Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Wisconsin

You can only receive a chapter 7 discharge every eight years, but you can get a chapter 13 discharge after just two and a half years following your chapter 7 date. Chapter 13 cases require you to make a payment which you can afford under applicable rules for a period of three to five years. It can sometimes be as little as 5% or less that what you owe on unsecured debt. In my experience, you are unlikely to have much luck negotiating with credit card companies unless you have a lump sum of money available to offer them. For clients who are able to come up with that (usually via a loan from a relative), I have had very good luck proposing a pro rata distribution of available funds to all creditors in exchange for a forgiveness of the balance. If you don't have this option, however, a chapter 13 can really help you and can even reduce car payments for vehicles which you have had for at least a few years. My comments here are not legal advice, nor do they create an attorney client relationship between us. However, you are welcome to contact my office to discuss retaining me or to set up a free initial consultation at my office in Racine. I also can sometimes arrange to travel outside of Racine for initial consultations if absolutely necessary.