Just looking for some advice & know this is a great place to get it.
A little back story. A few years prior I came to these boards and with the help of advice I got from here, I was able to clean up my credit and get it in the high 600's, low 700's. Needless to say, with those numbers, I got a little "too big for my britches" as we say here in the South and went a little spree crazy. I was getting cards like crazy, had about 9-11 at one time, minimum limit around $2K, with NFCU & USAA giving me $15K & $14K limits respectively. Ridiculous limits when you consider my income at the time was only $28K per year (& yes I was honest about my income when asked about it in the increase request). Keep in mind when I was making the $28K I was living with my mom so my cost of living was relatively low.
So I finally get a new job making a bit more, but I also moved out (as a single mom of two kids) into my own home where I'm now paying all the costs that are associated with such. The inevitable happens after the credit card free-for-all and I rack up credit card debt that's around $30K. It got to the point where minimums couldn't even be paid so all my credit cards are just in default now.
Jump to now, I just recently had to purchase a car (within the last 45 days) because mine was constantly breaking down so I had no other choice if I wanted to continue to show up to the job that pays me.
I'm currently searching for a second, part-time job to help out financially, but I'm wondering if filing bankruptcy (either now or at some time in the future) may be the best option to get me on the road to financial recovery. From what I've researched, it seems like chapter 7 is what I would qualify for. I fall well below in the means tests for Georgia residents. Filing bankruptcy is not going to suddenly free up any funds or anything like that for me.
Just looking to get some thoughts/feedback/suggestions/etc.
Thanks!
Let me know if there's anything pertinent that I may have left out that you need to know!
