Should I consider bankruptcy

[thewupk]

To say this is embarassing is an understatement but after a year plus of barely being able to make the minimum payments on time for all my credit card debt I think I am at the end.  I have a mix of 18 cards that total around $42K in unsecured debt. I also have a personal loan of  $2.7K where I attempted to consolidate some CC debt that has failed. I also have $800 left on a loan for furniture financing. 

There is also a car loan that is $20K that is currently $10K upside down on. Plus a student loan that is $3K.

Me and my wife make roughly 3000-3600 a month depending on what type of monthly bonuses we get. 

We are paying $1400 a month on the credit card debt. $200 a month on the personal loan and furniture financing. The car payment is $420 a month and $50 a month on the student loan.

I am aware the student loan is not something that will go away and at $50 it's not that big of a deal. So we are paying a total of $2400 a month on the rest. Add that in with our rent , daycare, and utitilies and we have been at times the last few months had more expenses than we have been brining in. So of course when that happens we just charged more to pay for food, etc.

Totally irresponsible I know but right now I am just looking for a way out. The stress is definately aging me. I plan on getting in contact with lawyers this week.

[Anonymous]

I only wish I'd applied sooner. Now that it's over, and my CH13 BK has been discharged, I'm so thankful I went through with it. I was in tears at the thought of declaring BK, but it didn't take long for me to be at peace with my decision. I had a lot of medical related debt and things just snow balled. 

[sarge12]

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@thewupk wrote:

To say this is embarassing is an understatement but after a year plus of barely being able to make the minimum payments on time for all my credit card debt I think I am at the end.  I have a mix of 18 cards that total around $42K in unsecured debt. I also have a personal loan of  $2.7K where I attempted to consolidate some CC debt that has failed. I also have $800 left on a loan for furniture financing. 

There is also a car loan that is $20K that is currently $10K upside down on. Plus a student loan that is $3K.

Me and my wife make roughly 3000-3600 a month depending on what type of monthly bonuses we get. 

We are paying $1400 a month on the credit card debt. $200 a month on the personal loan and furniture financing. The car payment is $420 a month and $50 a month on the student loan.

I am aware the student loan is not something that will go away and at $50 it's not that big of a deal. So we are paying a total of $2400 a month on the rest. Add that in with our rent , daycare, and utitilies and we have been at times the last few months had more expenses than we have been brining in. So of course when that happens we just charged more to pay for food, etc.

Totally irresponsible I know but right now I am just looking for a way out. The stress is definately aging me. I plan on getting in contact with lawyers this week.

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If you are so far in debt that you are at best treading water, and making no progress on the principal, bankruptcy is in fact probably inevitable. The biggest mistake people make is getting in such shape that bankruptcy is needed. The second biggest mistake is to delay declaring bankruptcy when it becomes obvious that it will eventually have to be done. If the best you can hope for is to maintain your current level of debt, then it is past time to talk to a bankruptcy attorney to get your finances under control. Many here, including myself have had to face this. Learn from it, and you can have good credit in the future. I have been a slow learner and filed ch13 and ch7 in my life. My Fico scores have been 800+ on at least 1 CR since 2010 at least.