Should I consider bk?

[lilmamma]

I'm a stay at home mom, and my husband works in construction. He earns about $35k/year. Last year, I got a credit card and decided to buy some raw materials to try to sell some items at craft shows such as soap, lotions, etc. It flopped, and I ended up trying to pay one credit card with another.

I have managed to accumulate about $10k in debt. One credit card has about $5.5k and another has about $3.5k. I have some cards with small balances between averaging $300. I realize now how bad it was to try to pay one credit card with another, and it's a mistake I'll never make again.

I have no real assets, as everything is in my husband's name (our home, car, etc.) My credit is shot, and dh's isn't so good. We just got caught up on our car payments, we have a minivan worth less than $4k which we owe $6k on and it keeps breaking down. We've tried to trade it in, but are unable to get financing. Our mortgage is current. We owe our utility company over $2k and then we have the regular bills. At the end of the month, we have nothing left, and I have not paid my credit cards this month because the money is just not there.

What would be the best option? Should we consider bankruptcy, as there is no way I'm going to be able to pay $10k off and I'm worried about our electric & gas being shut off. If we do, will this help us get another van? I've heard of some banks offering loans to those who have filed bankruptcy and wondered if that was true.

I realize my debt probably isn't near as much as some people here, but our income is also pretty low. My husband lost out on a lot of work in the past few months since he's in construction and we had a lot of ice storms.

[nebraskamom]

We are in a simulair situation.
Im a stay at home mom and my husband works for the dept of corrections. He brings home $30k a year and we had 3 major credit cards, and 2 store credit cards that we were trying to catch up on. By the time we were making payments, we were using well over one paycheck just to make credit card payments! With our housepayment, utilities, food, etc... 1 other paycheck wasnt enough for our family of 5. We had no choice but to file for bankrupsy. People told us it would be the best option. So since we got our taxes back in february, we've been spending the money we need to on things that we need to live on, save the reciepts, and then plan to get back with our lawyer at what next steps to take. We have a windstar van, its valued at 3500. We got lucky there, because if you have a car thats valued over a certain amount, then they can take your car away from you. The website our lawyer told us to go to, to check the value of our car is called... nada.com The value of our car had to be under $4k, or else they could take the car from us. If you need more help, Im here to talk.

I say as from what you wrote, it sounds to me like bankrupsy, might be your best choice.