THE SHORT VERSION: After dealing with years of personal hardships, I was finally in a position to start getting my life back on track. Then, I got into a car accident in January that totaled my car, a loss which my insurance did not cover. I hastily replaced it with another car so I wouldn't lose my job, but it's neither safe nor reliable, can't consistently get me to work, and won't survive for much longer. Changes to federal law are kicking me off of my health insurance and ending deferment on my student loans, all while I'm swimming in credit card debt. I'm headed toward a debt death spiral and need help stabilizing so I can have any hope of pulling out of it. Meeting the fundraising goal would ensure I have reliable transportation for work and could still make rent, nothing more. Anything in excess will go exclusively towards eliminating my existing debts.

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Hi. My name is Val, although some of you may know me as "kap".

Six years ago, I had a sudden falling-out with my parents while living in my home state of Florida, a place which was already growing more and more hostile to people like me. With nothing of value left for me in that place, I ended up moving across the country to live with my partner at the time in New Jersey. That relationship didn't work out, ending quite inelegantly, and with little notice I found myself with no permanent address, left to rove from one unstable short-term living situation to the next, never able to properly reestablish myself. My mental health suffered majorly during that time. I couldn't really get proper healthcare and was on and off my medications constantly. Only in the last year or two have I begun to approach something resembling a stable equilibrium, uneasy as it may be. I'm living out of a refurbished attic, working a humble technician job, and earning enough money to scrape by - but only just. I'll have a couple hundred dollars left over on a good month for food, gas, and other essentials; effectively I have no savings, but at least I'm staying afloat, right? Well, this year, things have taken a turn for the worst. Repeatedly.

In January I got into a major car accident on my way home from work, sliding uncontrollably on ice and slush straight into a power pole. Amazingly, I managed to avoid serious injury, but the car was done for. My car insurance declined to cover the loss whatsoever. Under time pressure and bleeding most of my income on Ubers to get to work, I withdrew what little money I'd been able to save up to that point, borrowed some additional money from a friend, and hastily bought a used car off of Craigslist just so I could keep my job. This vehicle ended up having multiple exhaust leaks, a valve cover leak, shot tires, and nearly-exhausted brake pads. To repair the critical issues with this vehicle would cost more than I paid for it, but to continue driving this car is a deathwish. Oh, and if it's hot enough outside, the engine won't even last long enough for me to make it to work before breaking down. I live in a fairly remote area with no local support and almost no access to public transit, and the summer heat is on its way, so without a reliable vehicle I'm effectively cut off from my workplace and from the world beyond my driveway.

I've run the numbers, and the most financially-sound and forward-thinking solution I have is to cut my losses, scrap this car, and finance another used car that actually works. But that down payment would be my rent money gone, and then I'd be making monthly payments on a car loan on top of the over $6,000 of credit card debt I've resigned myself to never paying off. And now, with the current administration ending the deferment of student loans, in a few months I'll be adding that to the pile of monthly expenses too. And just a few days ago that I was notified that I'm being forcibly disenrolled from my health plan due to "new Federal laws". There's no way in hell I can afford to add monthly insurance premiums to the list of expenses too, so I expect to once again lose access to my doctors and medications.

At this point, it's difficult for me to see any realistic way to dig myself out of this hole on my own. I've been cutting costs very aggressively to try to save for this new car; I've opted not to renew my phone plan and have spent next to nothing on food or household goods in weeks. But with my healthcare disappearing AND the student loan payments resuming, it's just not enough. I was very reluctant to make a GoFundMe in the first place, but I was encouraged by those around me to at least give it a shot, so here I am.

The fundraising goal will go towards ensuring that I can get a car that is safe and reliable (including a pre-purchase inspection by a 3rd party auto shop to verify its condition), and that I can pay my rent. That's it. Anything in excess of that will go directly towards eliminating as much of my debt as I can, reducing my monthly costs to counterbalance the expected increases to come. As for my healthcare situation, that's something for me to figure out after the more immediately urgent matters have been addressed. Maintaining my job and my income stream has to be my top priority right now or else everything falls apart.

I realize there's no shortage of people stuck in situations like mine - now more than ever. We're living through a difficult and turbulent time which, for a lot of us, is becoming unmanageable. If you're still reading this, you have my utmost gratitude for even giving me the time of day. If you're able to donate anything, big or small, I'd make a world of difference. If you can't donate, even just sharing this page around could have more of an impact than you realize. Either way, thank you. I'm truly appreciative for every one of you.