Developing a strategy for becoming debt-free involves exploring both your bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy options. It would definitely be worth your while to visit with a bankruptcy attorney to review Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy options. There are also options that would enable you to avoid bankruptcy. One is consumer credit counseling services. Another method is called margin acceleration – sometimes referred to as the “snowball” method – which is championed by the well-known financial expert Dave Ramsey. With both of these methods, you end up paying off all of what you owe. The third option is debt settlement, which enables you to get out of debt for less than the total amount owed. Of all these options, I think that Chapter 7 bankruptcy and debt settlement are particularly effective methods of achieving debt relief.