Woman From ‘Poorest County’ in NY Pays $1,460 a Month on a Trailer. Then Breaks Down How $400 a Week Still Leaves Her Starving With $10,000 in Debt

Under current economic conditions, even those who work long hours aren’t guaranteed to earn enough to pay their bills. Christine (@rollingstoned.2005) came on social media to talk about her experience as a financially struggling woman from New York. She said she’s living in “the poorest” county of the state, and yet she is still deep in debt.

“It’s the first of the month. The payment is due for the place that you live in,” Christine told TikTok. She’s relaying her personal struggles and how she’s trying to make ends meet to no avail. Christine said she brought a trailer for $1460 a month because it’s all she could afford.

“Your bank account? Negative $35. Why? The Goldman Sachs card paid a minimum of $90 a day late,” she explained. But that’s not where her struggles end. Her bank also charged her an overdraft fee of $50, which made her account sink further into the negative.

“You haven’t been paid in three weeks because your boss forgot to pay you again. You try looking for another job—no one will hire you,” Christine continued. She said that the lack of experience bars her from getting further opportunities. But not being hired by other jobs keeps her stuck, and she doesn’t learn the necessary skills she needs to find a new job. It seems like a problem with a solution that’s constantly out of reach.

Christine said that she’s currently working a job that pays her less than $400 a week after taxes. But she hasn’t been paid in three weeks, and yet the bills keep coming on.

Bills turn into debt

“Your car insurance is due. You paid $298 a month on two trucks that you own,” Christine said. The trucks are both twenty years old, and she’s not making monthly payments for them. She pays $298 for car insurance because it’s the bare minimum insurance policy in New York State with $10,000 liability coverage.

But these are just the bigger bills to cover. Christina also has to pay for water, electricity, sewer, and Wi-Fi.

“If you don’t start making payments, we’re going to shut off your service,” Christina said about a letter she received from her internet service provider. Although she’s making payments, she isn’t making enough. But even if, theoretically, she could fully pay off the car insurance and the utilities, she still has credit card debt to pay.

“You have $10,000 worth of credit card debt. You don’t see a way out,” Christina said. She also explained that the interest rates for the cards can go as high as 29-31%. Christina said that she’s maxxed out most of her credit cards because of her current salary grade, and those cards may sometimes be her only lifeline to food.

She also uses the credit cards to finance her fuel so that she can go to work.

Starvation as a norm

“There’s no food in your house right now,” she said of her situation. Since her credit cards couldn’t be paid off, Christina wasn’t able to buy groceries. Just a day before her TikTok post, she’d eaten pita crackers. alcohol, and flour.

“Because if you’re on alcohol and flour, you’re not thinking about how you haven’t been paid in three weeks and that you’re $10,000 in debt,” she elaborated.

But what makes the situation even riskier for Christina is that she’s unable to pay her health insurance on top of all the bills. Even though Christina feels that she needs to see a doctor, she said it’s simply impossible at the moment because even the state could not reduce health insurance costs for her.

“Your cats are eating everyday only because you aren’t.” Christina’s clip is going viral on TikTok, with many social media users sympathetic to her situation. Some have even commented that they could relate to her situation. Headlines often focus on the next billionaire or trillionaire, but the other end of the spectrum shows its unsettling extreme.

(featured images: Eric Mclean, rollingstoned.2005)

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