Said It Here

How do I know if I should file for bankruptcy?

Deciding to file for bankruptcy involves weighing overwhelming unsecured debt and stagnant or underemployed income against the inability to save or pay off balances. People face this choice when routine monthly payments leave them with barely enough money for groceries and no way to build long-term savings for goals like buying a home.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Hiring the cheapest bankruptcy attorney available
  2. 2
    Saving money to prepare for the process
  3. 3
    continuing to make minimum or monthly payments on debts while struggling to save
  4. 4
    asking debt collectors to pause interest
  5. 5
    selling valuables
  6. 6
    seeking higher-paying jobs

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“I cannot afford the credit card I don’t even use anymore.”source ↗

“If I do this, what should I expect to be prepared for?”source ↗

DrRockit11 · r/personalfinance

“Not sure where to even start. I have about 25k in debt. my husband has 10k in debt which is not as much as I’ve heard of others but somehow we cant pay it off completel.”source ↗

“weve been paying all of our monthly payments, never missed any but also barely have enough money to pay for groceries and anything extra we may need for our 4 children. with that being said, we obviously do not have enough money to save.”source ↗

“We thought filing for bankruptcy so we can get a new start. being able to put whatever money we are putting onto our bills & loans now, into saving so we can buy a home in 2-4 years.”source ↗

Educational_Dance736 · r/personalfinance

Where this came up

r/personalfinancebankruptcydebtdebt managementpersonal financesavings

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