“Dear Steve,
I currently am financially strapped due to not getting child support over a year ago. I have been trying to find full time employment but that is not easy and my credit cards are getting behind because I only have so such money to pay on them plus household expenses. I contacted a debt settlement company but the monthly payment would be around $500.00 each month and that is money that I just don’t have. I am trying to find full time work or even do work from home but so far that is working out for me.
Can you tell me that it is in my best interest to file bankruptcy. My credit card debt is around $33,000.00 and I just do not know what to do at this point. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Eileen”
The Answer:
Dear Eileen,
Let’s look at the situation first. You are not getting the child support you legally deserve to care for the children, you are unemployed and unable to find work and your credit card debt is unmanageable. Additionally there is no reasonable expectation your employment situation is going to change soon nor that the child support is going to start to roll in.
I’d love to know what debt settlement company tried to sell you a debt settlement solution in this situation because frankly, they are idiots for trying and crooks if they had been successful.
From what you’ve told me you need all the income coming in just to get by. And on top of that I suspect some of the debt on the credit cards was just to make ends meet. If you had gone into a debt settlement program, let the cards fall behind and made payments to the debt settlement company, how could you have afforded that and life at all?
By all means you should consider bankruptcy. Click here to find a local bankruptcy attorney and go talk to them. While bankruptcy will end the issues over the current debt my concern is that you will need to be able to care for you and your children on the money you have coming in without the fallback of credit cards.
Talk to your local social service department and ask them for help to enforce the child support situation. You will need that money. Do it for the kids.
Hold your chin up, address the debt situation with bankruptcy, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.