"I Had Perfect Credit!"

During initial consultations, I'm often told by people with credit card debt that they had perfect credit score right up until some major event happened, like a law suit or a credit refusing to work with them.

My answer: "No you didn't."

These people are under the spell of the credit card industry.  The illusion is that making timely payments every month means you have good credit.  It usually comes as a surprise to people that approximately 30% of your credit score is based on the amount of your revolving debt.  This is known as your debt-to-income ratio.  Even if it's not killing your score already, it'll at least prevent you from getting a loan.  Why would a creditor lend more money to someone with a ton of debt and barely enough income to pay it?

No wonder eliminating revolving debt is an essential step in improving your credit.  So is getting your budget under control.

Fortunately, a bankruptcy will do both at once. In addition to discharging the credit card and medical debt, it'll also get you out from under secured installment payments while letting you keep the stuff you need to live and can afford to keep paying on, like your car and home.  

Although bankruptcy is the worst mark you can have on your credit report, and it is on there for 10 years, its impact begins to diminish as soon as your case closes.  The focus is then on your positive payments after bankruptcy.  Given some time, your score will bounce back, usually within a year or two. In most cases, there is simply no way to pay down the debt within a year or two to improve that debt-to-income ratio.  

Break free from the spell and stop protecting that illusory "perfect" credit score.  If you're serious about fixing your credit and you have significant debt, you need to look at bankruptcy.