How to rebuild credit and pay off debt after a medical crisis
Job loss and hospitalization quickly lead to thousands in unpaid medical, auto, and credit card bills, plunging credit scores into the low 500s. With income already maxed out and no way to qualify for new loans, people are left facing potential garnishments and repossession without a clear starting point.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Looking into crime victims compensation boards for financial assistance and wage loss replacementDid this help you?
- 2Applying for hospital charity care programs or financial assistance to forgive debtDid this help you?
- 3Consulting with attorneys regarding potential civil cases or wrongful terminationDid this help you?
- 4transferring debt to a 0% credit card and paying it off over 12-18 monthsDid this help you?
- 5canceling unnecessary payments like internetDid this help you?
- 6signing up for food banksDid this help you?
- 7selling possessions on marketplaceDid this help you?
- 8trying to work overtime or considering dropping out of schoolDid this help you?
- 9Cutting budget to the bone and saving cash monthlyDid this help you?
- 10Selling retirement investments or using Roth contributionsDid this help you?
- 11Financing major purchases instead of paying entirely in cashDid this help you?
- 12Rebuilding the emergency fund gradually over several monthsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“To summarize , I was shot in January ‘25.”source ↗
“Hospitalized for weeks, job fired me while I was in the hospital, had to fight litigation to secure my unemployment settlement. While doing so I lost my home , car got repossessed , and i couldnt afford to make my credit card payments.”source ↗
“Medical Debt ≈ $60k”source ↗
“Auto Debt ≈ $10k”source ↗
“Credit Card Debt ≈ $7k”source ↗
“FICO ≈ 510 (Ex) 490 (Eq) 540 (Trans)”source ↗
“Im employed again, got a car, have tribal benefits (invalid in covering costs out of state), and just trying to rebuild my credit and not get garnished etc.”source ↗
“Honestly dont know where to start. I dont have any family or friends that can assist financially, but I’m already pretty maxed out on my income.”source ↗
“Would like to take out a fixed home equity loan in order to address some major financial issues.”source ↗
“I desperately want to get back in good standing with bills that have gotten away from me while I was dealing with all of this, but who tf is going to loan me money?”source ↗
“Sell whatever you need to sell to keep up your rent. The credit card can be paid late even though that’s not ideal.”source ↗
“I lost every dollar I’ve ever made in two days and it’s unrecoverable by ATM theft.”source ↗
“I don’t know how to go through this. The depression and terror is overwhelming”source ↗
“Spent my 40k emergency fund - now what?”source ↗
“How do you deal with a large setbacks financially? I always thought it would be a steady climb, but this year showed me otherwise”source ↗
“TLDR: depleted my emergency fund, trying to get back to square one. Looking for inputs on how to deal with financial setbacks.”source ↗
Where this came up
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