I was 74k in debt when I was 23, I had a failed business which I had put a lot of personal guarantees on. Long story short, I ended up basically having destroyed credit by 25, and so many calls from bill collectors I was seriously comtemplating suicide. I was actually geared up to do it one night. They can be so frikkin mean and derogatory to you.
Anyway, I ended up contacting this place called Bill Mccollough and Associates and filed a consumer proposal. Basically they set a court date to meet with your creditors and negotiate a settlement i.e 50 cents on the dollar or whatever. Its basically a last resort before bankruptcy, but the courts recognise is as a better scenario for both parties since the creditors always fair better than if you declare, and your credit isn't hurt as bad. So by law, if the creditors do not show up at your court date they have basically waived their the right to collect anything from you since you are trying to benefit them more than the alternative of bankruptcy where they essentially get zero.
So by the time everything was said and done I ended up having to pay about $23,000 of the 74 k over a period of 2 years. And the company that represented me collects and distributes the funds to the parties that showed up at the hearing which was only like half of them. That and once you proposal is accepted they collection agencies can no longer call you. I managed to pay it off in about a year, and it was the biggest relief in the world not having to deal with bill collectors anymore. It only took a year or so after to repair my credit to the point where I could get a car loan/morgtage etc. at reasonable rates. The whole thing cost about $1400 and they built it into my proposal.
If it gets as bad for you as it did for me I highly recommend this over going banko since the banks look at it much more favorably, and it doesn't affect your right to vote, obtain certain jobs etc.. like Bankruptcy can.
Pylon.
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