You are just a number.
Well, two actually.
One is your Social Security number, which is meant to identify you. And two, which is your Credit Score which is used to evaluate you from a credit risk standpoint.
Now we'll leave it to Wikipedia to explain Credit Score in detail, but we will give a brief introduction, go over a few observations and debunk some Credit Score myths.
First, Credit Score is a numerical rating between 300-850 (with 850 being the best) that creditors use to evaluate you as a credit risk; i.e. the liklihood that you will repay your debt obligations. Credit Score is calculated by taking into consideration data from all of the various companies that have extended credit to you in the past. This data includes your history of paying your debts on time, the length of time that you have maintained timely payments, the amount of your monthly payments, the type of debt obligations, etc.
The better your credit score, the more credit will be made available to you, the lower your interest rate will be and the higher credit limits you'll receive. In other words, the higher the score the more money you'll have accesss to and the lower the interest rate that you will have to pay to use it.
As you use and enjoy the benefits of having good credit, the more you are likely to want to access it. It generally starts with your first credit card, perhaps received during college, which allows you to enjoy a better meal on occasion than you normally would, or buy some music when you don't have the cash in hand, which you pay back over a few months. Next, you might purchase a car through a car loan which is obtained because of your good credit.
As you can see, once you receive a taste of the "good life" through a respectable Credit Score, you are hooked on the benefits of maintaining a good Credit Score. Want to buy a flat screen TV on a whim? $30/month payments? 0% interest for the first year? No problem, I'll just pay it off over the next year in small, manageable credit card payments.
You are now a slave to your credit score and under the control of the Banking system.
The banks, like drug dealers, know the value of getting user's hooked, and, as such, target college students, teenagers and the youth who are never formally educated on financial responsibility, budgeting and why they don't need to keep up with the Jones'.
Unfortunately for most people, it takes a catastrophic event, like the one that you are in, before we learn how to free ourselves of this addiction to credit.
Although personal accountability is important, don't blame yourself for your current predicament, this is how the credit system was designed, and your situation is just a natural statistical probablility!
Furthermore, it can happen to anyone, regardless of your socio-economic background. Whether you are rich, poor, white, black or other, it can happen to you. I come from a middle class background, I am college educated, and still I am in the same place as you. Catastrophe knows no boundaries. It happens to the affluent too; the car being repossesed may be better than yours, but the end result is still the same.
There is a silver lining to this uncomfortable experience.
Most people who deal with their credit card debt difficulties usually come out the other end of the experience with an improved discipline in financial matters, awareness that they need to budget and the acceptance that they need to save more and live beneath their means. This is the beginning of that silver lining for you.