Currently have $5 in my bank account, what’s the lowest you’ve ever got to financially and how did you survive?

29 comments

1. I once went under $0 and the bank charged me $25 for not having any money putting me deeper into the red.

2. –$256

   My direct deposit didn’t hit because of something my employer fucked up, but my auto draft bills sure did.

   Went to HR and demanded they cut me a paper check but they said they couldn’t but offered me 2% increase on the amount owed next pay period. Didn’t really have a choice to but to agree.

   Went to the pawn shop and pawned a couple guns. Sold a couple of other things I had to at least give me back to neutral and enough gas to get to work for the week.

   Ate freezer food and ramen and such till Friday payday hit.

3. I’ve been -£1000 many times in my life. You just hold out till the next pay and adjust accordingly

4. Been negative a few times, thank god I’m good now. I’ve donated plasma and bought 5 dollar little ceaser pizzas. You aren’t alone and I’m my case things got way better, they can and I hope they do get better for you

5. I hit an overdraft charge once in my youth.

6. I had two accounts that were several hundred dollars negative, each.

7. Way back in the 90’s I was living paycheck to paycheck. I had a gas bill due at the end of the month and it was on 2nd notice. I was going to pay it at the end of the month, then my father died.

   I was living in the UK at the time and my family was in the USA. i had 10 dollars in my wallet, but my family was asking me to fly an international flight back fo the funeral.

   I was in the military so they paid for my flight back, but it was ton of paperwork and I literally had toi hand carry each form all over the base to get a check signed off, meanwhile my family is asking why don’t I just “get on a plane”. It was the most surreal and fucked up thing I ever experienced. They couldn’t just get I HAD NO MONEY.

   I got home, went to the funeral and was trying to get back to the UK before all my bills were due (90’s had to literally pay everything in person at the post office). My mom gave me shit about leaving so soon. I told her, if I stay much later, all my shit is going to be shut off.

   How I survived? I told everyone to basically f–k off, I got shit to do and left. To this day, I haven’t spoken to my father’s side of the family and happier for it

8. About $20 or so. But it wasn’t really a life or death situation, since unemployment benefits were coming in a few days and I’m good at living on a shoestring budget.

9. I’m currently $700K in debt, if that makes you feel better.

10. Most everyone here has probably more debt that they’re liable for than money in their bank account. You just get up everyday and you get to work. $5 today is a few hundred tomorrow and A few thousand next month if you’re working and living within your means.

11. I’ve been negative before.

    I just put off paying bills, except for rent, until the next paycheck or the next month. I’ve never not had a job so it was never a problem except for the late fees.

12. My lowest was when I was an entire months pay in the red.

    It’s a certain type of feeling when you receive your salary and it puts you at 0. Didn’t have a lavish lifestyle, my salary just wasn’t enough to keep up, I went a tiny bit more in the red at the end of each month.

    Now I’ve got savings and my own house but the recent inflation is triggering some instincts I had hoped not be necessary ever again.

    I hope it gets better for you brother, for all of us.

13. I had like 8$ once.

14. A lot of people have a negative net value. Account balance is meaningless when you have tons of unsecured liabilities and secured liabilities where the asset is valued lower than the debt.

    I have a lot of peers who appear “wealthy” but are running the razors edge of bankruptcy because of all the financing. It’s hilarious but also sad.

15. Converting my country money to dollars, -7000 dollars average.

16. -£1000 ish. Had an agreed overdraft, so the max it ended up costing was around £30-£40 per month.

    Ended up getting lucky with a tax rebate that paid it off. But a few years later, I lost my job, and slowly got back into debt of around £700-£800. This wasn’t so easy to do, but getting another job that paid well, and offered chances for overtime certainly helped.

17. May I ask, how you got to that point?

18. It’s possible to go that low? The lowest I’ve gone is $50 and the bank will alert me when that happens.

19. My lowest low was having six dollars for the rest of the month (got paid monthly, it sucked) and it was like mayyybe the 10th. Bought ramen and parked my car at the top of the city, put it in neutral as much as I could and found different parking lots to sleep in on the way down so I didn’t get caught. Walked to work every day so I didn’t use any gas. Took reburns out the ashtrays on the way, Ate ramen right out the bag. Simpler times. Also had a big ol hatchback Taurus so sleeping wasn’t super uncomfortable. Got pretty lucky that month, and started dating my now wife the month after. Crazy

20. -300 just used my credit card and payed it next month. But spend carefully. Also i live with my parents so 🤷🏻‍♂️

21. Highly doubt that i ever have been under €2k

22. £1800 into my overdraught when I was a student. That was rubbish.

    Of course, I still had my savings accounts, so I was *technically* well in the black, but I don’t dip into those without very, very good reason.

23. Well, I currently have less than that in my account and on-hand. It’s been years of this intermittently, but hopefully only 2 weeks away from being away from that forever.

24. Today I had to pay car insurance and scheduled checkup and on friday I have to pay yearly road toll.

    I am left without savings and I am 300€ into minus on my account from -400€ allowed. I also had to file a request to a bank to increase my max limit on my credit card so I can pay car checkup.

25. When unemployment took 6 months to get back to me during the pandemic.

26. Got to negative $741, started working second job on weekends, and did handyman electrical work after hours helping a friend. Did that for the first 3 years Obama was in office

27. The first time i found out about ATM automatic loans I offered to pay my mother’s bills for a ceremony I was taking part of. She’d travel all the way from home, stay for a couple days, watch the ceremony, go to a ball, this kind of stuff. I stayed on the negative until the end of the year. Worthy though, got my old lady to travel a little.

28. I had $80. Spent 30 on clothes for a date. Spent another 35 on the date. The next day, I returned the clothes.

29. -1200 and a shit load of private loans too. I got a lot of help from friends and started putting all my money in envelopes for each weak