while should I avoid bankruptcy?

It depends on your situation. Where you advised to do this? How bad is your debt load/income ratio?

Hi martha, it is infact very difficult to judge as it'll depend upon your situation. For some people bankruptcy remain the only option. It may or may nor be your case. Hence some more information is required. If you are comfortable in revealing your financial situation to us, we can see if we can be of any help to you.

Personally I'm not an advocate of bankruptcy. It should always be the last option. Filing bankruptcy means that you are losing your assets, still it doesn't take care of all your unpaid debts (student loans, child support etc). Additionally, it ruins you credit and remain on the report for 10 years.

yes i agree with tweety....bankruptcy should always be the last resort. Moreover,now one has to qualify the means test to file Chapter 7.

Martha you can go for debt settlement (again it depends on your financial situation). Though debt settlement also affects your score adversely but it is still a better than bankruptcy.

Nelly

I will play devils advocate here and state the other side of the issue. I tried 3 settlement companies and they all failed me. I then filed for bankruptcy and should have done it to begin with. Unless you have alot of spare cash laying around a settlement company will only cause you undue stress and possible lawsuits and/or granishments. A huge weight has been lifted since we filed Chapter 13. Yes, it will be on my credit report for years to come but my credit was in the tubes anyway with months of non-payment while working with the settlement companies. I really do not care to even know ever again what my credit score is. I am going on a cash only basis - credit usually leads most people into trouble and only benefits the creditors, in my opinion.

read my topic "im sleep and no call" i speel it all out there

It DOES depend on the person's sitaution. Some people have ALOT more debt than others. BK may BE the only option left for them. However...BK stays on your CR for MUCH longer than anything else. WISERNOW..I'm glad that BK DID 'work' in your situation.

Why do people always say that BK stays on your credit file. When your credit is damaged because of late payments, did you not think that it will also stay on your credit file for years I was late for two months paying my cc and it's already on my credit file. So the point is, whatever happened to your credit will always be on your file IMHO.