I have a lot of debt is bankruptcy the best bet?

My credit score is so low that I cannot find anyone who will help with getting a refinance on my house to help pay off. I barely break even every month and don't have extra to pay off on my own. Most months I am in the negative not paying one bill that month to pay another and so on. Is bankruptcy the only option? I have $0.00 in credit card so the consolidation people won't help either.

I help people with personal financial counseling, and I rarely EVER recommend bankruptcy because it's one of the most painful things that you can go through. Don't let someone try to convince you that it's simple. What I would do is go and pick up the book "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey or check out my website below for a little information on this topic. Thousands of people in similar situations have worked themselves out of debt without bankruptcy and are grateful for it.

All you need is a plan, and "The Total Money Makeover" will give you that.

Hope that helps

http://www.financialgym.org

Also check out
http://www.daveramsey.com

Have you tried MyCommunity Mortgage? It is a Govt. program for lower income families. If you need a little help or need some questions answered, write to my email with a return address and I can point you in the right direction.

Contact your creditors and tell them you are in a situation where you are considering bankruptcy, ask them if they can adjust your loan terms. Start with the highest interest debt and work your way down.

On your side you need to squeeze every once of fat out of your budget, so that you can get yourself out of this mess. The first step is to keep track of what you spend. Then have someone who you trust and is good with money help you sort out expenses you can reduce/eliminate.

Bankruptcy may be your only option, but the real question you should be asking is how did you get into so much financial trouble? Did you buy a house or enter into a mortgage you could not afford? Refinancing sounds like a real bad idea if you can't control your spending. Your best bet may be to sell the house immediately. Or... better, get a second job to payoff your debts. If you have zero equity, you're going to lose it, regardless of whether you file bankruptcy. Once you do, it will be a long time before you'll qualify for a mortgage again, during which time you can get some counseling on how to manage money.

Get a second job, work a little harder and take responsibility for your actions. I am tired of everyone taking the easy way out and making me pay for it.

How did you buy a house with such bad(low) Credit?

Sure, you might as well. Let the rest of the world pay your debt off for you.

I would contact your creditors first and explain the situation. If that doesn't help then you need to find out how much filing ch 13 or 7 would cost? I think it is around 1500.00? Maybe a second job for a while until you get back on your feet.
Maybe a second lien on your house? try financial.. they do loan credit loans with a house or a car title.
Best of Luck to you.

Depends on what state you're living in. In Texas, bankruptcy tends to offer more protections than a lot of other states. For example, unsecured creditors cannot EVER garnish your wages.

You should see an attorney in your state to review your options. Bankruptcy stays on your credit for 10 years.

You could try going to a personal-finance advisor, but they may charge a fee (not sure). Some might be free, though.

One good way to get control is to write everything down on paper (make a budget) and then have the discipline to stick really close to it. By doing this, you eliminate potential waste (i.e., luxury items you don't HAVE to have at all, such as going to movies, eating in expensive restaurants, etc.). Also, if you are a smart shopper, eating in restaurants is NOT cheaper than eating at home. Three meals a day in a restaurant could be as much as $15-$40 per day (even more for some).

In short, do NOT attempt to live beyond your means, or you will always spend more money than you bring in (and always be in debt). For the short term, you could try dropping a few luxuries from your monthly bills. Examples of these luxuries would be like those listed below.

1). Cable Bill --- You could get only basic cable channels for less than having the extra cable channels, which aren't all that great anyway.

2). Phone Bill --- Get rid of the phone if you truly do not need it. However, if you do need the phone, try to use prepaid phone cards for long-distance (state to state) calls and try to limit your time on long distance calls.

3). Car(s) --- if your car is too expensive for you, just sell it and use the cash to get a less expensive car. For example, if you're paying a $250 car payment each month, you could get rid of that car and get another for maybe $150 per month. No, your car, truck, or SUV is NOT sexy (either you are sexy or you are not sexy). ;) If your car is currently worth, say, $10,000, you could sell it and buy a decent used car for maybe $5,000 - $6,000, which would give you an extra $4,000 - $5,000 to pay off some of your debt.

4). Movies --- Don't buy new DVD/VHS movies. It's a waste of money and can cost as much as $20 (or more) each for newer releases. It's also relatively expensive to go see a new movie in a movie theater or drive-in, so this could be cut out or minimized as well.

5). Restaurants --- Once again, unless you just buy everything you see in a grocery store (regardless if the item beside it is just as good and costs less), eating in restaurants is generally NOT cheaper than eating at home. Spending $15 on a restaurant meal that would have had a cost of maybe $5 or less at home does NOT make sense (especially for someone with debt problems). Consider taking your own lunch to work rather than paying higher prices in a deli, cafeteria, or restaurant, too.

6). Groceries --- Try to cut down on more expensive items such as meats, coffee, cheese, frozen boxed meals, pre-made cakes, etc. For example, you could buy sliced meat in a package for significantly less than you can buy a large beef roast, and you might even get more meals out of the sliced meat! Coffee isn't very good for you, but if you crave the caffeine in it you could replace it with tea (some tea is as little as $1.50 - $2.50 for 24 family-size bags, which can go a long way).

7). Gasoline --- Drive a little less each week if possible, and if your car/truck/SUV is a gas guzzler, consider getting another car that gets at least 30 mpg on the highway or more. Even with gas prices as high as they are, I'm still amazed to see people putting $60 - $70 or more in their tanks each time they go to the gas station, when it could have been as little as $20-$25 for a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Just think what you could do with that extra $40 - $45 a week that may (or may not) be put into your gas tank.

8). House payment - if your house is too expensive for you, just sell it and either get a cheaper one or even rent an apartment (many apartments will cover things such as lawn maintenance, water, etc.).

You might also be able to bring in some extra money by having a yard sale and getting rid of anything in your house that you don't use anymore. Other than that, perhaps a 2nd part-time job might be of some help... at least for a little while. But it doesn't really matter how much you make, just how well you manage what you make. Be sure to make out a budget and stick by it regardless, and don't worry about what others think of any cheaper stuff you might own (if they are true friends, they will like you regardless of your property).

NOTE: When making a budget, don't forget to allow for any unexpected expenses such as medical bills, home repairs, and car repairs. If you don't spend this money one month, it will be saved and added to the amount you have allowed for it the next month (provided you have the discipline to save it and not spend it on some luxury item). In addition, be sure to list all NEEDS on the budget first, then whatever (if any) is left over can be used for luxury items.

Be careful with the current bankruptcy laws. They are not made to favor you - they favor the corporations. Having said that, you may not have a choice, though. I'm sure you are aware of the recent drop in house prices, so it may be in your best interest to approach them and see if they are willing to help you work something out in this time of desperation. Most do not want to foreclose on a home that their outstanding loan amount is more than the house is worth - along with the estimated time they would hold it before it sold. Do not bow down to the strong arm tactics of anyone, though. Honestly figure out what you can do for each entity you owe and present it to them. They can only say no. Also, don't refi your home for this.

You have a couple options, including credit counseling, debt settlement, or bankruptcy... assuming you cannot get a debt consolidation loan.

Credit counseling lowers your monthly payment a little and takes about 5 years to pay off.

Debt settlement cuts your debt about in half and takes 2-3 years (but your credit rating could go down)

Bankruptcy depends on chapter 13 vs chapter 7. it could take years and cost alot or take about a year and liquidate your debts. either way, it kills your credit rating and is a public record document that can hound you for your life.

I think this page does pretty good justice to comparing options... but it sounds like debt settlement may be your best bet (check out: www.freedomdebtrelief.com or www.debtok.com or you can get a provider by searching debt settlement)... here's the page i like: http://www.bills.com/blog/debt-relief-options

An alternative to bankruptcy is debt relief. There is an explanation of how this works on this webpage where there are lots of useful tips, links etc. I hope this helps!

Good luck.

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