My best friend is going through a painful divorce and has herself in a real financial dilemma. I am not sure what to suggest to her. It is a long story so I won’t go into the particulars, but she was left with a mountain of debt. She is feeling overwhelmed, and frankly so am I. We pulled her credit report off of a website and it was so low…. I am concerned for her. It was less than 500. Most of what was on her report is anywhere from 4-7 years old. Neither one of them were financially responsible and she has a lot of old collection notices from utilities, medical bills, credit cards. She does NOT want to file bankruptcy, but we are trying to come up with a plan to try and fix her credit. She can’t get a car, cell phone, or even a credit card in her name. She only makes $30,000 a year and has probably $10,000 in debt. I am not sure how to help her. We are going to get her a secured card to get started rebuilding her credit.
Neither one of us is really sure where to begin. She has over 30 different collection agencies on her report. We have to get her FICO score up and quickly so she can stand on her own. How can we do this when she barely has enough at the end of the month? Any ideas or suggestions would be really appreciated.
Also, any organizational tips would be great. Between all three reports, all the collection notices on all thre reports, and the notices she has in her file, and the ones she keeps receiving…. It is so confusing, I can’t even tell you. I am not sure how to keep all of this straight.
She worked with a debt consolidation company a few years back with her husband; however, the company wanted so much money per month and they couldn’t afford to do it. I believe it was $400 a month.