<prompt> Human: Im 24 and made some stupid decisions with credit cards when I was 20. I have recently accepted a job where my income will be growing almost double. My credit has been completely wrecked over the last year because I couldnt pay my minimums anymore. This job is my chance to break the paycheck to paycheck life and clean up my act.Net Income:2,300-3,200monthMonthly Expenses:1,350-1,400monthI should have anywhere from 1,000-2,000 a month in disposable income depending on overtime.I have literally 0 in savings anymore after the last years events.Debt:Avant Credit Loan: 1,300 remaining130.00.monthCredit Cards: 9,000 All in collections, my minimum payments were nearly 900 a month and I had some rather unfortunate events that lead to me stop paying on them, its been almost 10 months since I made a payment..Car Payment: 12,000 on loan, 325 a month for another 5.5 years7 year loan total, I had no money at the time and my car literally died in the dealership parking lot, it was unfortunately the best deal I could get from them at the time.IRS Income Tax Owed: 400  <response>: Well done on getting a job that pays you enough to fix this mess.I would start by keeping up to date with your current expenses, and by saving up the remaining money as an emergency fund. Once youve got, I would say, 3k in savings, I would start working on paying off the credit card debts. You say theyre all in collections. That means that you can negotiate the amount that youll pay on them. So if one debt is for 700, for example, you can negotiate to pay them 250 or so and have the full debt forgiven. I would make sure to get that in writing before making the payment, but if you have 3k in savings, when you call you can offer them quick payment as soon as they confirm for example by e-mail the deal youve made. The defaults youve had will stay on your report, and the payment will also show for the next seven years. But its influence on your score will decrease over time.Another option could be to do a pay-for-delete. This may work with some debt collectors but not all. Generally they then want full payment, but they will then remove the negative mark from your report. And again, if you want to do this, it helps a lot if you can give them the negotiated amount right away, so first save up some cash.I would at all times try to keep a say 2k buffer minimum while youre paying off debts. Not deplete your savings completely just to pay off a card.Check out the FAQ on credit improvement too. 