over my head

Since you have registered with this site, a debt counselor will be contacting you soon and advise you as to your best course of action. Bankruptcy should only be used as a last resort. You don't want to start out a new relationship having bankruptcy on your credit reports for the next 10 years. So you're wise to try to avoid that route. Let us know what you decide to do and how things are going. You can always find someone here to listen. Good luck!

There are better ways if you are willing to pay off the debts. You can explain your creditors about the problems you are going through and arrange a payment plan. If you can offer them some money every month, they might have some hardship programs in your case.

If this doesn't work, use a debt management program for paying your debts. The interest rates may be quite high at this stage. It is tough to catch up on the payments with those rates. Most will go towards interests alone. Those rates can be lowered down after enrolling in the program. Late fees can also be waived off bringing down the total debt.

If this plan doesn't sound right, debt settlement will be the perfect fix for you. You get half the debt amount settled in the program. The counselor will let you know how this program works. You should understand everything before going ahead on this plan.

Finally, bankruptcy is for those who are unable to make payments in the consolidation as well as in the settlement program. Nowadays, bankruptcy is also a costly affair. You will come to find out that there is a very little difference in the amount if you would have gone for the other alternatives as mentioned above.

Be careful if you decide to use a debt management program b/c they will not really help your credit as much as you doing it alone. If you are able to make pmts with them as low as $25.00 (depending on the balance) most of them will accept. I, myself was going to use one of them, and did for about 1 month, then I cancelled the agreement. I contacted all of my creditors right after the cancellation, and asked if they would accept the same amount of pmt from me, all of them accepted and I currently have one payment that is $15.00. Most of your creditors will understand, and will try to help. But some of them would rather see you in court than to help you. Let me know if there is any way that I can help you further. Good luck in the future...