Okay, so long story short, I was an idiot in college. I fell victim to a couple of credit cards' "You've been pre-approved for a low-interest student credit card" schemes and applied for them. At first, I just used them as a way of getting some credit, making small purchases and paying the balance off in full. Then my financial situation changed, and I started needing to use them for basic needs and I wasn't able to pay off the full balance. I kept paying what I could for as long as I could, but eventually I couldn't even do that anymore.