l am wondering now that l am about $400 in credit card debt and about to leave college with a $8000 debt, who / what do l talk to help me explain all of this? Unfortunately l was stupid during my school years and chose three different creditors to form that $8000 debt, so l do not know if consolidating or what is the best step to do?

l know this is a relatively low balance compared to many, so can anyone recommend to me any place to go so l can learn how to manage my money?
To add on, l am a California resident so those rules apply.

You do not say what country you are in. If you are in Australia, ring up lifeline and ask if you can make an appointment to see one of their financial counsellors. A lot of non-government welfare organisations have financial counsellors you can see, and they specialise in helping people in similar situations to yours. Other than that, look in the phone book or on the web for the financial counsellors association, and see if there is an agency near you.

You only talk of two debts. Take care of it yourself! Do not pay other debt management programs to deal with your debts! Deal directly with the creditors and arrange for repayment! Creditors appreciate when you work directly with them! Keep in mind, creditors can deny working with debt management programs as well. So all your work for nothing! Trust me. l am a debt collector!

When people talk about debts, they r usually debts that have gone bad because the person got behind on monthly payments.

Your student loans do not start being payable right away, do they? Pay off the credit card until u have to start on the student loans. You should be able to take care of that in a few months. The interest on the credit card is probably higher.

Look at ur student loan agreements. Does it say u need to contact them whe u graduate? Or will they contact you? Before u start worrying about paying them, find out what the terms r for each lender.

Only if u cannot afford the monthly repayments would u need to worry. Even then, u can ask for an extension of grace time.

Chances are, u will be fine. View this as a chance to build yourself a nice credit rating by making regular monthly payments on time.

You can get a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting services once a year. l believe it is https://annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
There should be a contact number on the reports to call if u have questions.

If u do want counseling about it, do NOT use a credit counseling service. This is for people whose credit has gone bad, & using such a service actually lowers ur credit rating for some reason. Many banks offer free personal finance advice, so see if yours does. (Just be aware that some will try to get u to take a loan from them, because that is how they make money. If they do, ask for solid reasons why u should.)