im 22 years old and now 40k in the hole. when i turned 18 i found a bank that would give me a credit card, then they gave me a 20k car loan, then 8k in unsecured cash loans. thats just the bank i owe.. theres another $19k in other stuff aswell
6 months later, the car was wrecked with no insurance, lost my job prior, I cant get a 100 loan if i put 99 bucks down, Its just not worth it. Yes i have learned alot from the mistakes of 4 years ago, but now that i have a different outlook on the value of a dollar, im screwed paying for my mistakes..
Trust me, that $500 can wait.. you really dont wanna go down that road. Learn to live inside your means early, and life wont suck so bad later.