The following quotes are taken from jmule’s posts on The Finance Forums, the title of the thread is “At the end of my rope”  You can read the whole series of posts here.

I don’t know where to turn. I have a good steady income, but very bad credit, from a previous relationship that destroyed my credit rating to below 520. Noe I’m married and have two kids and my situation is so bad, that I’ve fallen 3 weeks behind on my rent, I have payday loans out the yin yang that dig deep into my paycheck and I cannot get a personal loan. Period. I don;t know what to do, but quite my job, so I can cash in my 401k and then find another job. I don;t know what else to do. All I want is someone to believe me that If I get a loan for like $6000 I will pay it back. Consolidation is not going to do it. I can’t do that anyway because most places I talk to want you to have $5000 or more credit card debt. I need to catch up on my household bills. Rent, electric, car payment, things like that. With m a $6000 loan I can do that, plus repair some of my damaged credit. I need help and I need it now or I am going to do something drastic.

jmule’s next post expresses more frustration

Well. I just got off the phone with my landlord. I am late on this month’s rent and she did let me pay it in two parts. But, I wanted to see if I could pay the rest of what I owe for this month and slide on next month’s and pay her back in increments the following months. She’s not a bank she says so she can’t help us. So, on top of everything else, we are going to get thrown out, if I can’t come up with some cash like RIGHT NOW!!! I have 6 payday loans to pay off. If I did that I’d get out of that rut. I have no family members who could lend me any substantial amount of money. I can’t get a lender to talk to me. I have people trying to SCAM ME OUT OF WHAT LITTLE MONEY I DO HAVE!!! I can’t take a hardship withdrawal from my 401K, because I have a loan out with that, which I am paying on straight out of my pay. I really don’t know what to do. IS THERE ANY LEGITIMATE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION OUT THERE THAT WILL GIVE A GUY WITH VERY VERY BAD CREDIT A LOAN FOR ABOUT $5000 OR SO. SO, THAT I MAY GET OUT OF THIS PAYDAY LOAN RUT THAT I”M IN!!! CAN ANYBODY HELP!!! I NEED CASH NOT CONSOLODATION!!! NOT ANOTHER PAYDAY LOAN!!! SOMETHING TO HELP ME!! I WILL PAY IT BACK!!! I’M PAYING $1000 A MONTH TO THES PAYDAY LOAN PEOPLE I CAN PAY $500 A MONTH FOR A LOAN TO PAY THEM OFF!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!

It’s hard for me to know where to begin with this one.  There’s a lot of frustration in the post above and it’s understandable.  What I think jmule needs to learn is how to downsize his lifestyle.

1. First off, let me say this: Never ever EVER get payday loans.  It’s as legal as a loan-shark can be and you will only dig yourself and your family into a deeper hole.
2. What can you sell?  DVDs, tools, books, videogames, and even TVs move pretty fast.  Use ebay or craigslist to turn them into cash.
3. Snowball-  Throw all extra money at one debt while paying the minimums on all the other debts.
4. Cut back big time-  We’re talking no cell phones, just one land line.  No cable or high speed internet.  No name brand groceries (unless they’re cheaper than generic).  No alcohol or tobacco period.  No dining out, not even if it’s kids eat free night at McDonald’s.  Look at smaller, cheaper apartments.  See if you can’t sell your car and drive something smaller or more fuel efficient.
5. Now that you made all of those cuts, live like you can’t even afford the things you still have.

With the amount of loans that are taken out in this situation, my advice to jmule would be to never take out another loan ever again.  To cut up credit cards now and not use them anymore.  Finally, consider finding a second part-time job to help make ends meet.  The issue in this situation is that no bank would give a loan like that with the debt-load that’s there because the financial history says that when the debt’s paid off it gets run up again.