Default VS Bankruptcy

What is the name of your state? South Carolina

I have recently become a single mom to three children. I have no education beyond high school and I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 8 years. My current financial situation consists of: $1000 a month total income, in the form of child support, no vehicle, a rented house, $326 a month in food stamps and a handful of second-hand furniture

During my marriage, I accumulated 18,000 in credit card debt which is solely in my name.

I spoke with both non-profit and for-profit credit counseling services - neither of which were able to help me. They said they saw no way for me to be able to make the payments.

I then spoke with a financial advisor who has advised me to simply not pay the debt (he claimed the worse case was a lot of harassment from creditors and a judgement in this state for 10 - 12 years which could be renewable for years beyond that) or file for bankruptcy. I can't afford attorney fees for the bankruptcy.

Any advice, please?

Thank you in advance,

Lissa

Buy the NOLO Guide to Chapter 7 Bankruptcy when you can. It's $34.95 and walks you through it, to attorney needed. It will be much more streeful having years of collections calls.

[bigun]

Prehaps call your local bar association and explain the problem. Many lawyers and law firms do volunteer time and resources to help low income people.