<prompt> Human: Ive built up 18,000 over 5 years in personal and CC debt. Just trying to figure out what the best option is. Im surrounded by people who will co-signif thats even a possibility and even directly sign for a loan and allow me to make the payments. My credit runs 540-560.  <response>: Anyone who would consider cosigning your loan would be an idiot. Youre 18k in debt. If they cosign it and you quit paying, they are now on the hook for 18kinterest. If they were your friend before, they wont be when that happens. Dont do it.Make a budget. Figure out the minimum that you need to survive. Learn how to cook beans and rice and eat that or bologna sammiches. Everything else goes to paying off debt. Use either the debt avalanche or debt snowball models to eliminate your debt.Debt avalanche: pay off the highest interest debt first, no matter how large it is. Then pay off the next highest, etc. The advantage is that you may pay less in total interest, reducing the total costs. Debt snowball: pay off the smallest debt first, then the next smallest, etc. The advantage with this one is that as you pay off each debt, you can pay more on the next and you see the progress sooner.Dave Ramsey is an excellent person to listen to and his Financial Peace courses are great. I guarantee that you can find someone who will help you find and pay for it. 