It may not be the right option if you would have to give up property you want to keep. The rules vary by state. Typically, certain kinds of property are exempt from bankruptcy, such as motor vehicles up to a given value and part of the equity in your home, but you usually have to give up a second car or truck, family heirlooms, vacation homes and any valuable collections.
Some companies make use of unethical practices in order to quickly boost a person's credit score. For instance, some companies will instruct people to dispute all debt on their credit report, even accounts they know are legitimate. Since debts are removed while credit bureaus investigate, this can provide a temporary boost in a person's credit score but no long-term benefit. Some state laws, such as the Michigan Credit Services Protection Act, make this practice illegal as well.

Great article. We are in the process of paying down debt, and the freedom we feel in watching that number decrease is a beautiful thing! Doing something RIGHT AWAY is key because, as your chart above shows, the greater the amount of money going into paying debt, the less you have to spend (even on the things you truly need!), so the debt pile increases and you never get out from under it. Everyone can do something NOW to see a shift in that picture. It all starts with an earnest desire to confront and change. Thanks for sharing.
My husband and I have always had separate bank account and financially we did what we wanted and never talked to the other about our spending. I feel like I make decent money and I am at my wits end because I get paid and everything goes to bills or to minimum payments. I stopped about 1.5 years ago putting more money on my credit card payments because I needed the money for bills. Today I just calculated my debt to income ratio (putting my husbands debt and income with mine) I was shocked! even after taking our mortgage out oft he equation we owe $40,972. When I was looking at just my credit cards or my car payment it didn’t seem like an awful lot of credit. But now, I feel like the wind is knocked out of me. I am not even 30 years old and I owe almost as much as I may. I feel really really scared. but I am thankful for this article but it is just what I need to motivate me! things are going to change! things NEED to change.
If you want to get out of debt fast, you have to stop using debt to fund your lifestyle. This means no more financing furniture, no more signing up for credit cards, no more test driving brand new cars that you don’t have the cash to pay for. This will help you focus solely on the debt that you currently do have so that you can develop a game plan to pay it off quickly.
In fact, certain aspects of a debt management plan will have a positive impact on your credit score. These aspects are the amounts owed, payment history, and inquiries for new credit.  Your payment history, which makes up 35% of the FICO credit score, will have a positive impact assuming your payments are made every month. In terms of amounts owed, which makes up  30% of the Fico score, this aspect will be positively impacted as the accounts are paid down.