[MiMilove]

Around 2 years ago I was living on my own and couldn't find a decent job. After I lost my job in the food industry I was left to put almost everything on credit cards, even things I didn't need. Now its 2 years later and I still haven't worked and my credit cards have gone to collections. I don't know what to do...

I still have no money and even though I've been trying to work online, I'm making breadcrumbs. I don't know how to handle creditors and I panic when I have to talk over the phone.

[Skeezyks]

Well... I don't really know what the answer to this might be. I know where I live there are attorneys who specialize in helping people declare bankruptcy. I would presume there are likewise where you live. That may be something to check out. Another option might be to see if there is a not-for-profit organization where you live that offers financial counseling & assistance with debt relief.

Welcome to the forums, MiMilove!
I don't know the answer, but Skeezyk's ideas sound good to look into.

[Blueberrybook]

I am so sorry. Unfortunately, I do not have any advice for you, but I do want to let you know I have been there too.

In college (and of course, credit cards companies love to give cards to college students), I ran up tons of credit card debt that continued into graduate school. In graduate school, I can at least say some of the expenses were things I needed, like textbooks, but most of the expense was bipolar manic shopping spree stuff.

When my husband and I got married (he luckily had pristine credit), we consolidated all the credit cards under the lowest interest rate we could find, took out a loan (which still had a lower interest rate than all those credit cards once initial terms expired) and paid off the credit cards in full.

I still have 2 credit cards, and so does H. But we pay them off in full each month and never carry the balance over.