Help Moriah Rebuild Her Life and Career

Hi! I'm Moriah, and I made it halfway through family medicine residency before needing to leave for (multifactorial) disability reasons - this is its own can of worms, but I can't fix the medical education system yet. There was no severance type thing, I had very little in savings, and medical training is already low wage. This absolutely tanked my 700s credit score - I had to max out credit cards just to stay alive and move out, and now I'm working an even lower wage job out of necessity while living with my mother. I need help.

I've been super ashamed of this as someone who was extremely careful up to that point (never even late on a single bill in my LIFE), and depressed about my inability to change it. Living independently was important to me and this isn't the best mental environment to be in as a result. I'm also trying to reapply for a different residency position because I don't have a clear path forward to working as a physician without finishing, and, of course, that costs thousands. It feels embarrassing to ask for help when so many other people need so much more, but I'm swallowing my pride, because there's really no other option here, since I don't have family with resources who can help me. (AKA the reason I'm in this much debt to begin with)

I have to claw out of this hole so I can focus on finishing training, and on being healthy and productive.

$3502 is on my credit report as missed payments (back rent) for an apartment I left with 30 days notice, in pristine condition, paid an extra month of rent for, and left the full security deposit. I just literally do not have this money, and even though the lease was up in July (there was no method to break it early), every month it gets reported as a late payment.

$7400 would settle the personal loan I currently have in collections. I needed it to move from med school to residency and cover expenses for the months between living off student loans and getting a paycheck, because there definitely wasn't a moving stipend. It's currently the one debt besides the back rent I haven't been able to make consistent payments toward, and again, I have no savings left. Once it got charged off for 2 missed payments it got put on my mental backburner because I already owe more things than I can pay anymore, and do still have to eat. :/ I tried to make a payment plan prior to this of course but the options were all more than I could afford.

Both of my credit cards with balances are on payment plans and I am paying them monthly, but only minimums or close to it because I can't afford more. The balances have stayed above $7000 and $8000 as a result because I can't make a dent in the premium. Keep in mind these weren't for frivolous things - they're holding how much it cost to pay for a uhaul, paid medical bills, etc. I've paid them off in full regularly - until I suddenly stopped making enough money to do so.

I have a couple of Sallie Mae student loans from undergrad that are at $6864 (initially $5000) despite my $190 something/mo payments totaling $4988 toward it. When I took them out, the interest was reasonable. Now it's 13.75% and 13.5%. I worked the entire time I was in undergrad (most of it full time) but it wasn't enough.

Thankfully I've paid all my medical bills and am working on applying for Medicaid (trying again after an initial failure) because my job does not consider me eligible for medical insurance until mid October (starting 1st of Nov) even though I started in APRIL. This has led to some care avoidance because I can't afford it, but my lupus med refills are running out - so I'm headed to the sliding scale clinic in a couple of weeks, and the patient navigator people for help with medicaid application next Tuesday. I cash paid for some labs that I thankfully have the ability to interpret in the meantime. I haven't been able to access my ADHD meds this whole time, though, and it's making functioning at all noticeably difficult.

All of this makes it much harder to recover and be ready to go back, but thankfully I've physically been doing better, even if not mentally because of how insanely stressful this has been. I've lost 50 lbs overall (and gained a bunch of muscle), no longer need mobility aids, and have come off several medications. I just desperately need a community boost to get back to financial self sufficiency - and being able to help others.

I will happily post receipts of things I've paid off with the money for accountability + updates about the residency reapplication process.

Thank you, deeply and sincerely.