hardship withdrawal
Gaining traction is your first priority. WARNING: as @JosephZambrano explains in his answer the tax penalty for withdrawing from a 401(k) can easily exceed the APR of the credit card making it a very bad strategy. Consult in-depth with a financial advisor to see before taking that path.  As @JoeTaxpayer has noted a loan is another alternative. The 401k is no good to you if you can't have shelter or comfort in the mean time.  The idea is to look at all the money as a single thing and balance it together.  There is no credit and retirement, just a single target that you can hit by moving the good money to clear the bad. Consolidating the credit card debt somehow would be very wise if you can.  Assuming it is 30% APR shrinking that quickly is the first priority. You may be able to justify a hardship withdrawal to finance the reduction/consolidation of the credit card.  It may be worth considering negotiating a closure arrangement with a reduced principal.  Credit card companies can be quite open to this as it gets their money back. You may also be able to negotiate a lower interest rate. You may be able to negotiate a non-credit-affecting debt consolidation with a debt consolidator.  They want to make money and a 25K loan to a person with sound credit is a pretty good bet. Moving, buying a house, or any of that may just relocate the problem.   You may be able to withdraw $25K from your 401k under hardship, pay the credit card, and come up with a payment plan for the medical debt. It's a retirement setback for sure, but retirement is an illusion with that credit card shark eating all of your hard-earned money.  You gotta slay that beast quick. Again, be sure to fully analyze whether the penalty on the 401(k) withdrawal exceeds the APR of the credit card. With respect to the 401(k). Before taking a hardship withdrawal, one must first deplete the ability to take any 401(k) loans available. This is a regulation. The 401(k) loan limit is the lesser of $50k, 50% your vested balance, or $50k minus the highest loan balance within the last year. Here's the good news: it is not a taxable event; you can pay back over a maximum of 5 years; interest is low (usually 4.25% or so). The bad news: if you terminate employment then the loan balance must be repaid or else it becomes taxable income plus a 10% penalty. I suggest you consider eliminating the credit card debt via this option. Pay back as aggressively as possible and if/when you terminate you can take the 10% penalty - it will be far less of an impact than 25k accruing approximately 25% annually.
"As long as you're willing to pay the taxes and the penalties, once you're no longer employed you're allowed to do whatever you want. You can always do an ""direct roll-over"" (See IRC Sec. 401(a)(31)(A) which mandates this) and then withdraw from another qualified account, thus creating a withdrawal, if they refuse to just mail you a check (Why would they care? Don't know). The match may have some vesting restrictions, though. Your own contributions - are yours to do with whatever you feel like. That said, just pointing out the obvious - it's a very bad idea. Unless you expect to die before you're 60 and don't want to leave a dime to your heirs, you would probably be better off leaving it in a tax-sheltered account. If the custodian is bad - just roll over elsewhere, there's tons of excellent IRA providers." You can change your withholdings (IRS form w-4) to take additional money from your paycheck and get it back when you file a refund. Maybe you could buy a gift visa, place it in a bag and freeze it in a tub of water.  That could help put the impulse on ice for 24hrs. It is natural right to enjoy the money you work for.  Be sure to include some enjoyable spending in your budget or you will be miserable.   When breaking a habit, try to do one thing different, no matter how silly it is.   Anything to bring your attention back to the big picture. The cost of an extra 30 days is $1459.80 Gläubiger ID ungültig seems to indicate that the side trying to pull money from your account used a Gläuber-ID that has expired or has been revoked. (Just in case someone has the same question, two years later.) If you leave your job (or lose it) the loan is due on separation. You'll pay tax and a10% penalty. As others have pointed out in comments and answers, the 6 withdrawal limit was based on Regulation D. Banks/credit unions that offer checking-account based HSAs do exist, with no limit on the number of withdrawals (at least according to information given to me over the phone -- I didn't check the disclosure brochures). Concrete examples (I can't vouch for any of these, just found them in my research): I am in a very similar situation. My wife and I made decent money in the early to mid-2000's but handled the tax end of the business VERY poorly. However for the last 5 years we've been close to poverty and owing the IRS close to 60K because of the accumulated penalty and interest. On top of that, they started garnishing my wife's paycheck putting ourselves further in the whole. Finally got the courage to call them and explain the situation and was classified as a 'CNC' or Can Not Collect. Basically, there is nothing they can take from us and removed the garnish from my wife's check almost immediately. Now they will review our returns yearly and if we do start making real money again, we'll have to set up a payment agreement at that time. Also there is a 10 year limitation on them being able to collect from you so every year that passes removes another year of the past due taxes. Call them, explain your situation and see what happens. I was floored at how understanding they were and completed the paperwork over the phone that determined us to be CNC. all of the unconstitutional efforts by government to eliminate hardship have only led to more hardship, corruption, and a nation which consumes more than it produces.  the citizens of the USA are not brave enough to be free and will experience the consequences.  the crumbling illusion of prosperity is supported by incredible amounts of debt, panic level low interest rates, and obscene levels of welfare and warfare.     it is not the role of government to eliminate hardship or run an economy.  an economy(including the availability of healthcare) is to be crafted by the free choices of consumers and producers.  you can't legislate prosperity.  and freedom includes the freedom to endure hardship. China follows a policy to administer withdrawal of Foreign Exchange. One would need to review the relevant rules and regulations and complete the formalities required. At a broad level there is restriction of transferring more than USD 50K per year. More about the rules can be found on SAFE. It's not your money. What does your wife think of this?  You know, the withdrawal is subject to full tax at your marginal rate as well as a 10% penalty. That's quite a price to pay, don't do it. You elected to defer paying taxes by contributing to an IRA. Lawmakers simply want to make sure that they collect those taxes by requiring you to either withdraw the money (incurring a tax liability) or pay a penalty (tax). There are a few loan programs that grant exceptions to bankruptcy requirements in the event of extenuating circumstances that can be proven to be outside of your control (i.e. massive medical bills that you used bankruptcy to settle, etc.) however, in order to make the case for this exemption, you would need to make a strong case for your solvency, shown the ability to re-establish your credit reputation since the discharge of your bankruptcy, and would almost certainly have to go through a bank that offers manual underwriting. Additionally, if you are Native American, the HUD-184 program is a great option for your situation as it allows for a wide latitude in terms of underwriter discretion and is always manually underwritten as there is no automated underwriting system developed for the loan program. There are several great lenders that offer nationwide financing (as long as you're in a HUD-184 eligible area) and would be a great potential solution if you meet the qualifying parameter of being Native American. You are not allowed to take a routine 401(k) withdrawal each year. There are specific reasons that you might be allowed to take a withdrawal and what you're proposing doesn't fit into those categories. employed under the table and doesn't have a bank account If I could make that size 10,000,000 font I would.  Your friend likely also isn't paying taxes.  The student loan penalties will be nothing compared to what the IRS does to you.   Avoid taking financial advice from that person. They sure can. They are two different legal entities, so why not? You can even write a check to yourself, and then deposit it back into your own account. (Not very useful, but you can). The tax implications are a very different question, as this might constitute taking money out of the company. Edit: In some countries, when the business hires someone to work for them, it is forbidden by law to do that, unless he/she is explicitly allowed to do it in his contract. The business owner himself however, can always 'allow' himself to do that.