Didn't mean to lash out at anyone - faculty or not - but did some people here offered any advice? Just saying "stop spending money and shouldn't have bought such a car" doesn't consist of advice and sounds like just a waste of post to me. My mentor used to say: everything a person does comes from either a place of love or a place of hate.
I try to do things from a place of love, sounds like you too
I think you're missing the point.
It would be one thing if you had written, "In hindsight, I realize that I should have bought a reliable gently-used $15k car, which would now be paid off. At the time I bought the car, my husband and I had good paying jobs and I hadn't anticipated him losing his job for a few months and me going to med school. Therefore, I thought it was ok to buy myself a $40k car. " (just a rough estimate because you've already made $15k in payments and still owe $28k.)
However, instead you justified the expensive car purchase as some sort of necessity to get to work. You also seem to be unaware that you can't just "return" a car to a dealer and have the debt "go away". It's a 3 year old car. A dealer will likely offer you less than you owe, and you'll still need to buy another car!
That rationalization strongly suggests that you don't quite "get" the problem, and therefore the problem will likely happen again (and again) over the next 8 years while you're in med school and in residency.
I have a parent who is a financial planner (not a scammer), and she routinely sees people justify excessive expenses. Usually the excuse is, "I work hard. I deserved that purchase. I thought I could afford it," while completely ignoring the ramifications of that debt down the road (in your case, applying to med school and spouse losing job for a short time.) Until the person accepts the reality that life can't be lived on credit, and that one's ego shouldn't be stroked by expensive cars, this pattern happens again and again. My mother, who earns over 6 figures, drives a reliable very nice used crossover that she paid $11k for. My father who also earns over 6 figures, drives a reliable used SUV that he paid less than $16k. So, your excuse that you needed that car just rings hollow.
The truth is....you WANTED that car. It was a luxury purchase. You knew how high your rent was, yet you still went ahead with the purchase. That shows impulsivity....not rational thinking.
I know this is blunt and harsh, but you need to own what happened so it doesn't happen again.
Hopefully, your husband is well-employed now and can provide living expenses. Maybe he can work a second job since his job-loss contributed to the debt. You do need to stop your volunteer hours and perhaps work more. You need to pay off the CCs, figure out what you can do about the car, and build up some savings for any future emergencies.
As I mentioned earlier.....You can apply some of your COA living expenses to the CC bill (if your husband can support you), but that should NOT be the main solution. You have 6+ months to also work on that debt.
