So in the past year I’ve ruined what used to be a really good credit score. I was in the high 700s and now am in the 400s. For context - I do trade work/skilled labor. Up until this October I was an apprentice, so I wasn’t getting paid the full scale of my trade. When I moved in March, I knew I was going to have to struggle until October when I got my promotion and pay raise. What I didn’t plan for was being unemployed. This is just context to fill in gaps in my story below.

The past 2 years I was living with my parents paying $400 a month. I bought a nice car but was doing pretty well managing my finances, paying on all my credit cards, keeping a good utilization ratio etc. I moved out earlier this year and my rent became $1300 a month. Shortly after moving I became unemployed. I couldn’t afford my car note, rent, and bills during the few months I was unemployed. So I used my credit cards and basically maxed them all out. I started working again, but at that point I was playing catchup from the past few months of struggling. I defaulted on most of my cards minus a few I still have open (but don’t use now). My car note was already hurting me as soon as I moved so I didn’t pay it for months and my car was repossessed.

Now I finished my apprenticeship a few months ago and got my pay raise. I’m making $1000 a week, so $4K a month if we’re not working OT. My rent is $1300 a month, my new car note is $318, car insurance is $248, plus utilities, cellphone, gas, groceries, and a few reoccurring expenses like my gym, life insurance, renters insurance, internet, union dues.. I know I need to sit down and update my budget spreadsheet I used to use pre-unemployment to have hard numbers on what’s leftover every month. I do know I can just barely afford my regular bills now, but I don’t know where to start on all of my credit cards. The accounts I’ve had the longest have all been closed, but not sent to collections yet. I can’t afford to pay the minimum balance on any of them so I’ve just been ignoring them completely.

I know it’s my fault I’m in this situation. It’s even more discouraging now because I’m finally at a point in my career where I should be enjoying the money I make and I can’t. I’ve been dating a girl recently and we can’t really go out or do anything bc I don’t have any disposable income (I am also paid weekly so I have to spread out my money to pay different bills throughout the month). I can’t save anything, my credit the repo makes it impossible for me to refinance my new (used) car, and I can’t even use credit cards for emergencies or repairs etc. So anytime something happens with my car or I miss work, it fucks my finances up and I’m drowning again.

Should I look into a debt consolidation company? I owe approximately $10k in credit cards, and was upside down/owe $30k on my repo’d car (actually worth about $22-25k). I’m not sure if this is enough debt to warrant filing bankruptcy either. I’m clearly not going to be able to buy a house anytime soon either to bring down my housing cost, or at least keep the price fixed. I plan on updating my budget spreadsheet this weekend to better see where my extra money is going. Where do I start after that? A coworker told me to ask for help on here. I appreciate the advice and will try to reply to any questions or comments. Thank you guys!