Deanna Adkins was 28 when she filed for bankruptcy in February, but it wasn’t because she was reckless with money. Her mother in law had moved in after being scammed into homelessness, and Deanna welcomed her first child shortly after. The bills from these responsibilities, as you’d expect, became overwhelming.
It got worse when her sales job pulled back its remote option while she was pregnant, and Deanna had to stop work. Between paying rent, two car loans, baby expenses and the cost of caring for a 66-year-old with dementia, the credit card debt piled up. Her husband works full time and takes on overtime but it wasn’t enough.
“I couldn’t keep up with the payments, so I just let everything go delinquent until I had to…