My partner and I have been dating for a few months now and things are becoming more serious. I need to tell them about my financial situation but I am terrified.
I am currently approx. 19k in credit card and personal loan debt (I also have 40k student loan debt but it’s 0% interest and no monthly payment currently). I accumulated this debt from a combination of poor spending habits and being in grad school. I get paid approx. 24k per year in my program.
However, within the past few months, I have significantly changed my lifestyle in an attempt to tackle this debt. I moved back in with my parents so I no longer pay rent or any related bills. I do not eat out, drink alcohol, or buy clothes/non-necessities. Because of this, I have managed to bring my debt from 27k in Jan 2025 down to its current balance at 19k in July 2025. I no longer use my cc and more than half of my income goes towards paying off my debt. My cc should be paid off completely by the end of this year and my loan hopefully by late 2026/early 2027).
I am so ashamed of my situation and I am not sure how to go about telling my partner all this. I am worried they will think differently of me. Our financial situations have briefly come up in conversation but I have shut down the convo because I was too ashamed to even say I’m in debt, let alone tell them how much debt I’m in.
TL;DR: I am in 19k debt but am working towards paying it off. How do I go about telling my newish partner about my debt?