pay off or bankruptcy?

[peterjems]

I have about $9000 in debt. $6000 of this is student loans which I have been consistent in making repayments for over a year. It comes right out of my checking each month. There's a couple of repose for about a total of $600 that happened when my ex and I were married. We had our house foreclosed on and then the bank auctioned it off. On my credit report, it states my balance is 0 for the house. Would that be right and how? The other things are mainly a cell phone and a utility company and a couple of credit cards I had. Other than the student loans, my debt is around $4000. A few questions...
1. Should I pay this stuff off or file bankruptcy?
2. If I pay these things off...will that make my score go up?

[keepmine]

Don't file bk over $4K. Those student loans will survive bk.
As to the foreclosure. Assuming there is a deficiency balance, you need to know if your state allows a lender to sue to collect a deficiency balance. If they can't sue, don't even think about bk.

[StartingOver08]

Keepmine is exactly right. Check your states' statutes first to see if it allows a lender to collect a deficiency balance. If they don't, you can start your credit rebuilding stage now.

Credit rebuilding is a process. One of the best tools you have already is paying your student loans on time. Are the accounts that you have open (the student loans and the other $4000) reporting correctly? I have read stats that nearly 80% of all credit reports contain errors. So to increase your score 1) Check your reports to make sure everything is reporting accurately. 2) To learn to read the report correctly, because it is not always obvious, check out this site in the forums section: http://debt-consolidation-credit-rep...play.php?f=173 This link brings you right to the repair section, don't worry, its free. 3) Yes, paying down your outstanding credit will increase your score, as one of the big factors to calculate scores is 'credit utilization'. There are several factors that increase your score, check that site and others to learn how. Don't pay a credit repair company, as they are scams. Do it yourself.

OR you can follow the Dave Ramsey method: If you pay cash for everything, you don't need a good score.