Expert: Terry Leeders - 10/22/2007

Question
My wife and I have 50,000 a year in debt, however, due to me being out of work we are not making ends meet. We are considering debt counseling, or filing bankruptcy. 15,000 is credit cards, 1000 moorage payment, ect... amounting to 50,000 a year. What would you suggest we do. By the way we live in Florida.

Answer
You should at least have a free consultation with a bankruptcy lawyer.  They can advise you if it would be beneficial to file a case.  They can review your assets to see if they will be protected.  They can advise you on the pro's and cons of filing.  I have a large # of clients file, that have tried debt consol. before, but have had poor results trying that.  There are a lot of bad consolidation companies out there, so also check with the better business bureau too.