<prompt> Human: So two weeks before Christmas my life went and took a turn for the worst. My spouse left me after 15 years onoff and I lost my job in a span of 4 days. I spent the first half of my life screwing up everything from my relationships to my credit. I have several student loans that I just havent touched because I didnt complete college and havent had a job pay more than 12 bucks an hour since. I was always terrible with money and had formed bad habits that I tried to stop, but just ended up doing them again and again.So now Im sitting here in my mothers house with pretty much nothing to my name in terms of value. Im currently shooting for jobs that pay more, but either dont care about their employees or shit work conditions. I live in a smaller city, so its almost impossible to get a job in the field that I want IT.So heres my problem. I really want to fix my credit, but do not know how to go about it. I have a repossessed car, lots of student loans that are in collections, and various other closed accounts. Fortunately, I have no credit card debt. I was being garnished on my last job for medical bills and other smaller accounts. My current scores are around 525. What do I need to do? Should I file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Would that even help? I currently have no bills outside my cellphone, but I make no money either. The ex is being very understanding about the kids, so I know I will have to help them out in one way or another, but we are splitting time with them as equally as possible and I do plan to stay close. That way I can help out when needed be it financially or otherwise. So there is no child support at this time.Any advice on recovering from my screw ups and getting back to a financial bill of health would be greatly appreciated.  <response>: From what youve said, improving your credit doesnt sound like it should be the priority up front. In order to increase your credit score youre going to need money to pay bills and obtain new credit. Although some jobs may not care about their employees, those might be where you temporarily need to look. Obviously avoid dangerous working conditions, but income seems like its the first step to solving a lot of the problems and providing stability.Then it would make sense to start focusing on learning programming languages, getting free digital marketing certifications Analytics, etc., or whatever you can in your free time that will help you to gain an edge for the jobs you really want. 