3 years ago when I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer I lost my $45,000 a year income when I had to quit work. Husband was already retired and we had just had taken custody of our 5 year old handicapped grandson when parents split and mother abandoned him. Always had done well, paid bills, living the american dream. But troubles can befall any of us at any time. All of this plus my thousands of dollars of doctor/hospital bills (after insurance) put us into BK. We had tried credit councellors but the help just wasn't enough to do us any good. Bankruptcy is mandated by both federal and state laws and you really do need to get a good BK attorney who can do wonders to protect you with the courts and help you keep your assets. Our first visit with our attorney was free. We had credit cards, some in both names, some in just his and some in mine, we were buying a home, had a car loan and a loan on a RV. We were prepared to let it all go if we could only keep our home. And the most important thing is that we did have enough income to keep our home if we could get some relief on the credit cards and medical bills. We were not allowed to keep any cc's no matter if they had a balance or not, every account had to be closed. In fact once any creditor knows you are doing a BK, they will close your account anyway. But we didn't have to get rid of any personal possessions either. We had to list all of our assets from books to clothes to kitchen appliances, furniture, jewelry, husbands guns, my sewing machines, everything! We kept it all with the help of our attorney. For those that say call the cc companies for help, forget that. We tried, we really did to work all this out with them, we did not want to do what we did, we just needed some help. Not one cc company would help us with not even a dollar reduction in our payments, in fact most of them were nasty and threatened us. They were told about my cancer and we were willing to provide them with doctors reports concerning my cancer because at that time it was not certain that I would even survive. We could have paid everyone if we had gotten a little help. But, no help, no compassion, just pay the bill! This is why we did what we did. Now after we filed for the BK several of them called us and offered help when they found out they were going to get nothing, but it was too late. I will never have another credit card again for the rest of my life. If we can't pay cash, or layaway we save for it or just don't buy. The best advice I can give is get yourself a good attorney, who will protect your rights. Every case is different! We could not have done this without our attorney and maintain any dignity at all. By the way, I have been cancer free to 3 years, my grandson still living with us is doing well, both cars now paid for, we kept the trailer and are paying off that loan and we have 5 more years and our house will be paid off. Last thing we wanted to do, believe me, but we have learned from our mistakes. We felt terrible for a long time about all of this but our attorney told us that everyone is entitled to a second chance! And his best advise to us was "buy what you need, not what you want"! Good advice!!! We thank God every day for the second chances we have been given. Don't feel bad about what you may have to do, just learn from it!