I can't argue to your situation and didn't mean to offend you. Hopefully you are out of that trap now and are not living hand to mouth anymore. Everyone's circumstances are different and I was making a comment in regards to myself not you.
For me at my lowest there was no tax return as you don't get that if you don't have a job and any government rebate was seized before I saw it. I didn't have an electricity bill or car either. I will agree that when I was broke it didn't seem to matter that much if I was minus 30K or 35K and the collection agents eventually gave up on me. The few times I managed to pick up an odd job for cash, or through some other fortunate circumstances I happened upon some money, the last thing I thought of doing was getting in touch with a credit councilor and handing that cash to them...until I did.
For me at my lowest there was no tax return as you don't get that if you don't have a job and any government rebate was seized before I saw it. I didn't have an electricity bill or car either. I will agree that when I was broke it didn't seem to matter that much if I was minus 30K or 35K and the collection agents eventually gave up on me. The few times I managed to pick up an odd job for cash, or through some other fortunate circumstances I happened upon some money, the last thing I thought of doing was getting in touch with a credit councilor and handing that cash to them...until I did.