Is bankruptcy the best solution?

Question

After having been wrongfully terminated August of last year, and being out of work for nearly 4 months with no income, my car was repossessed. On top of owing close to $15,000 for that, I owe for a cell phone bill, as well as 4 credit cards, one of which I got to help out while I was out of work. Are there any other options to get myself out of debt without spending years and more money than actually owed to avoid filing bankruptcy? Some of these credit cards have gone up 4 times the amount that was initially owed. One of my major concerns is that I was paying the payment protection plan and none of the companies honored it. I would have easily been able to pay my debt had they honored the payment protection plan. I could dispute that and get the amount owed down to the actual amount, but where does that leave me with paying off a car I don't have? Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm only 26 and the last thing I want to do is file bankruptcy.

Answer 1

Eek, sorry to hear your dilemma. Well first things first what are you doing for money? You gotta eat and  live somewhere so are you on EI? You're going to need to get a job ASAP...even if it's not what you want...do what you NEED to do to get your head above water.

If you declare bankruptcy it may stay on your report for 10 years as opposed to 7. Your reposession and 4 credit card defauts have already adversely affected your credit so your 7 year clock has already started tickign.

What you may want to do is contact credit counselling for a consolidation. I'm really amazed why card companies and collecting payment protection premium and then not honoring them. I'd write the FTC right away and dispute that.

Just becareful even if you win your case, you'd have a minor victory with major debt.