Hello everyone,
I don't want to make this post long, but I feel context is important. I am 24 years old and I am now trying to take back my credit. Context: Growing up, I never got talked to about the importance of credit and having good credit (in school or at home). Credit was never a big thought to me until I started seeing people talk about the "glorious" life of luxury with credit cards. I fell victim to depression when starting college in 2020 aka the covid-19 period. Due to being a college student, no lucrative income besides side gigs. I turned to credit cards and pay-in-4s and all of those programs. The first year was great paying it off every month then I fell on bad times (mentally, financially and socially), started falling behind on payments.
To make a long story shorter, after all the late payments and trying to not drown I just gave up completely stopped paying the credit card bills to start paying new bills that I had since leaving college prematurely. Score went from the 600s to 510. In the 6 years, I have 3 collections (1 I managed to pay off), multiple late payments, student debt and credit cards that are maxed out. I have tried multiple credit builders and they have helped but with the weight of the negatives, the effects are muted. Now that I am older, all the things in life that requires good credit are facing me so I am ready to be aggressive and try to fight my way out of debt. (I will say this; I am actively trying to budget myself because my spending is not the best).
I make around 45k a year. My credit score is 536. These are my debts that are on my credit:
Credit Cards:
card1 -$385
card2- $330
card3- $255
Collections: $1,003
collection1- $569
collection2- $434
Student Loans: $23,791
Personal Loans: $120
POS Loans: $536
Total Debt: $27,423
and like 10 late payments. Please help me!