Please Provide me with Your Opinion?

[NYMDLA]

I am 34 years old medical resident, will be done with residency in couple of months.
I have about 220,000$ in student loans and about 70,000$ on credit card debt. I have been making the payment on credit cards on time, but I have such a hard time and I work extra so I can make the payments and I haven't started making payment on student loans. In addition I have car lease payment and monthly apt rent and other expenses. I make about 75,000-80,000$ a year now.
I am considering filing for bankruptcy, I know I am responsible for paying back my student loans, but maybe I can erase that 70,000$ credit card.
I would like to know what is your opinion about filing bankruptcy in my situation.
Any advice and recommendation would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much.

[HHM]

File BK ASAP assuming you can qualify for chapter 7. With those student loans, you CANNOT AFFORD to have any other type of debt payments. While your at it, try to save up for some cash, get rid of the car lease, and pay cash for a car.

[DeadManCrawling]

Hold up a minute there, Skippy.

In many practices, doctors are held to a much higher standard of behavior than other professions. This includes things like background checks and credit checks before hiring on with many companies. This should be your first concern, I think. Will defaulting on CC debt affect your future professional prospects? If so, you need to think long and hard before filing.

Student loan debt will never go away, so you have to plan to service that for as long as it takes to pay it off. For many doctors, that can be the entire span of your professional career, depending on things like your area of practice and your location.

I would highly recommend you talk to a knowledgeable medical asset protection attorney as soon as possible. This may not be practical now, but in the future you will likely benefit from establishing a trust or several trusts in chain, that are designed to protect you from anything ranging from divorce, creditors, malpractice suits, and who knows what else. I have several doctors among my circle of friends, and they are all protected in this fashion. It can be expensive, but nowhere near as expensive as losing a malpractice suit.

If you MUST declare BK to get rid of the CC debt, do so as soon as possible and perhaps you can explain it away as the foolish mistake of a young resident, if it ever comes up. Surely you're not the first, but be prepared for a few doors to close early in your career.

Good luck

-dmc