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I was recently hit with a large personal debt, something that can't go against my credit score, but might if it ever went to court/collections. However, it came unexpectedly, and I am now looking for a way to finance it because it is due in the next month or so.

The sum I would need to borrow is approximately ~$5,000. I have little credit, and about $1,000 in cash, and two months to look for a way to be approved.

I make approximately $2,200 a month through a new job, so paying what I'd expect $200-300 (over 2-3 years) a month in credit bills to be very-reasonable, but I have little to no credit history in which to back my name. I only recently opened a secured credit card.

I have attempted to open a line of credit in a few locations within the last 24 hours (trying not to hurt my credit/chances/APR by consolidating the period of time in which I request).

However, at the places I have applied for, have all refused me for having little to no credit history.

Can anyone refer me to a method or way to get this kind of emergency money? If at all possible, with interest rates lower than 30%? (I live in WA state btw if it matters).

At this point, I'm freaking out about ready to give up, and I'm not entirely sure if it possible, and I'm really sorry if I'm wasting your time. I'm just panicking...

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Edit #1

I have tried to finance this through a P2P lending system, however the sites reject me for having lack of pertinent credit history. I had thought they would be able to verify my credit score, and identity, and then raise my interest accordingly, but apparently a bad credit history is better than no credit history.

A local credit union told me that they would be willing to give me a loan with a 1:1 secured-to-loan ratio to build up trust through that credit union, Which is essentially useless to me, otherwise I would just pay off the debt anyway. This makes me fear that it might be the same elsewhere, but I'm not entirely sure. If a magical method of liquidity raising could raise out from the heavens, I'd love it, I have just yet to find it. My problem is not my ability to pay back the loan, it is the history (or lack there of) associated with my name.

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    I'll leave this as a comment, but I think the best idea is to approach the party holding the debt and explain your situation to them. Offer them a (written) budget of how much you can afford to give them and still have enough to live. They may reject your offer, but I would assume they'd rather have you take a bit more time to pay than to have to chase you through legal channels.
    – jonsca
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 5:07
  • Thank you very much for the response. I'm currently in contact with them. However, it has been made clear to me that if there is an issue paying the amount in full, on the day it is due, that the entirety of it will be exported to a collections service. They apparently don't like directly handling issues with this.
    – IIllIllIIlllIlllIl
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 5:20
  • You say below I'm paying my own way through school. Have you considered getting a student loan? I don't remember all of the gritty details in terms of what the money can be used for, but it might be a possibility.
    – jonsca
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 5:31
  • The problem with student loans is they (at least for me) require a co-bar or co-signer, usually with some sort of back-able equity and decent credit history. I don't really have ties with my father, who I didn't know that well as a child, and my madre recently passed. I have good friends, but they are college students just trying to make it by for themselves. Thank you for the suggested solution though. I'm really appreciating that I'm not just being told to get off, and that my situation is completely impossible. Thank you.
    – IIllIllIIlllIlllIl
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 5:36
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    You could ask your employer about a salary advance - it's a big ask and may well not be approved, but (depending on how "corporate" and hence tied to rules and procedures they are) it can't hurt at least to ask.
    – Vicky
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 13:43

2 Answers 2

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The more I think about this the more I think you are actually better off letting it go to collections. At least then you would be able to agree an affordable repayment schedule based on your real budget, and having a big dent in your credit score because it's gone to collections doesn't actually put you in any worse position (in terms of acquiring credit in the future) than you are now.

Whoever is the creditor on your original loan is (IMO) quite unreasonable demanding a payment in full on a given date, especially given that you say you've only been made aware of this debt recently. The courts are usually much more reasonable about this sort of thing and recognise that a payment plan over several years with an affordable monthly payment is MUCH more likely to actually get the creditor their money back than any other strategy. They will also recognise and appreciate that you have made significant efforts to obtain the money.

I'm also worried about your statement about how panicked and "ready to give up" you are. Is there someone you can talk to? Around here (UK) we have debt counselling bureaus - they can't help with money for the actual debt itself, but they can help you with strategies for dealing with debt and will explain all parts of the process to you, what your rights and responsibilities are if it does go to court, etc. If you have something similar I suggest you contact them, even just to speak to someone and find out that this isn't the end of the world. It's a sucky situation but in a few years you'll be able to look back and at least laugh wryly at it.

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I believe the best way to go about it is to approach a good friend or relative to borrow the money, interest free. Do discuss with them the repayment schedule.

If you have any assets such as house / stocks, you can pledge them in exchange for $5000 cash. I believe the banks would be more than happy to lend to you.

You could try one of these Peer to Peer lending sites where you could borrow money from other people instead of banks.

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    (Tip: Spaces don't go before periods or commas.)
    – Chris W. Rea
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 2:53
  • @DaymonSchroeder you can consider P2P
    – Computernerd
    Commented Mar 19, 2014 at 3:04
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    -1 Family or friends can gift, but being a financial slave makes the relationship worse.
    – Sun
    Commented Dec 8, 2014 at 22:43

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