I need help on what to do with credit card debt and filing for bankruptcy ? I am over 42,000 in bebt on CCs. I lost my job and have enough saved for 4 months to keep a roof over my head. I have money to pay a lawyer to file but I don't know since I don't have any income if they will come after my house. This is all I have and have to many animals to go some where else. They are like my kids and I just don't know what to do. The credit card companies are a joke and won't work with you all as we all know ! I want to know if I should just not file and wait to get a job . I know that they will garnish my wages... in Arizona how much can they get ? What would you do ? HELP!

sjk2317 -

First off, I'm really sorry to hear that you lost your job. I know times are tough and many people are feeling the pressure of our really tough economy. My heart goes out to you, definitely.

Look, if I were you, I would continue to make my minimum payments and if you are unable to pay all of your cards each month, let your creditor know that you are having a tough time at the moment. Instead of paying $80 a month, ask them if they'll accept $40. They can't bleed water from a rock so something is better than nothing from their perspective.

It is your moral obligation to try and settle your own debts to the best of your ability. Should you file for bankruptcy? If I were you, I wouldn't even be thinking about it. My own moral conviction is that my debts are mine and I shouldn't look to just write them off. It may take you a while to pay your debts off but you will learn a valuable lesson in doing so. I've been there... I've had to climb out of more than $20,000 in debt before. It took a while but I am so glad I stuck with it. Now I only have my student loan and I'm working diligently at paying that off.

The bottom line is that you have to make some lifestyle changes. How in the world did you amass $42,000 in debt on credit cards? You have to change your mindset on spending or else even after bankruptcy, you'll be right back where you are now. And quite frankly, filing bankruptcy has an impact on guys like me because the credit card companies spread the writeoffs around in the form of higher interest rates, even though I have good credit. My credit card company has raised my rate from 6.99% 4 years ago to 9.99% currently and they just will not lower my rate. It's because of defaulters who don't pay their credit cards off. Please, consider how your decision affects others.

I hope you are able to find work quickly and sincerely wish the best for you.

I will differ on what Jake suggested. First pay only the needed bills to live, home, electric and the things to eat and stay alive. If you have no income coming in, work out a budget to make you live as long as possible, cut out cable TV, cut out any eating out, check out things like angel food network to help with food, and so much more.

Paying less than min is not going to really help you a lot, often you you are paying less than the interest'

As for as bankruptcy, you can file but can not have too much equity in the home.

But at this point until you get back to work, you are most likely going to be getting deeper in debt since you are not working. If you lost your health insurance, you will end up with medical biills most likely,

So my advice, there is little they can do at this point, so wait till you are back to work, then file to protect but if you file too early you will end up with debts that you can't file on latter since you had already filed

I will differ on what Jake suggested also. I agree with the above response in that you should only pay what it is needed to survive. The rest will just have to wait until you get a job or get back on your feet. You said you had saved enough for 4 months, hopefully by the time your resources run out you will have found a job or some other way to save your house and will therefore have no reason to file bankruptcy. Apparently you had good credit before you lost your job as I don't see them giving $42,000 dollars in credit to just anybody. Personally I don't care how you came to amass $42,000 in credit card debt either. I think you are exhibiting tremendous responsibility just by asking this question rather than going into default with a blasé attitude. I do not know the laws in Arizona and therefore I cannot comment on how much they would garnish.

Good luck!

Each answer above has good points.


Here's what I would do:

Find a bankruptcy lawyer in the Yellow Pages. Every one I've ever seen will give an initial free consultation. You especially need to know the rules for whether your home is subject to seizure in a bankruptcy. It depends on the equity you have in the home. If little or no equity, your home is safe.

Btw, it is much better to negotiate with the credit card companies before they write you off and turn you over to a collection agency.



These are tough times. Be willing to take any job that will keep you going until you can what you really want.

Best of luck.

Agree but advise you ask if the first visit is free, IN Atlanta now one in three charges for the first visit from 50 to 125 dollars. So only about 2/3 are free here now.

I will assume the forma warning you have received helps you understand that no, rules are not broken for the protection of the people.

But you may be surprised, often those free adds are for a very limited talk then they want more to actually review your info. This change in charging came about when they new bankruptcy laws were changed.

Please don't request PM's - it's against the rules of the site.
From what I read and from my own experience here, the site rules say this --

"Please Note: Do not use Private Messaging for questions that should be asked in an appropriate topic."

Athos' very kind and generous offer does not fall under this rule. The rule means we are not to take the question and give our own private answers to it in PMs, but to leave it on the board for everyone to be able to respond to. Had the OP originally asked for resume help and had posted all or part of his resume on the Writing or Resume or another appropriate board, the responses would have all had to stay public and in that thread.

In any event, the OP is new and cannot send or receive PMs. An e-mail exchange could instead be initiated.

Regarding legal services, in Illinois low-cost legal service is available, and many lawyers offer a free initial consultation. All it takes is a phone call or a visit to your local public library or a search through the Yellow Pages to find out.

Thanks to all who responded ! In response to how or why I got $42,000 in debt... well among a few things I had surgery , hours cut at work and the BIG EX who was using my credit card before she split!! Now I am here to take the heat for it . I still haven't gotten the answer that I need. If I file then I will get the credit card companies off my back . I don't have a job so I can't prove that I can keep my house. If anyone has dealt with Countrywide home loans you would know that they will take your house before they will help you out ! We can bail them out , but they will go after you ! I know of 10 people who only needed a few hundred dollars of mortgage cuts a month to keep a roof over their heads and most of them have kids ! Countrywide said the big fat ZERO ! So that is my concern I can make it if I had some help there. I would be able to file for a relief on the credit card debt and then keep my house at the same time. I just don't want to waste a lot of money on a attorney if I could find another route to take ! That money is another month in my house and maybe a chance to find an answer !

Anyone else have anything or a good result to share ?:eek:

Thanks to all who responded ! In response to how or why I got $42,000 in debt....... well among a few things I had surgery , hours cut at work and the BIG EX who was using my credit card before she split !!! Now I am here to take the heat for it . I still haven't gotten the answer that I need. If I file then I will get the credit card companies off my back . I don't have a job so I can't prove that I can keep my house. If anyone has dealt with Countrywide home loans you would know that they will take your house before they will help you out ! We can bail them out , but they will go after you ! I know of 10 people who only needed a few hundred dollars of mortgage cuts a month to keep a roof over their heads and most of them have kids ! Countrywide said the big fat ZERO ! So that is my concern I can make it if I had some help there. I would be able to file for a relief on the credit card debt and then keep my house at the same time. I just don't want to waste alot of money on a attorney if I could find another route to take ! That money is another month in my house and maybe a chance to find an answer !

Anyone else have anything or a good result to share ?:eek:



If you are unable to deal with Countrywide and cannot negotiate with the cc companies I see no choice but filing in bankruptcy.

The only person who can review EVERYTHING and advise you is an Attorney. Anything else is guess work and no two situations are the same.

No one is going to give free advice
A free consultation is not an opportunity for a potential client to get free advice. The potential client asks for the consultation in order to present his situation to the attorney and to find out if the case is worth pursuing or what might all be involved if the client goes ahead to obtain a resolution. My friends and I have gotten free consults from attorneys regarding wills and trusts, divorce, home purchase, and private adoption. The free consultations have occurred by phone as well as in person in an attorney's office.

A free consultation is not an opportunity for a potential client to get free advice. The potential client asks for the consultation in order to present his situation to the attorney and to find out if the case is worth pursuing or what might all be involved if the client goes ahead to obtain a resolution. My friends and I have gotten free consults from attorneys regarding wills and trusts, divorce, home purchase, and private adoption. The free consultations have occurred by phone as well as in person in an attorney's office.

You are perfectly correct. I hope the original poster hasn't gone and is still able to see this.

Seem to gotten away form OP issues

Thread closed

Comments on this post
Athos (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/members/athos.html) disagrees: This is simply untrue. Lawyers DO provide free consults - always have.

First, may I call your attention to the guidelines for using the comments feature found here:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/feedback/using-comments-feature-24951.html

Neither Judy nor Chuck said that free consultations weren't available. What was said was that not all attorneys still offer free consults under all circumstances. Since this is true, your negative ratings were not appropriate.

As to the PM/offline contact issue, I don't want to hijack the OP's thread further so I opened a discussion on this issue here:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/other-member-discussions/pm-offline-contact-306174.html#post1497405