<prompt> Human: I created a throwaway because i dont want the people who know my account to see all my shizz. I started out knowing nothing of the real world and am slowly working towards actually understanding what the hell is going on, so please bear with me if my questions seem stupid. please see username. We are fairly poor and have made some bad decisions, but were ready to work on it. Yes we are on public assistance but I really want to get off of it - biggest issue with that is healthcare.I have many medical debts. None appear to be over 3k. but there are quite a few. My husband has other debts, mainly phone companies and credit cards from his past. We want to buy a house, as far fetched as that sounds. We currently live in a house that is fully paid off but falling apart. Needs to repair, and unlikely to be able to sell for what weve put into it, let alone any sort of profit. Husband works about 1,500 per month give or take depending on the month as he does some contracted work in addition to the 9 per hour. I stay home with the kids because seriously eff daycare costs, holy shit. We do not want to rent because thats just, well, money down the drain.On to my main concerns - our credit is baaad. Mine lowest score is 506. His lowest score is 536. Weve both been divorced, made some mistakes etc. Wed like to get it fixed as soon as possible but we are not sure what we can do and when, but we can begin paying now. I have 11k in student loans school went nowhere that i am currently trying to consolidate. Thats already put through, just waiting on the judgement. We will have a decent sized tax refund once it goes through, otherwise it would all go straight to paying it off with no say on our part. Husband has three collections debts, all fairly old, one or two? of which he does not think he owes. It has already been 30 days since we received the letters. He called them last night against my advicebecause we should verify them first, right? to discover what they were. Can we still send a debt validation letter, and will this get us anywhere or will it screw us? One of them I believe is past the statute of limitations. Should we still pay it if it is valid? I rented a house with my ex. I left and rented an apartment before the lease was up, but continued to help pay the rent until it was, then I believe I signed a form stating I was no longer on the lease with him and he continued to live there and completely destroy the place. We did not get the divorce finalized until halfway into the new lease. I received a collections letter, contacted the property manager who had recently bought the property management company who agreed that it was not my debt, but had no further communication from him, nor did he send the collections company anything like he said he would. This is still on my credit report as open 12k and the collections company still has me on it. I attempted to contact the property manager yesterday but received no callback as of yet. The collections person was completely unhelpful and rude. Can I call the property guy every day or is there a letter or something I need to send? What do I do? Small collections account with a counselor - I do not believe the amount is correct but I do know I owe her money. Its a difference of about 100 and my pride. I have no receipts, only a letter and what i think i owe. Should I just bite the bullet? One medical company that only did one thing, wasnt like several services reported to my credit equi and trans three separate times same day though for one debt. Is this legal? Its broken up into chunks. How do I sort out medical bills if I have many different amounts for the same 3 days visit? this one is probably more simple than I think If our debt combined equals out to about 15k give or take because I cannot figure out some of the amounts on some of the bills minus student loans and the renters thing, is it worth it to try and consolidate it, and if so, can we combine our debts or do we each have to have a consolidation account?Also, I am the one taking care of all of the financial stuff, because husband works long hours during any business times, so what are my rights as his wife to discuss his bills, including ones before we got togethergot married? EDIT: This means, am I allowed to call his creditors to discuss his debts? He and I are very open with each other about our finances and debts.As far as credit BUILDING plans go, I was given a few pieces of advice but was concerned about the legitimacy of these, or if theyre good decisions, for now, later, or ever. Obviously anything we can take on that we can also pay will help us. Be put on someone elses credit card, without actual access or intent to use. Dad says this will affect his rates since my credit is so bad, but the financial lady from a loan company when I was still hopeful and then had all my dreams crushed said it shouldnt affect him at all. Lendup. Basically a payday loan but with nicer people? I read that you have to borrow several times before this will add anything to your credit. Is this a good company or is there a better one? My idea was a little odd, use the loan to get a secured credit card, turn around and use credit card to pay off loan how long should you leave a loan - up to due date, or asap? then pay the credit card off, which would then be used for bills and paid off in full each month. Are small payments or full chunks better for paying these? A small loan 500 from the bank. Is this even possible with credit like mine? She said to put it into savings and not even touch it, except to use the money to pay it back, with an automatic withdrawal. Dumb idea?Most important, are any of these going to actually help me out while we are so far in debt? I was going to get whatever loan or secured card I can and then use that to pay the debt.I know that many of these things can be googled and believe me i have, and looked through some of the wikis on the sidebar but Ive come across so many conflicting articles, and I certainly cant trust the debt collectors. And if its even remotely possible to take on a mortgage loan the payment would be relatively small I feel like this would help us out - building our credit and living someplace that doesnt need in repairs. I may have missed some stuff, but, man I am tired of all of this. I just want to get into a better place financially and make sure my kids are taken care of. I dont care about getting rich, or getting a big house or fancy cars, I dont need the latest gadgets, and I frugal my ass off where I can. I havent even begun to look into retirement or anything.Feel free to pry and ask questions, give me some tough love, etc. EDIT: Point taken, no new house. Got it, squashed, moving on :EDIT 2: Thanks for all the replies so far guys. Some perspective was desperately needed.Assistant: You are in no place close to buy a house. Maybe, maybe sell your house that is paid off and use it as a down payment, but this would likely be a lateral move. How expensive of a house are you thinking of, with your husband only making 1500month? Renting isnt throwing money away, its spending money towards a roof over your head, houses can be expensive to maintain, much more than what it could cost to rent. Whats the reasoning for wanting to leave a fully paid off house? You kept saying you want to do stuff fast or quick, but its going to take years to rebuild 550 credit scores. You have 15000 in debt and thats not including your 15000 in student loans with no degree, nor 14000 that you may or may not still be on the hook for. This debt doesnt just go away, you cant just not include it. You wont find a mortgage with 40000 of debt and 1500 income and 550 credit score..Your husband needs to make more money or you need to get a part time night job or both. You need to look into paying off your debt and start saving some money. Any house that you could afford is going to need probably just as many issues fixed as your current, payed off house. You cant survive without a mortgage, how can you expect to with one? Human: The house i was looking at is 120k, but its been on the market for a while and the price has been dropping, I think I can talk them down to 110K. I estimated the payment to be 700 per month. 1,500 is really the low end of potential earning for him, so naturally I want to keep it to where my bills dont surpass that amount. If we were to do this, the tax refund would go towards any related costs and down payment, plus whatever we have managed to save up this month is going to be a big month for him, around 2,500. Weve had several big months recently and he is in line for a significant promotion, though I dont know when that will be. Definitely want to be safe, so yea, if its not possible, then its not, but my concern is, do we save the money and try to get out of here, or do we put a ridiculous amount towards repairing a house that we may not even be in in 5 years? Im talking the entire back half of the house needs to be lifted and repaired, the electrical needs a full overhaul etc.Edit: Basically the house needs more money to be repaired than it is currently worth  <response>: I wont rehash what Forty44Four said above, but what are you thinking? You owe THOUSANDS of dollars in debt and you want to go into more debt? If your husband has a big month, you should be paying down your debt, not increasing it. If you want to build your credit, ignoring it is not the way to do that. Paying every single penny you can spare towards your debts is how you fix it. 