I've already talked to my bank and credit union about consolidating my credit card debt, with no positive outcome. My overall debt is too large compared to my average yearly income, so loans are out of the question. I've been offered a high balance credit card, but the interest rate is absolutely retarded and would probably end up costing me more in the long run. If I was able to consolidate it all, I'd easily be able to pay it off in a reasonable amount of time without accruing a ridiculous amount of interest, but of course banks and credit card companies want more money, so I'm not getting any help from that end of the spectrum.

I'm not really sure what else there could be, if anything at all, but I figured I'd ask here since Return To The Pit is equivalent to the real world to me, on a microcosmic level, haha. Any advice is greatly appreciated and verbal berating about how shitty I've been with money is welcome.

i could probably help. I was almost 20g in debt by 19years old. (no school/car loans) You say you talked to banks and card companies. Have you talked to any of the non-profit debt consolidation places? They are WAY better for your situation, they are subsidized by the government, and they aren't out to make ANY money from you, they just set you up with a loan that's specifically designed for you to get out of debt. Run a couple searches for debt consolidation/.org/non profit and you'll get a handful of companies that you'll have to look into a little. Look at their how long their consolidation loans run (different organizations do it for different debt levels/and people who can pay different amounts every month.) Err on the side of as little as you can pay a month, because once you fuck up a consolidation loan, you will never get another. When you find a half dozen or so companies that sound like they might work for you, call them and try to set up face-to-faces with em. When you go, bring info on EVERY SINGLE debt you have, not just amounts, but actual bills, whether or not they are already in collections, and any other info about them you may have. And bring with you your tax returns for the three previous years, and try to save pay stubs for a couple months, or if you've been in one job for a while, see if your payroll department could print you a detailed report of how much you got paid, on what dates, for as long back as they have on record. Bring pics/info/receipts of any/all collateral that you would have for the loan, and lastly and MOST important, spend a month before you go with a notebook everywhere you go. Write down every penny you spend for everything. Bills, gas, rent, food, shows, cloths, a soda from a vending machine, EVERYTHING. Use that list to make a budget for your life that allocated enough money for you to live on. (comfortably mind you, because when you show this to them, they will expect you to live by it, and live by it for as long as your loan is for.) Bring this budget with you along with the journal you kept to figure out your budget. This shows them that your budget isn't just a way to make them think your responsible now, it means you spent the time to make sure you don't get yourself into more financial trouble.

The reason for ALL this is simple. These companies are not big banks, or even private firms looking to make a buck off of you. They are looking to help people get out of trouble, and they have the power to decide who gets the help and who doesn't. Credit will not matter to them either, so their has to be some way to show them that you really WANT to be fiscally responsible. When you walk in their with all this, it will make all the difference in the world, and they will work with you until the last penny is paid off.

Thank you sir. You are the fucking man. Hopefully some good comes of this, haha.

Well do it like i said, and if you run into any issues, give me a call on my cell. Which i just PMed to you, and i will help you more, i went through all of this, so i even could help with a company, but they all specialize in certain amounts lengths of loan, so you should check em out for yourself.

Sweet, thanks man. Luckily I religiously save all the documents you mentioned and carry around a small notebook wherever I go, haha.