All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Karen F., thank you so much for the detailed post. I actually have a lot of construction experience, labor wise. I was going to go to college just to know the financial side behind it. As for paying it off in a year's hard work, I only have 7 months. You may have only read the top post, but my last two above yours explain the financial situation for me. Also, it might take me two months just to find a job. So, I may only have 5 months to save before college comes back. 

The problem that I'm having in my situation is I simply cannot just work to pay off the debt. I have about 7 months until I go back to school full time. So even if I find a decent paying job tomorrow, what happens once I get back in school? I can't pay all my debt off with a part time minimum wage job and also feed myself. I have to move out once I'm back in school, this is undebatable. But the tuition I have left after my classes are paid will cover my rent. So I'm pretty much left with food, gas, minor expenses. Those can be covered with a part time job. But as far as an additional $340 per month for a credit consolidation company and another $200 for other loans, it would be impossible. I feel like it's all I can do. I swear, I do not want to file. I understand the consequences. I just feel like I have no choice. Mathematically, I would have to I believe. Again, any advice urging against it or somehow making it work another way is strongly appreciated, I promise my mind isn't completely made up on filing. I just can't see creditors working with me for years. But maybe they will, I have no experience in this.

@Brent Chauvin, I see how it would come off as I'm taking the easy way out. Honestly, that does have something to do with it. But also mathematically it just doesn't make sense to me. I could enroll in a program to pay around $340 a month to eliminate a good bit of my debt. This is for 4 years. Then it's over with. But I'll still have another $6,000 give or take to pay on my own. When I go back to school, I can't work full time and honestly can't handle the mental exhaustion from that anyways. I swear it's not laziness, I just can't physically work that much and maintain a good GPA. Please don't look at this as an excuse. So, I work part time. My leftover tuition will pay for my housing. I don't plan on staying with my parents when I'm back in college. Preference and other reasons, I would if I could. So it just doesn't mathematically make sense how I'll be able to work a part time job and pay for my food, gas, etc. Housing is taken care of. But then I have a $340 debt consolidation bill, then about $6k worth of other loans to pay which equals around $200+ a month. I would rather avoid filing, the only reason I'm lenient on it is because the math from it. I'm trying to be realistic. Wouldn't it be better to file sooner rather than later and save all the money I can now? Again, not trying to lean. I'd rather not file.

@Asa Gunderman, I wouldn't look into investing into real estate right now with any loans. While I'm in college, the only kind of investing I plan on doing would be along the lines of wholesaling. If I were to do any major investments like a rehab, I would try to go through a company that would offer the money without a credit check. Perhaps a home with an ARV of $150,000, repairs at $25,000, and they would sell to me for $80,000. So a $105,000 loan for a $150,000 ARV home. Those are obviously hypothetical numbers, but I just mean to say that I would have to be given an opportunity that attractive for me to do one, because I would need the money from a place that bases their approval only on the end $150k. Something along those lines.

But also with that said, I literally have no money to pay back the $20k. I'm drawing unemployment right now until I find another temporary job. Then going back to college. In college there's no way I could have a decent paying job anyways. So I don't see how it would be possible for me to pay off the $20k+ without ruining my credit in the process. It's really around $26k total.

@Marcus Johnson, there aren't many technical colleges to choose from in my city. I go to one now online just to obtain my real estate license. I'd also like to get a Construction Management degree. I would get enough from tuition to go to school for practically free as long as I kept my GPA in a good standpoint. My only problem is working while I go to school is really hard for me. I can handle it physically, just not mentally. I pretty much have to devote most of my time into school. Even if I worked some small part time job while going to school, paying off over $20,000 in debt would take years and I couldn't do it in a timely manner. My credit seems like it will be ruined regardless and there's no need for me to get anymore credit cards anytime soon. So I feel like it would make more sense for me to file than to pay off for 5 years and in the end my credit still not be that great. I know people who had around a 650 credit score 2-3 years after filing. Obviously not amazing, but I'd probably be around the same boat anyways, maybe...

• If you look through my profile and previous posts, you'll see that I am young (just turned 22), and also may believe I don't have the right mindset or maturity yet to start REI. This is understandable, but also note that this isn't really a REI question, but more of a financial strategy question from those more experienced than me.
• I know that all this should be taken as simply advice and I can't base this decision solely on the opinions/guidance of people from the internet. Trust me, regardless of the responses, I will still make the best decision I believe for myself. I'm just trying to get some light in my relatively dark tunnel, for lack of a better expression. I know plenty of people have experience in this subject or at least enough to offer some words of advice to a young entrepreneur.

Now, like I said, I'm only 22. I have NO student loan debt. I had a good job for about a year. In this time, I went and financed things like crazy. Long story short, I was laid off. I'm currently over $20k in debt. All my debts are unsecured. I have loans and credit cards, that is all. I moved back in with my parents and my next focus is going back to college. I plan to get a degree in Construction Management. I feel like this would be very beneficial being that I eventually want to buy homes to fix and also possibly spec build homes at some point.

With that being said, I've read a lot into filing. My parent's have had a few friends file. One filed and 3 years later, bought a new home and a new truck. One has amazing credit and he filed 5 years ago. I've also heard it's not as bad as most people think. A bunch of people believe if you file, you just can't do anything for 10 years, but that isn't the case. I've read a bunch of positives as well as negatives. Obviously every situation is different. But given what you know with my situation, what do you believe is best? If it were up to me right now, with no guidance... I would say to file and take it as a lesson learned. I think dealing with the consequences of having no credit or access to any for a few years while I go back to school and focus on my education would mature me. But I'd like to hear your advice!

Thank you for all the replies. I do understand the negative outlook you would get from looking at me. I had gotten a job paying more per hour than my age, I'm only 22. With that being said, yes... At first, I went out and got a new truck, rented out a nice home, bought new luxurious furniture, loans, credit cards... I was a mess. But I had never had this opportunity before. I was previously working construction for less than half the money. Then I get an easy job paying that much and I'm only 22? Yes, I made some VERY dumb decisions. With that being said, my mentality has completely changed for the better. I can't even believe half the stuff I purchased/financed. I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad and it just changed everything. In a way, it was like I had known everything already that I was being told, but somehow that book just made it more real for me. I swear, I have matured so beyond where I was a year ago. I took my vehicle back and took the loss myself. All I had left was the credit card debt and loans, all unsecured debts. After about a month of having a better mindset, I lose my job. The money I was putting up to "pay myself first" had to be spent to get myself out of some sticky situations. I called a debt help company that put all my debts into one payment and also lowered my interest rates, some from 24% to 6%! Now I just have a lesson learned. I'm in a good spot. I'm able to move back home with my parents for the moment and work things out. My plan is to finish with my real estate license. I'm currently about 40% done. In that time I'm also planning on learning Spanish. I feel like it would be a great asset. I will take everyone's advice into consideration, thank you so much for the replies! This is such a great community, it's good how I have mixed advice from people who have been there to people who are blunt in saying their opinions on my maturity. It's all helpful. With that said, I believe I'm going to finish with my license and see about working for a broker. Surrounding cities are good for real estate, not necessarily the one I am in, but within a 50 mile radius is a lot of potential. Thanks all for the help!

Well. I lost my job today. Nope, I didn't quit. I was laid off. I was working for a company called Gulfstream. They had to lay off 1,100 employees, and I was one of the unlucky chosen. So... What to do now?

I really want to start investing, just not sure where to begin, especially with this new position I'm in. A month ago, I was making 4 figures a week and could practically afford any real estate investment on my mind. Now, I have no job, no savings, nothing. Where do I begin?

@Chris Bounds, thanks so much for the detailed response, it helped put everything into perspective for me. I don't happen to have $35k in cash so it was really confusing on how I'm supposed to get my money back. If I were to use hard money, I'd basically borrow the money and then pay that company back with the refinancing, which is still a loan. So in a way I had the mindset that it's like paying off one loan with another loan.

@Joe Villeneuve, I understand good debts vs bad debts. I didn't realize you were supposed to pay cash. Spending $30k+ is something I'd have to take out a loan for. So when refinancing the getting my money back part didn't make sense to me. Thanks for the response, though.