<prompt> Human: In essence, Im experiencing a personal debt crisis of my own making, due to poor choices, lob loss, more poor choices, ignoring collection calls because of my own anxieties and generally acting stupid. I know. I feel like this is the scariest thing Ive ever faced in my life, and I need help.Im 28 and I feel like Ive already ruined my financial life. Ill try but inevitably fail to be brief on the backstory. When I turned 18, I got my first credit card. I was extremely stupid with it, as a kid working a crappy part-time job, I used it to buy shit I couldnt afford. I could barely make minimum payments, let alone pay it off month-to-month. This continued through college.It was all sort of fine for a bit after I graduated and got a full-time big-boy job. I got my debts current, I was slowly paying down things, although I didnt have a lot of income with which to do so. I was making 35k a year. The credit card debt was about 7K, spread amongst 3 or 4 cards with atrocious interest rates. I was barely able to save money. I put about 1,000 in a 401k over the span of 3 years.Flash forward to 2015 and I had a personal crisis. I got very drunk and got arrested, essentially for resisting police officers who were trying to stop me from running around a main road and getting myself killed. I lost my job. I went to rehab. I was facing two felony charges. Somehow, this debt situation is scarier to me than that.I got myself back together, quit drinking, got a job about 6 months later. Of course, my debts had fallen behind, as my income had fallen to 0. I liquidated my puny 401k to pay off some expenses, but it didnt last long. My new job was a significant pay cut - I started out at 25K. I could barely afford rent and utilities, let along anything else. My debts fell further and further behind and I just figured Ill deal with this when Im back on my feet fully.I was literally afraid of the collection calls. I have a lot of anxiety issues, I get panic attacks easily, and I figured well, I dont have any money for these people, why bother talking to them.Oh, and rehab generated its own 1,200 bill. So thats fun.After 3ish years at my new job Im up to making about 32K, which is more comfortable. I want to get my finances in order, but dont know where to start. I still only have about 400 in savings, and I live paycheck-to-paycheck generally.Ive got 3,104 in collections. Ive got 6,319 in closed accounts that are still with their original creditor, if Im reading that right. Ive got 40,445 in student loans, all federal, which I keep current and is the debt I worry the least about. Payment terms are very flexible.My most pressing issue: A collection agency Calvary Portfolio Services with a 1,951 debt originally a Citi card is threatening to sue me. I got a demand letter from Federated Law, saying unless I dispute the debt within 30 days, they will assume the debt is valid. If I dispute the debt, they will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of judgement against you, the latter of which scares the hell out of me.Theres a number to call to discuss your account, but nothing about repayment terms of any opportunities to reach a settlement. The letter is very lawsuit-y.tl;dr: What do I do about my overall horrible debt situation in general, and what do I do with the creditor threatening to sue me in particular?Ive literally considered bankruptcy, not that I have money for a lawyer, and I feel like it might be stupid to file bankruptcy over less than 10K in problematic debt. Ive also just started an LLC as a side business and Ive heard under bankruptcy theyll take the LLC. It doesnt have any assets in it, and about 2K in unearned income presale of services. FWIW, its a drone photography company that the boss of my day-job actually thought was a good idea, and funded the start of.  <response>: Is your username only a joke? I can understand the stress on you, but please dont let 10k of money owed be the death of you. Why dont you give us your monthly budget, and then we can get serious about making a plan for you? Help us understand where all your money goes each month and lets see what you have to play with. 