Find the best financial services for you at: SMARTFINANCESOLUTIONS.NET - Question regarding filing bankruptcy? - I know my best option is to talk to an attorney, but I'd like to get some pre-attorney advice on here before hand.

The big question is, should I file for bankruptcy? I am only in my early 20's, and I made some mistakes when I was in my teens. Without getting in to the story, what I will say is that, all of my credit cards were charged off, and sent to third party collection agencies. I owe about $10,000 all together.

I was told that a charge off looks horrible on your credit account, and the only way to recover from a charge off is to wait the seven years for it to wash off your report. How do seven charge offs look compared to a bankruptcy? I am still struggling to pay them off, and my monthly income is sufficient to live off of and pay things such as rent, food, utilities, and for my dependents. There is legitimately no money left over to even think about negotiating the money. I know I owe it, and I'm not denying that, but I'm trying to figure out my options from here.

What are the benefits from filing for bankruptcy VS waiting it out and paying them off later down the road? -