To file or Not to file?
Here is my situation, maybe some of you can offer up some advice....
I'm 26 years old and have managed to rack up almost $60k in unsecured debt (Gee I hate the sound of that) which $22k of that is a debt consolidation loan that I took out a few years ago from one of these oh so helpful CC companies. I have a decent credit score of around 690 and have never missed a payment in all these years and have only been late maybe twice. I make decent money, but it is commission based and my income varies from month to month. All said and done each month, it seems like I have just enough money to pay all the minimum payments and enough to pay the rest of my bills. I really want to purchase a home soon, but right now I have just enough for rent and can't seem to get ahead.
Here are what seem to be my options:
1. Somehow manage to buy a house with the help of rent from my current roomate and maybe some help from my girlfriend. Struggle with the payments for about a year or so and hope to God that it goes up in value enough in a year that I can refinance and use some equity to pay down my CC's. It doesn't seem possible and I hate to get even further into debt, but this would be the most rewarding way to do it.
2. Get into some sort of credit consoling service and hopefully it doesn't ruin my credit too badly. My two ?'s w/ this method would be how badly can this effect my credit score and also, in reallity how much would this shave off of what I owe?
3. File for Chapter 7/13... My parents and my GF are very against this idea, but I see no other realistic alternative. With a fresh start, I'm sure I can save up enought money to purchase a house in 1-2 years, but in reallity, how many people really pull that off after BK? The other problem with this though is time is running out before the law changes go into effect, and in the last 180 days, I've cashed a few of those CC checks to help get me buy when I was between jobs. Granted only one of those was in the last 60 days, but it was for 1500 bucks.
Given my situation and providing some of you read my little BK novel here, what would you do in my situation? I'm absolutly torn
I'm 26 years old and have managed to rack up almost $60k in unsecured debt (Gee I hate the sound of that) which $22k of that is a debt consolidation loan that I took out a few years ago from one of these oh so helpful CC companies. I have a decent credit score of around 690 and have never missed a payment in all these years and have only been late maybe twice. I make decent money, but it is commission based and my income varies from month to month. All said and done each month, it seems like I have just enough money to pay all the minimum payments and enough to pay the rest of my bills. I really want to purchase a home soon, but right now I have just enough for rent and can't seem to get ahead.
Here are what seem to be my options:
1. Somehow manage to buy a house with the help of rent from my current roomate and maybe some help from my girlfriend. Struggle with the payments for about a year or so and hope to God that it goes up in value enough in a year that I can refinance and use some equity to pay down my CC's. It doesn't seem possible and I hate to get even further into debt, but this would be the most rewarding way to do it.
2. Get into some sort of credit consoling service and hopefully it doesn't ruin my credit too badly. My two ?'s w/ this method would be how badly can this effect my credit score and also, in reallity how much would this shave off of what I owe?
3. File for Chapter 7/13... My parents and my GF are very against this idea, but I see no other realistic alternative. With a fresh start, I'm sure I can save up enought money to purchase a house in 1-2 years, but in reallity, how many people really pull that off after BK? The other problem with this though is time is running out before the law changes go into effect, and in the last 180 days, I've cashed a few of those CC checks to help get me buy when I was between jobs. Granted only one of those was in the last 60 days, but it was for 1500 bucks.
Given my situation and providing some of you read my little BK novel here, what would you do in my situation? I'm absolutly torn
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