<prompt> Human: If there were such a place one could go to become debt-free, I would gladly go. For such a service, even if not in a physical location, I would do almost anything to repay it without the cost of money, obviously. Honestly. However, as the situation stands, I owe money for a car that had been repossessed in February. I thin at that point I owed the credit union I borrowed from between 7-8,000. The interest was quite high. They mentioned filing a lawsuit against me if I did not respond by a certain date a date that happened to be the day after I received the letter. I also owe close to 10,000 in medical bills- most of which I incurred during a 5-day stint in the mental hospital, all else is from an emergency room visit ambulance ride. The medical bills have been sent to a collection agency, I believe, and I do get regular correspondence from them, however I have yet to respond. I also have about 6,000 in student loans from one year of college, before I dropped out. I also owe my school 660, but that is small potatoes at this point. My credit card I pay the minimum monthly, and I owe about 660 on that, as well. The student loans I just paid 3 months worth of payments, and I plan to pay on-time from now on. I understand bankruptcy cannot get rid of these debts.How should I go about bankruptcy? I am 20 years old. I know I am very young to be in this debt, and I have no excuses for that. Well if you want an excuse, then blame the depression and strained relationship with my mother. I would LOVE to be able to pay this all off the right way. Honestly, though, my credit score would be no worse for wear and the delinquencies already on my credit report can be on there for up to 7 years. Really, I have nothing to lose in bankruptcy. With my job, I cannot quite afford a nice lawyer... or any lawyer, really. I get paid maybe 900month with my job. I know doing it without a lawyer is an option, but if I screw up filing for bankruptcy, then that will be a lot more headache than I can handle. Thank you all in advance for your helpful responses.  <response>: 20 years old and considering bankruptcy?Ill be honest, you just sound irresponsible. Theres nothing wrong with that, a lot of 20 year-olds are irresponsible. Youre barely an adult, youve been an eligible part of the adult work force for 2 years. Dont even talk or think about bankruptcy.I say that to say this: You are young and have your entire life a head of you. Make an honest attempt at repaying your debts. You can negotiate settlements on consumer debts. Student loans will have to be paid. You cant really get out of those. What exactly did the letter from the credit union say?Call them and ask if they are going to file suit. Remind the person you are talking to that it is illegal for them to tell you they are going to sue you if they have no intention of sueing you. It is illegal to use the threat of lawsuits as a scare tactic for getting you to pay if they dont actually intend to file suit.Your total debt is less than 50k. Yea okay, your income puts you below the poverty line, but non-the-less, you shouldnt even be thinking of filing a bk at your age with such a small amount of debt.So now that thats settled...what can I, a 5 year veteran of the collections industry, do to help you get your debt under control? 