That's definitely a tough situation to be in. I think the first thing you need to do is sit down and really determin if there is a way you can change your situation. Is there any way you can cut your budget ($1400 a month defintiely does not sound excessive, but you need to judge for yourself)? Is there any way for you to make more money, either now or in the future? If you can either reduce your expenses or increase your income, then sit down and make a plan and stick to it.
On the other hand, it's possible that you will sit down and determine that there isn't likely to be any change. In that case, as other have suggested, it might be best to cut bait and start anew. Again, I'm not advocating for this choice, but if there is no light at the end of the tunnel, it's better to bit the bullet now rather than let it drag on (OK, no more metaphors from me in this post).
I want to share my personal observations and you can draw your own conclusion. In the 2008-2009 timeframe, I was in grad school. My credit debt was rising slowly but that was planned I paid for school and was on track to have a huge jump in income upon graduation. Then, the company I was planning to join went into bankrupcty as part of the financial crisis. Not only did my job no longer exist, but thousands of other people with my exact skill set were out on the street looking for jobs as well. I did what I thought made sense at the time, continued looking for work, burned through savings to keep up with credit obligations and was able to do that for several years. But by 2010, the job market still had not recovered (especially for my line of work) and I had exhausted all my resources. I had no choice but to let all my accounts go into default.
It was about 2-3 more years before I got full-time work in the field I had studied for and within the first 6 months I settled all my past charge-offs and such and slowly got back on the road to building my credit back. It was about two more years before I got my first unsecured credit after the crisis ($3k Quicksilver One card from Cap One), and then I found myFICO forums and my rebuild has come along nicely since then. The last of my baddies are scheduled to fall off in about 6 months (7 years after I had to let them go in 2010) and at that time I'll try my hand at getting back with the last few lenders that I burned. I've also got plans to buy a house later next year.
So, that's one person's a story of what you might face if you were to try to fight it out. From 2008-2010 I really struggled to keep up with my cards, and from 2010-2014 I couldn't get a sniff of unsecured credit. The last years have definitely been on the upswing.
OTOH, I see so many reports of people who file for BK, and within a few weeks or months, are able to get unsecured credit with certain lenders. It seems like they were able to get back to rebuilding their credit, and while certain lenders will lock you out as long as you have a BK on your record, there are others that will let you back in very soon after. I sometimes wonder what my rebuild would be like if I had simply went the BK route in 2008-2009 when my job evaporated instead of struggling and sending money in for years only to prolong and possibly make more painful the eventual recovery. I wonder if I had gone BK in 2009, would I have been in the position I am now 3-4 years ago rather than today?
So again, I'm not advocating for you to do one thing or another, however if you take an honest look at your expenses and income (including possibilies of increasing your income in the future) and do not see a way to pay down your debt, it may be better to (OK, one more metaphor) rip the bandage off all at once rather than go slowly and suffer for years only to eventually run up against the inevitable.
Good luck.
