[DanL]

Ryan,

The tough times do come to an end. I am sorry that all of this has happened, but know that you can work your way through.

If you have an income and lay out the plan, most creditors will work with you. There are some that you may have to let fall through the cracks and then negotiate through debt settlement which kills the credit, but also reduces the amount owed.

If you are getting calls, you can send a cease and desist letter, but from what I hear in the industry, that can cause them to jump straight to getting a judgment against you and then into garnishment.

I would start by finding out who is the most reasonable creditor and work on settling one or two items per month as appropriate, and depending on your ability to pay. You definitely want to give them your story and let them know that it is out of your sense of obligation that you called them first to negotiate. Most creditors and collection agencies will work with you through the problems, and may even settle some accounts for as low as 20-40% of your debt. Others will insist on the full amount right now, but you may want to let them wait a while so that you can get a grip on the situation with the easiest ones first.

There is a lot of online advice out there. There is credit consolidation and debt settlement that will charge you a lot to do what you can do yourself. The challenge is staying firm on what you can afford right now, and you will need to create lump-sums that approach that 40% mark to be effective.

I hope this helps a little.