Hi, new here & need advice...
: (my question is at the bottom/last paragraph in bold if you want to skip this!)
I have well over $30K in debt (credit card). I had this with my now ex-husband over the course of our 12 year marriage. After our divorce, we did a short sale of our house. I contacted a lawyer (the spuse of a Dr. I worked for, bad idea!) to see about claiming bankruptcy. Come to find out, all of the credit cards were in my name, my ex was only a 'rider' on the accounts so I was responsible for all debts & did not have to split any debts with him. Neither of us had anything in savings & lived paycheck to paycheck anyway. I was laid off from my job, I left a message for the atty stating to hold off on filing it (not like he was doing anything anyway with it). I called back 2 days later, stating to proceed. Several months later when I finally got back in contact with him, he claimed he did not receive that message & therefore did not proceed with anything... The catch? I had gotten into a car accident, and am now involved in a lawsuit against the other driver (100% other drivers fault, deemed by insurance company). This now threw a wrench in the bankruptcy case as there may be lawsuit monies involved. I became frustrated with my attorney for not following up with me or filing the case, etc. I had already completed my part of what needed to be done (credit class, already paid him, provided him with all info), he just dropped the ball. I'd had enough of him.
In the meantime I met a woman at work that told me she was over $200k in debt at one point and was about to file bankruptcy. Once she found out she was going to have to pay a treasurer the money and still have it on her record for 7 years, she was like no way am I doing this... She took it upon herself to negotiate with each of her debtors instead & worked with each one. She was debt free not long afterward. After hearing this, I decided to fire my atty and request my money back that I paid him. He gave back the $1500 I paid him. I decided against filing bankrupcty. My car accident lawsuit is not yet settled, they are still in the process of requesting records from my docs, etc. so it will be awhile for that to settle and when it does settle, I have no idea what that will be. So that was my plan. Until I heard the following...now I'm up in the air...
Yes, this is very very long, but it's got all the details, didn't wanna miss anything. Thanks if you read it & thanks much if you reply and for any advice!!
Lisa
to clarify 'before their time is up'...meaning before they will naturally fall off the report on their own. Sorry for any confusion!