What has the least effect on your credit report - a bankruptcy or debt settlement?
Question Details:
We started the process for debt settlement paying over $900/month into a trust account to hopefully settle $60k in credit card debt within 4 years to avoid bankruptcy. With a voluntary repossession also on the credit report, it seems it might be more beneficial to consider bankruptcy. Which carries an easier recovery period?
A bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for 10 years, and it usually is far more damaging than a voluntary settlement, especially one that you pay out over time as long as you make the payments. The completed pay-back tends to show that you have "mended your ways," and hopefully your agreement includes something in the way of favorable credit reporting as well. You might still be able to negotiate for that, even if you don't have anything like that.
Bankruptcy is really a last resort. For a number of years, the law was perhaps too liberal, but that is no longer the case. If you can make the payments, I'd recommend doing just that. Ten years can be a long wait to get any meaningful kind of credit again.
