My Story

I was an international student in grad school, and due to circumstance and poor habits, I was virtually living off my credit cards. I had some space and I would pay more than the minimum, but I would end up using it again for various needs from my stipend. I figured that once I started working, I would be better able to pay it all off over 5 or so months. My credit was decent, I hadn't missed payments or defaulted on anything.

I got a job when I finished school, just after my funding ran out. I had to max out my cards in order to move from New Mexico to California, paying my one month's rent and security deposit, plus getting groceries and surviving until my salary started to kick in. My first paycheck was pro-rated to the time I started working and was just enough for my rent, so I had to do minimum payments until then. I finally started to earn some money and after about 6 weeks, I figured that I would be getting the hang of it soon.

Then I got fired from that job.

I had about $4900 in unpaid wages from that job, and I had to use that to survive on until I got another job. I figured that in my field, there would be more jobs in my region, and I did have a lot of interviews but no offers. After 2 months, I was running low and had to sell almost everything I had to drive cross-country to MD where I could at least stay with family without paying rent. By this time, I had stopped paying my cards because I figured that food and gas were slightly more important than credit card debt, and I had no income at all. In MD, i had to scrape by on temp jobs which helped me to pay a debt settling company I had signed up with, CDS in Florida. I paid them monthly with their fees, but while one creditor sent me a letter stating that they had heard from CDS, none of the other creditors did. I was getting phone calls from them even after I signed up with CDS.

Eventually, I had to leave the USA and return home when my legal time was up. I was blessed to get a job back in my home country, and I would wire funds to my US checking account every month, but the wire fees were expensive and I did not hear any settlement news from CDS. Futhermore, when I called them, they intimated that I had given them false information so that the creditors hadn't heard from them. I immediately canceled my membership there, thinking that if I had to put my money somewhere to accumulate, I might as well put it where no one is taking fees from it and it can at least draw interest.

I want to get rid of this debt so I can return to the USA one day to live if I so choose, but I don't know how long it will take now.