Business Insider July 19, 2026 • 11:48

I was ashamed of my $100,000 debt. When I finally told my friends, they helped me come up with a plan. - Business Insider

By Asha Dore

I was ashamed of my $100,000 debt. When I finally told my friends, they helped me come up with a plan. - Business Insider

I'm a single mom with medical debt and felt like I failed. But I learned that my friends have also experienced debt; now I'm paying in installments.

My deeply southern family raised me to never talk about money. We were poor, sometimes living in our car, and occasionally hungry. But we never said it out loud.
Now, as a single mother of three kid… [+3930 chars]

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