Bankruptcy? Loan? Credit Card Debt?

instead of freecreditreport.com (not really free) go to annualcreditreport.com (truly free).

don’t file bankruptcy just yet, it may end up costing you too much.

have you spoken to your credit card company(ies)? try them first. they really want to get paid and may work with you. if you can’t get anywhere with them, call your local united way office, they have legitimate agencies who will work with you for little or no cost.

a lot of the credit card relief companies do more harm than good, and some are outright scams.

be careful and good luck!

First, go to . That is the free site sanctioned by the government.

The credit repair industry has a questionable, at best, reputation. They can do nothing for you that you can’t do yourself and they charge you money for the privilege. There is no magic bullet or quick fix. The only way to repair your credit is to pay stuff off.

If there are no derogatory items on your credit report, other things that may be affecting your credit are how long you have had credit, and the amount of credit you have available to you. If the $10K you own is more than 30% of the available credit, that will have a negative affect your credit.

Bankruptcy is rarely the best way out. It could give some relief, however there will be a huge scar on your credit report that will follow you for the next 7 years.

The best thing to do is, stop digging yourself in (stop charging things) and pay stuff off. It’s not easy, but that’s how it’s done.

File Bankruptcy and be done with it.
It is not that bad. We filed in 2002 and our credit was fine, we got another credit card (only 1) in 2003.
then we have not had any trouble since, because we have managed it well.

Trian…First things first…the credit card debt relief agency are going to take your money and you don’t really know what they are going to do with it from there…Any debt management company being used should be a Not For Profit agency…that means they work your accounts with no large amounts of money in their pockets. Getting loan with that amount of debt would be hard unless you have outstanding payment history and/or excellent income to get a loan in that amount. With the economy, it’s harder to get that type of loan without perfect credit. Now…if you are 10K in credit card debt and have no alternative route to pay back, you can consult with a bankruptcy attorney, which most see you free the first consultation. They will look at your income, assets if you have any, debts and last 3 or 4 years of taxes. After reveiwing your information, they will be able to tell you what you qualify for. You can reveiw more bankruptcy information from their official website at Where you want to go for your credit reports is You can pull all 3 bureau to get your reports, they will ask some case sensitive information so you can see exactly what is on your reports. You are allowed to pull your reports from each bureau free once a year, and you can set it up that they notify you each year that it’s time for you new free one. I do it every year, just to make sure everything is correct and there is nothing on there that is fraud. Check out that bankruptcy website and it should give you additional information you may need. If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I’ll try to help as much as I can. Good Luck!

Сredit repair workеd fine to fix my credit. They disputed and removed lots of bad items from my credit report. I used this service – creditreport.fateback.com

It all depends on what you really want. If you don’t care about your credit then Bankruptcy could be a solution, but only go this route as a last resort. Depending on where your credit card debt is; if it is still with your original creditor (even in the collections department of your original creditor) then talk to them. See if they will lower your interest rate. They may not but it doesn’t hurt to ask. The problem most people have with credit card debt is that they only pay the minimum amount due. If you are able to, pay more than the minimum to pay them off faster, it will increase your credit score. If your debt is at a collection agency then most likely you are no longer being charged interest and again, come up with a plan to make payments (they may want the full balance yesterday, but they will accept a reasonable payment plan especially if they get it all paid off within a year).

Things that affect your credit are open credit, how long you have had it open, how long you have lived at your address, how often you move, having a correct listing of your employer and length there. How far you are behind, if you have ever been behind, etc. Pretty much everything on your credit report affects the score and things not listed do not (unless it is your address, your correct SSN, your employer) affect it.

A loan may be a good option: It would be a fixed rate and payment and usually something you can get out of/paid off in 5 years. Do this if you can afford it and find a place to lend to you. You may still pay high interest rates, but its better than the revolving pay-forever life of credit cards.

If you decide to go to an agency, do not go to a “debt relief” agency, they will charge you a bundle and in many cases they can’t do anything for you. There was this one that would contact us at my last job that we refused to deal with. We would end up sueing our customer and garnishing their wages for payment, and they would come back and ask why we weren’t dealing with the agency (that was in another state and would never answer the phone or call us back)? It was because the people never bothered to contact us and find out that the company was taking their payment first (thousands of dollars) and allowing their credit to be ruined and then contacting creditors and offering pennies on the dollar. This one couple had $15,000 in debt, had paid them $2,500, none of which was going to the creditors, it was the company’s fee (and they still had not paid the full fee). That couple ended up filing Bankruptcy and was out the $2500. The company was not a scam per se, but they were working in their own best interests, not the consumers.

If you want, go look for a non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling Agency. They will not (or should not) charge you anything. They get paid from the creditors; they say “our client will pay us $100, of that we will pay you $90, but you will credit their account for $100 and we will keep the $10 difference.” Creditors will normally agree to this. You pay and get full value of what you paid and they take a percentage normally 10-15% (some creditors say no, send us the full $100 and then bill us for the % fee). Your credit will still go under, but it is better than Bankruptcy.

If you are unemployed or simply not able to pay the full balances, and the above are not viable options, then Bankruptcy may be the route to go. However, keep in mind that you will need to pay the court filing fee of over $200, plus pay an attorney (unless you know how to do it yourself) probably $1800 or more. The Attorney will need to be paid before s/he files for you. This would be a Chapter 7 filing, where your unsecured creditors get nothing, but it can take 6 months or so to file unless you have the money to file sooner. Make sure you have not used your credit cards for at least 3 months and have not “loaded up” on debt prior to filing (this is fraudulent and you could get stuck having to pay it back anyway or have your case thrown out of court).

If you are working and can pay the debt back, but need a lower interest rate to do so, or you fall within certain guidelines for your state (your attorney will explain this) you may not be able to file a Chapter 7 liquidation and be forced to file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. This means the court will take a portion of your paycheck and pay it out to all your creditors (some states will pay secured creditors, some will tell you to do so directly). Everyone will get something and either get paid off completely in 3 to 5 years, or get paid something in 5 years. This takes longer, but the new Bankruptcy law of 2005 made filing Chapter 7 more difficult for those with the ability to pay.

Good luck whatever you decide. $10,000 is not alot to file Bankruptcy on, but depending on your financial situation might be an option.