cheaper without losing income (remote work, in demand industry, etc) living somewhere cheaper for a while certainly wouldn’t hurt the equation.

> living in the SF Bay Area

You officially don't make "good money".

You can penny pinch every bill and still be stressed out or you can take better measures. Move, maybe get a roommate for a few years. Meet some people that are looking to rent out a room or floor to you and meet them a few times to see if you like them enough or seem like a normal person. Sell a bunch of shit you don't use.

Also getting a higher paying job helps too. Contact recruiters to find you jobs and get interviews. Say no to dinners out and take a break from dating.

>I have about 90k in credit card debt accumulated over many years. Mostly on 3 credit cards.

Payoff card with highest interest first and pay minimum on the others. This is the cheapest way. Maybe Uber 1-3 nights if possible, if you have a car.

You’re bringing home under 70k in the Bay Area. You are in between low income and extreme low income. Bankruptcy will be your best bet, sooner you do it sooner you can rebuild. There is no way to repay 90k with whatever rates it has while earning what you do and living where you do.

I'm used to responding to posts here saying that their debt doesn't warrant bankruptcy. That they need a strict budget and to knuckle down and struggle through so they never make this mistake again.

But you're 31 years old with about your annual take-home pay in high interest credit card debt. You should talk to a bankruptcy lawyer and see if it makes sense for your situation.

This will probably get down voted but it will probably work.

Stop making payments on the cards, post minimum on anything small you owe. Your income is good I guess, not sure if it’s SF good though.

After a couple months of taking the payment money out of checking as cash, call the cards and say you can’t afford them, considering bankruptcy but want to pay your bills. Most of them have a department just for you. They can delete the interest and fees and agree on a payment schedule so you pay off the debt by paying maybe 40% of the loan. With your balances I doubt you’d have much trouble getting on these programs.

Once they all agree and you have v everything in writing, deposit the cash you saved and pay off all the smaller loans then pay the 2-5 years of bills, whatever you agreed to until your debt free.

They companies that offer debt relief use a version of this program and charge you a lot of money.

Despite being mortified, you still reached out for help which is a really big step in the right direction!

It's hard to give advice without a lot of details, but here are a few of my thoughts:

• First of all, take a deep breath. This is solvable and there are multiple pathways that you can take to get on the path to a secure financial future.
• Since you mention there's an element of shame at play and people don't tend to spend a lot of time focusing on things that bring up feelings of shame, I'm guessing you have a tendency to avoid looking at your credit card transactions. Believe me, I've been there. It's worth going over everything you've spent money on in the past few months. No need to judge yourself. What's past is past. Just get an idea of where your money has been going.
• Put together a list of expenses you need to subsist and keep working: rent, utilities, food, phone bill, etc.
• Take stock of all of your minimum debt payments. This would include your credit cards, but also any student loans, etc. that weren't included above.
• Make sure you aren't paying any more than the minimum payments on all debt.

This is where more details about your situation start to really matter. If you aren't able to pay for all of your essential expenses and the minimum payments on your debt, your options are somewhat limited. I have a hunch you may be a good candidate for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Find an attorney who specializes in consumer bankruptcy and schedule a consultation. Generally the consultation is free. Bankruptcy is obviously a big move, but it's possible that it's the smartest move given where you are at the moment. An attorney can help you decide if it's right for you.

At the end of the day, the most important thing will be to assess your relationship with money and determine if there's something that needs to change. I'm willing to bet you're an intelligent person who's probably very good at convincing yourself that certain purchases are good ideas when they might not be. It may be helpful to discuss this aspect with a therapist once you get some breathing room.

In the meantime, stay strong; you're moving in the right direction and we're here for you!

Is your spending under control now or are you still using those cards?

Assuming you have the spending under control you need to look into debt consolidation loans. If you do not qualify, can you ask a parent to co-sign?

If you have no options for co-signers and can't get a loan you are going to have to work 80 hour weeks and take every cent that isn't bare essentials food, housing and transport and use it to pay off the debt.

File Bankruptcy. No other option here works. Then follow the advice of budget and living in your means.

You'd probably need to post out a breakdown of your full monthly budget (which is almost assuredly out of balance), along with each card/loan and the balance/payment/interest rate on each. It's impossible to say if debt consolidation loans, or bankruptcy, or anything else make sense w/o more info.

Otherwise, generically, cut out any expenses that you can. Consider picking up a 2nd job. Prioritize paying down the highest interest debt first.

That is not good money for the location. Time to either move somewhere cheaper or make a lot more money and unless you’re a software engineer that second one is probably not a valid choice.

Look into bankruptcy. It’s probably your best option.

**As someone who is going/went through through a similar situation, I send empathy your way.

You’re putting it all out and facing a big scary stressful thing in your life, well done.

In addition to all the other tactics mentioned in the comments here, ie go through your bank statements and lay it all out. Sort it. Make a budget.

But also, really boil down how it happened, and what that stems from? Work stress? A combo of 100 different stressors? Untreated anxiety? Adhd? You have to get to the root cause. You gotta face the demon, otherwise you’re just going to repeat.

I heard that there’s non profit debt counseling, through this subreddit, actually. So I did a google search and found Incharge.org So I called them and laid it all out ( I have almost 20k in cc debt and I make 56k a year). They discussed my options and what would be the best fit. I needed up doing a consolidation. They negotiated with my credit card companies and I’m on a single monthly payment at a much lower apr. Its not a quick fix, it’s going to take me 5 years to crawl out, but at least it’s not keeping me up at night and I’m not racking up $275 a month in interest now. I also started therapy which I cannot recommend enough.

I totally understand, It isn’t fun, it’s embarrassing and it is SO stressful. It took time to get this deep in the hole, and it’s going to take time dig out. Be easy on yourself, you’re doing the best you can and you can turn this around. If I can, you can too.

I'm always surprised when people suggest a loan to pay off credit card debt. You're not doing anything with the debt; you're just shifting it somewhere else. So taking out a loan won't help at all.

You can contact your creditors and ask them to lower the interest rate, but the only thing that will get rid of this is paying it off painfully and slowly or by declaring bankruptcy. It sounds like your credit is already shot to hell anyway so bankruptcy isn't going to make it that much worse anyway.

Moving forward, you have to think of yourself as middle class and live that way. Median income in San Francisco is $55K/year so you're just above that. And that's probably much lower than what you actually need to make to feel comfortable living in SF. So I wouldn't say you're close to having "good money" for SF. After you're debt free, if you want to put towards retirement and have an emergency fund then you'll actually have to live as if you're lower middle class.

This might sound weird, but would really encourage you to start from within. Spend some time exploring your relationship with money. Whether it's through books, podcasts, YouTube videos. Your money narrative or money scripts or attitude toward money shape how you interact with it. 90% of financial decisions are emotional in some way. It's worth looking into. Dealing with debt is hard enough, you don't have to punish yourself. You can fix things and get out of debt. I know you can do it. :)

Also,

I'm not going to recommend a debt management plan because it's not right for everyone, but I've had one for the past 2 years and it works for me. All my credit cards were closed so I couldn't keep spending on them. They also were able to negotiate interest rates. They actually got me 1% interest on an account which helps big time compared to the 17+% I was paying before. I don't think I'd have been able to make progress without these 2 steps.

Look for a raise or a new job, and cut expenses in the meantime. Your current lifestyle is clearly beyond your means, your new hobby is budgeting and making extra money until you can pay them off.

One thing I’m not seeing mentioned here is dealing with the mental health aspect of this. The reality is that someone with $90k in credit card debt, without a clearly defined reason why (e.g., illness, medical bills, bad car accident, homelessness, helping a parent, put tuition on credit cards, etc.) has some level of mental health need that isn’t being met. In addition to reviewing the excellent options posted here and talking with experts related to bankruptcy and debt management, you need to go to counseling. If you don’t, you WILL end up right back where you started, even if a magic wand waved to get rid of all that debt immediately and painlessly.

I speak from experience. Deal with your mental health while you deal with the financial health.

Most have mentioned. But i'll keep drilling it in. You do NOT make "good money" for the bay area. Full stop, i'd cut the credit cards. You've demonstrated you cannot be responsible with them. You need to first dig through to see what you're spending your money on.

The major costs for most/all are Housing, Transportation, Food. I would start there.

I understand how you feel. I have credit card debt and it has hurt my self esteem because I don’t feel like I can trust my judgements. I understand having panic attacks. The truth is that you need to break down all your expenses as others have put and take a hard look at your living expenses and decide if 90k is possible to pay on your income. If it’s not, then you need to get a second job

If that’s not an option, I think declaring bankruptcy will be your only chance to improve your life circumstances and mental health.

I chose the path of working two jobs as someone who struggles with mental health issues. It’s not easy, but it is doable.

The median wage for the SF bay area is $96,000/year. So you're in the 'not poor' range but I wouldn't necessarily put your income in the 'good money' category yet.

Realizing the problem and reaching out for help is a really good sign so here's what 6oi need to look at for you next steps

1. Stop the bleeding

Stop all new charges on your credit cards. Call the credit card companies and cancel all your cards and ask to be put on a low interest repayment plan.

2. Take control

Start taking all your expenses, every single penny, use a tool like YNAB or Mint or just plain old excel/Google sheets. If All you're spending is on debit/creditcards. This is really easy using bank imports.

Categorize all your spending. (Make sure to differentiate between essentials and luxuries, like groceries vs eating out)

This will show you where all your money is going. Look through all the graphs of what category you're spending the most. What stores you're spending the most at.

3. Cut expenses

Reduce your budget as much as you can.

Cook at home more. (Eating out is super expensive, especially in big cities)

Unsubscribe from all but 1 streaming service (you still need some entertainment).

If you have an expensive car sell it and buy a Nissan Altima

4. Contemplate your relationship with money

What are you actually spending your money on? Are they things/experiences you value? Or are you spending mindlessly?

5. Think long term

Is living in SF actually affordable for you? Are you likely to get a promotion/raise soon?(if you do 100% of it need to go towards getting rid of this debt) Can you move somewhere cheaper? Get a roommate? Etc?

100% declare Bankruptcy.

You have no assets, and your unsecured debt exceeds your income.

Your monthly interest accruals are probably close to $2000. That's like 25% of your take-home pay, without even touching the interest.

Car insurance is for when you fuck up and are at-fault in an accident. Bankruptcy if when you fuck up financially and can not afford your debts and are insolvent.

Stop throwing good money after bad... file for bankruptcy and in a few years you can come out of this relatively unscathed.

Hi from a person who went from $108k in cc debt to zero in 8 years. I worked my butt off. The short story: First, stop using the cards. For anything. Second, every time you want to buy something that’s not essential to living, ask yourself whether having that item or experience would make you happier than being free of debt would. You can do it.

Return whatever you bought!

Seriously though, how have you lived so far out of your means for so long to have wracked that up?

List your monthly ongoing costs, total debt broken down per interest and card/loan.

Then start cutting anything you can. Then find a roommate and split bills as much as you can or move in with someone. Pay all your money towards the highest interest loan/card first and then once paid off, go to the next. Live very cheaply and get some other secondary income as much as possible. If you can, try borrowing from a family member and pay them back just as aggressively.
Bankruptcy is a consideration but without knowing your assets it's kind of hard to tell.

Where is your gross income going to besides FICA and fed and state taxes?

You need to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer. You do not have the means to pay your debt down and every day will make your balance higher. You need probably $2k a month for rent which means you loose $42000 a year on housing and interest payments. This leaves you with 25k a year for all living expenses other than housing and not paying down your debt. This is a very low quality of life.

90k @ 20% = $18,000 a year just to keep the balances at 90k. This is to much to tackle without help from family or friends. You need to call it quits and declare bankruptcy you can not do this on your income without very very very significant life changes.

Balance transfers always help but only if you can aggressively pay down that lump sum before the interest kicks back in

I work in collections and I see situations like this day to day. What I would recommend is paying what you can even if it’s pennies to the dollar and contact a debt consolidation company. Any record showing you’re atleast attempting to make payments will help negotiating a lesser amount on the debt. Also, If any of your accounts were charged off and sold to collections you could have the poor remarks off of your credit report removed through the consolidation company. You can negotiate with collectors but it’s easier done though the debt consolidation because there’s a possibility the agency will pay the company holding your account. You’ll still have to pay the consolidation company but you’ll at-least have some of the stress of credit reporting off of your shoulders. I would also recommend claiming bankruptcy possibly chapter 13 and or pandemic impact even if you weren’t effected. It is a bit unethical but most creditors don’t double check records to see if you were actually effected by the pandemic. I know it’s not the greatest advice but anything helps. Hope things get better, I’m rooting for ya.

Step one, cut the cards up immediately and unsave them from your electronic wallets

Step two, set up a STRICT budget. Sell your car and buy a $2,000 Civic, cash, if you have any car payment at all. Start bringing your lunch to work etc.

Take small steps every single day to save.

If you ever have CCs again. PAY THEM OFF EVERY DAY THERE IS A BALANCE and you'll never be in debt.

If I don't have money, CCs don't get used. I have a savings account for a get me by between pay checks. Do not use a CC as a bridge, ever.

GL dude, seems like hell now, but $1k at a time and you make pleeenty to recover from this. I made $30k-50k from 2010 until 2020 and I bought a $400k house and saved $100k in retirement in that time. Baby steps ever single day

You're a little fucked. I'd look around and see if anyone will refi your debt, my guess there's someone who will give you a personal loan at 10% opposed to the 20-25% you are likely paying on those credit cards. Cut up your CC's and learn to live on the cheap for a few years -more likely a decade.

Get a BK lawyer and talk with them about your options. It’ll probably be a ch13 due to your income but maybe not. It’ll suck for several years. But you’ll be able to build back slowly and hopefully learn from your mistakes. Renting can be difficult for obvious reasons if you have to move but if you rent from individual owners (corpos likely won’t consider you) you can talk to them and sometimes they’ll rent to you.

Edit: if bk isn’t on the table you can also call your creditors and work out a plan to pay down the cards. This usually involves reducing your interest and closing the cards but it’ll help with the monthly.

You need a budget and you need to get rid of the holes in your budget. Get serious about paying off debt and only having necessary expenses. Drop the subscriptions, lower the tier on your internet, drop full coverage on the cell phone, sell the car with the big car payment and opt for a beater, shop around for lower cost car insurance, move to a smaller apartment, stop eating out, make coffee at home, cook from scratch, don't drink alcohol etc..

Bare bones budget.

Oh my. So, $2,800 x 26 paychecks is $72,800 take-home.

I know SF is an outrageously expensive area. Without extra income, you're probably looking at several years to dig yourself out of that hole. The best piece of advice I can get is to do whatever it takes to earn more money and spend less. I know that sounds like a "duh", but it's really important that you get on a written budget, cut out EVERY expense that isn't absolutely critical, earn more money where possible (2nd job, Uber, whatever).

As Dave Ramsey would say, you shouldn't see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there as your second job.

Definitely more context is needed. Do you live by yourself? Can you move back with your parents? What's your monthly bills?

Making money is highly relative to your location. If you're bringing home only, post-tax, $5600 a month in the BAY area, that's relatively low.

I'd reduce my 401k contributions to whatever % my company matches and move back in with my parents cause if you're paying rent and going out for food, entertainment, etc, you will pretty much never beat interest in any meaningful manner.

Assuming you can live with parents, I'd throw $4500 each month into the credit card bill and you can wipe everything in less than 2 years. This gives you $1100 a month to comfortably enjoy life. If you want to be really aggressive you can do $5000, but that's totally up to you.

If you can't live with parents, I'd invite roommates to live you (assuming you're living alone) and cut out ALL eating out. Only go grocery shopping, buy generic brands for EVERYTHING, etc. I'd go out twice a month (every other week), so I don't go insane.

It's gonna be hard and suck, but your future self in 5 years will thank you. Nothing good comes in life without some sort of sacrifice. You can change your financial outcome in 2 years (assuming you can live with your parents, if not maybe another year longer). You got this.

>living in the SF Bay Area.

Something I tried to do, and failed, on $120K in the late 1990s.

Wtf did you buy? Holy shit this isn't a budget problem this is a psychology/self help situation. You need to reorient your priorities as clearly you are living a lifestyle you didn't earn. I suggest looking into Dave Ramsey's baby steps. Bad news is you're in a hole. Good news is you got a good sized shovel.

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Call the credit card companies and tell them to close the accounts.

Ask the credit card company to speak to the debt settlement, loss mitigation or hardship department.

Tell them you want to pay the amounts owed back, but if they are unwilling to negotiate amicable terms you will be forced to file chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which case they will receive nothing.

Ask for an installment agreement for 700 a month over 10 years. This would be better than claiming Bankruptcy, in my opinion.

Call the credit card companies and see if they will work out a reduced payment plan or something or default and quickly try to negotiate settlements while you dodge process servers…. Statute of limitations is 4 yrs in ca on credit card collections

Sorry but you should have asked for help at 45K ignoring it until this point is pretty bad, but most people do wait until it is the absolute worst to seek help so you are not alone.

To keep it short and simple, you have two option’s bankruptcy(last resort), or possibly a consumer proposal, not sure on the rules are in the US but get off reddit find a licensed insolvency professional and get a free consultation. That is all.

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Nothing will help unless you learn how to manage money. Find a mentor, read a Dave Ramsey book, phone a friend. Do something to learn how to manage money. If not, you’ll be back in this spot at some point again in your life

The website undebt.it helped me a lot. It lets you plan out different strategies of paying down cards (highest interest first, lowest balance first, etc) and helps manage it better than any other budgeting tool I’ve used. And it’s free!

Don't be ashamed, this happens to plenty of people. First thing is to figure out what you're spending money on and cut everything that's not rent, basic food or healthcare. Then throw every other dollar at the credit cards.

If you can, find a cheaper place to live with roommates or family. You can also sell things you own to bring in extra cash. You can also do odd side jobs for people or find a better paying job.

1. Look up the snow ball debt method.
2. Cut up your credit cards. ( the reason is to not be tempted on buying things ) and remove them from Samsung / Apple Pay . 3.remember to pay yourself first and start using a debt card.

Credit card is money loaned to you.

Debt card is money that’s yours.

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I was in a similar situation but my debt was "only" ~50k, though I was able to rack it up in just over a year. My solution was to bust my ass to learn some new skills and double my salary. Sure, I had to ignore some debt and ended up getting sued a few times, but 5 years later and I'm debt free with a credit score pushing 800. Get some AWS certifications and you'll be able to pay off your debt in a year. (note that the certifications will probably take a year or two to attain)

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Can you get a work-from-home job and move somewhere super-affordable to save money and get out of debt?

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You might talk to a bankruptcy counselor. The rule of thumb is when debt reaches annual income, you should consider it.

Honestly the Bay Area is your biggest problem :( 90K is great money but barely livable in the Bay Area. Also how are you taxed at ~50%? What are you paying your salary into?

Live like an absolute hermit for a month and see how much you can save. Now add back in the small things only for 3 months. I bet you have $10,000 to pay down your cards after 4 months.

I live in a HCOL area that's cheaper than the Bay. I could tighten up my budget a bit but all of my expenses (rent, food, travel...) come to $52k/year. OP, even if you adopted my budget, negotiated with your lenders to drop your APR to 0%, and put every extra penny towards paying off this debt it, it would still take you 6 years to get out from under this.

Idk how bankruptcy works but at this point I'd stop worrying about your debt and keep racking up credit card debt until you're completely maxed out and denied additional lines of credit, then declare bankruptcy and move to a LCOL area and start being financially responsible then.

Lmk why this is a terrible idea below, thanks

Lots of great advice here, TBS. I suggest a radical lifestyle change. Embrace a minimalist approach and start your journey today.

And move out of CA. I loved it, but it is crazy expensive. If you won't do that, then you probably have no chance.

If you’re living in the bay, that is objectively not good money, at all. Find a roommate or heck see if you can move home or move to some cheap bumblefuck location and work remote. Find a better paying job, do a side gig, figure out what you’re spending money on and cut everything that isn’t absolutely essential. You’re going to have to throw every penny you make at this for a long while before you can pay it all down. And stop living above your means or else this problem will pop up again quickly in the future no matter how many times you pay things off.

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Ok, good that you recognize the current situation. Ok, can a family member, friend, or parents lend you some money to knock out some or all of the debt? You would pay them something in terms of interest as you pay it off regularly.

Some people may advise against it, but does your work allow you to borrow against the 401K balance you have (assuming you have some money socked away)? At least that interest rate is lower.

If nothing, worse comes to worse, you need to just look at your 3 cards and figure out which one is at the highest rate and just methodically each money pay it down. No more credit charges unless absolutely necessary!!!!

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You could consider a bankruptcy of some kind. This is an enormous amount of high interest debt. Generally a bankruptcy is a bad idea for a lot of reasons but it might be worth it with this much debt. Its going to be extremely difficult to pay this off.

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Lets say you keep 3500 dollars a month after all basic expenses. It'll take you two years to pay that off assuming no interest and no spending of any other kind. That's kind of absurd. A bankruptcy after 2 years will start to wane in significance so i think it might be worth it.

You could also let it go to collections and try to negotiate it down. Lots of times people are able to pay less than half of the original credit card amount.

As someone from the Bay, you do not make good money in the Bay. You need a second job or another roommate and maybe a better budget. Start with laying out all your expenses.

If you're not cooking at home, start now. That's usually a big chunk of money. Grocery outlet and smart and final are great cheap grocery stores if you don't have a friend with a Costco membership.

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I saw the title and I knew there was going to be a recommendation to go into bankruptcy before I opened this thread. I just knew.

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>I've tried looking at credit card loans to help reduce the payment amounts, but I can't even get one since I get declined.

The first step to get out of a hole is to stop digging down. Don't do this.

>I'm not sure how I can reduce the monthly payment amounts, but they are crushing me completely.

You will need to pay off the debts to get rid of the monthly payments.