I had to file for bankruptcy protection in 2005 due to some health problems and financial woes. I just couldn't make the payments that were needed on my accounts and little by little, each account got to the point where they were closed and I was owning more and more due to collection agencies coming into play.
I wouldn't recommend bankruptcy as a tool to get your credit score up, per se, because now, I can be denied for credit just because I have "bankruptcy" listed in my credit report. I do know that I was able to start over credit-wise due to the bankruptcy (my Fico score is 620 now) which is really what I needed to do.
You say you have the money to pay, so that might be a good way to go. Who knows, after you pay the creditors off some good will letters might get the accounts deleted from your credit report which is ALWAYS much better than a bankruptcy staying on your report for 10 years. JMO