About 5 years ago I had an unexpected pregnancy and everything went down hill, I didn't have a ton of debt....maybe $3,000 which I was handling fine. I found out I was pregnant and was fired from a cocktail waitress job where I made good money for getting preg. I began having some pretty serious medical issues concerning my kidney and was put on bed rest, my debt went into default and I became very depressed. I also had to drop out of school so my st loan came due at the same time and my pell grant was taken away so I all of the sudden owed $1650 to my college as well. My child came very early and my health issues continued, adding a premature baby and ppd to my kidney issues. I was too ashamed to ask for help from family. I can't even explain why, but I just gave up on even attempting to fix or handle my debt problems, I didn't know what to do and by the time I could even hope to work on my debt, it was around $5,000-6,000 and the collectors were getting bad. I moved several times within the state of fl, didn't have a job or bank account, no bills. I've basically been completely off the grid ever since. I just learned to live like this. I was scared to try to work things out because I didn't know where to go, I didn't know what information was being watched, the collectors were very aggressive trying to find me for a while. I have been doing better lately mentally and want to start a real life, and put this behind me but I really don't know where to start. To be clear, I do not have means to pay off this debt at the moment, I just want to know my options and the laws, I want to know if what I read is true and this nightmare might be almost over. From what I read, I may be one of the few who should continue to do what I am doing since I am very close to SOL for the state of Fl, but I just don't know what I should do. I mean, I'm even scared to look at my credit report for fear that my info could be found there when I apply to look at it. I have 5 cc companies I owe, and one student loan (plus my school) which I know does not go away no matter what. I want to find out when I can come out of hiding, or if that is even an option for me. I am ashamed to admit I have kept a VERY spotty file on the issue, mostly because I have lost touch with my family and the mail goes there. I get some of the letters from my mom occasionally, but I am sure I don't have most of them. I have never been served papers but a man did show at my moms house once a pretty long time ago and left a business card I do not have, but I have a feeling he was there to serve papers. I want to start sorting through this but I have NO idea where to start, and have little information and none of it is recent. I think the first thing I should do is find out exactly when the SOL is up on my debt and possibly go through the actions of removing the reactivated debt if the debt was sold to another collection company who tried to restart the debt SOL, but I don't know if this is safe. I don't know what info is needed to help with this situation, but I have very little and don't know where I can start. Any information on a lead for me is much appreciated, I'm ready to be a responsible adult, but a definitely need a hand up.
