>bc I cannot easily see my friends or do things.

Spending $800/month so you can 'do things' suggests your priorities are out of whack especially given how small the other line items in your budget are

It really seems like you can live just fine without a car... You can incorporate into your budget Ubering to meet up with your friends a couple of times a month.

It seems like you explained exactly why you’re getting denied. You don’t make enough money to afford your monthly debt obligations. So why would you be able to afford your obligations + the monthly payments in this $5K personal loan?

What about downgrading the car? I don't know what type of car this is / what the value of it is, but if you could unload it and come away with funds for a cheaper car you could save a ton of monthly payments, probably insurance, etc. If you're planning on moving out of the country in 6 months I would plan on starting to downsize on expenses now.

I don't suppose you have the savings to buy a cheap car and then resell when you move in 6mo? A 7-10 yr old car would cost about 10k but would lose very little value over 6mo and you could get your money back at the end.

A loan is a new obligation, not a source of income. If you can't pay your existing bills adding a new bill is not the solution to that problem.

I didn’t mean that it would affect your ability to go back to the US. Some countries would take into account a bankruptcy procedure when approving a visa, so in the country you’re staying in right now, you could be affected when renewing the visa.

I’m familiar with the TSP as I’m also a federal employee. I’m not at all familiar with the rollover process and the benefits of private sector 401k vs TSP since I have only ever dealt with the TSP.

In your situation, there's nothing wrong with going to a food bank so that you're eating more than PB sandwiches.

Have you sat down and looked at where your money has gone over the last few months? You need to do that before you can fix the problem. Don't lump things together. List all your utilities separately. List all your monthly subscriptions separately. Separate out food and restaurants.

And yes, it sounds like you need a higher paying job. Hopefully, finding one will be easier after the first of the year when budgets reset and the holiday chaos is over. You might also consider a second job for the evenings and/or weekends as a short term partial solution to your cash flow issue. You have a house. Renting out a room or two would also be a huge help.

OP should wait until he gets more information about the TSP which he admits knowing nothing about.

Look for 0% apr cash advance credit cards. You can likely get a few grand for a year or 18 months.

If you're full-time employed, your very first step is finding a way to make your lifestyle fit your (presumably above-minimum wage) salary.

That means making a budget, step 1.

You have been rejected for the loan because you don’t make enough money to pay for your expenses plus the loan. The best idea is probably to publish your budget here to see where you could cut expenses and getting a second job.

Are you not working full-time? A part-time job to increase your income makes more sense than a personal loan or selling your house. You might also consider renting out a room in your house to a tenant to increase your income.

Thanks for the answer! I am familiar with the Avalanche method and am doing that in theory, but in practice there is nothing left over after paying the minimums. I prep all my own food and do not go out to eat; there are no outgoing investments.

I'm aware of the best practices for saving money - as it is, after paying for minimums, rent, and transport to/from work, I often dont have enough for food for the month. Hopefully I will get a raise or two over the next few years, but as things stand the timeline for paying off my high interest debt is >10 years, and assumes I continue to get 60hrs/week.

Appreciate any advice about the process of defaulting/bankruptcy, and how that could impact either my legal ability to return to the US, or the ways judgement can be enforced overseas.

Thanks for the answer! I am familiar with the Avalanche method and am doing that in theory, but in practice there is nothing left over after paying the minimums. I prep all my own food and do not go out to eat; there are no outgoing investments.

I'm aware of the best practices for saving - as it is, after paying for minimums, rent, and transport to/from work, I often dont have enough for food for the month. Hopefully I will get a raise or two over the next few years, but as things stand the timeline for paying off my high interest debt is >10 years, and assumes I continue to get 60hrs/week.

Appreciate any advice about the process of defaulting/bankruptcy, and how that could impact either my legal ability to return to the US, or the ways judgement can be enforced overseas.

Give written notice today, then check your lease’s terms. Subletting may not be allowed or may require approval of management.

Remember that you remain responsible for utilities until end of lease. If you turn the heat off and pipes freeze, you’ll get hit with costs.

I had a tax scare a couple years ago where the IRS sent me a cp2000 for unreported crypto trades from 2017. Since I never sent a cost basis the bill was over a million dollars. I learned all about 1099s after that and fixed the situation myself, but she's still unwary to file with me.

Now that our incomes vary greatly, I think it's time to start looking into filing jointly

Yea, the management of the TSP when rolling over is terrible to the point that people are still waiting for money to be put into their TSP months later. Also, the reporting from TSP is currently inaccurate.

Unless she has high fees, I'd leave it. I actually haven't moved any of my retirement to the management of TSP because it's so bad and the fees are low and it's actually doing better than my TSP.

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Oh actually, thinking about more. Your adjusted gross income needs to be less than $144k to contribute to an IRA the normal way. Might not be possible unless the backdoor/mega backdoor rolling a 401k into an IRA is possible. I've never done that, so don't know details

>We both contribute the minimums to our 401k

If you both start maxing your pre-tax 401k contributions, that will lower your taxable income by around 40k. I'm not sure why you wouldn't take full advantage of that.

Also, out of curiosity, why do you file separately? In most cases, filing jointly is usually the better option.

That's very interesting I will look into that!

Ask your employer if they offer a non qual plan. It's a form of deferred compensation that doesn't qualify for the 401k tax code and can be used in addition to traditional 401k. A non qual can reduce your immediate tax liability and even grow through investment choices. It's usually only available to corporate officers, executives, or other highly compensated employees, and not all companies offer it. Consult a tax or investment advisor before enrolling as there are different forms of non qual plans and some carry significant risk should your employer become insolvent.

You can do real estate investing through an IRA after you've saved enough for it to make sense. Could be good to explore