Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

You only have three obvious choices but without knowing the total unsecured debts and the property you own free of debt it is impossible to tell which is the best choice: .

1. If you have no property that can be taken (such as a substantial balance in a bank account, substantial equity in a house or expensive paid for car) then you are likely judgment proof and you may be able to just ignore the creditors and let them do whatever they want. You will get lots of calls and sooner or later be sued and judgments will be obtained against you and more threats after that, etc.. You will not have peace of mind.

2. You can negotiate to settle your debt with the credit card companies for less than you owe if you can get some money to pay in lump sum payments. This might work if you have some money, lots of patience and your credit card balances is not that much (like less than $5,000). You are still going to be getting lots of calls, maybe some lawsuits and certainly no peace of mind either.

3. Bankruptcy might be your only real choice if your credit card debt is $5,000 or more. You can file for bankruptcy chapter 7 for any amount of debt but given the cost of the process my rule of thumb is that about $5,000 in unsecured debt at least merits considering bankruptcy, particularly with older people who are not worried about having to re-establish credit. Given your low income is unlikely you will be able to re-establish credit with or without bankruptcy.

In Chapter 7 you can wipe out all of your credit card debt and have peace of mind and it can be over in about three months. An attorney would charge you about $1,000 and you must either pay $299 filing fee to the court or may qualify for a waiver of fee or fee installment payments if a fee waiver is not possible. Bankruptcy attorneys generrally offer free consultations so why not? Make a list of the balances of all the credit cards. Make a list of your property and any loans against the property you own and go see a lawyer right away before you do anything else. Bankruptcy laws were made by Congress for honest people like you that cannot afford the debt you have due to circumstances such as illness, medical bills, unemployment, etc. If it comes to a decision between prescriptions and credit card bills I think the choice is obvious.... Good luck....