| "millions of users" - is that serious, or sarcastic? I couldn't tell. If you have millions of users, I'd suspect you can find a way to monetize them a bit more than what you already are to get that $150k debt down faster - perhaps even a direct appeal ala Wikipedia. While credit checking for hiring does happen, it doesn't happen everywhere, and you can likely explain your situation reasonably such that it doesn't become an automatic strike against you. There may be some jobs that are not available to you now - you might not get a defense contracting gig - there are others. Is the $150k split between the 3 of you ($50k each roughly), or is your share of the debt $150k (as in it was $450k)? The rest of the team probably won't want to voluntarily take on more debt, but they might be willing to help you pay down some of yours voluntarily, assuming that they don't have their own $150k chunks to attack. What are your skills? It's not uncommon for a sr-level programmer with in-demand skills to be able to pull in $100k+ doing freelance or contract work, and even with other expenses, you can probably have this $150k taken care of in 3-4 years. Also, have you talked to your creditors to see if any will forgive some of the debt? They may 1099 you for the difference in some cases, but paying tax on, say, $10k of forgiven debt is different than having to pay $10k. I feel for you - I've been in that situation, just without so many zeros. :/ |