<prompt> Human: Hi there Personal Finance, Before I start I want to preface that I am posting on behalf of a friend who is having a bit of a problem. My friend is 25 years old and has racked up between 20k - 40k in debtshe was too embarrassed to be more specific. Its a mix of student loans, credit cards, and a car loan but she wasnt specific about the percentages. She just lost her full time job and moved back across the state to live with family and feels like her situation is desperate. She talked with me about declaring bankruptcy but I couldnt properly explain to her with my limited finance knowledge why that wasnt a great idea. I laid out some other options for her as far as debt consolidation or defaulting on her car loan but I really didnt feel comfortable giving her uneducated advice. What are her real options? Is it a terrible idea for her to declare bankruptcy at 25 years old? How can she work her way out from under these huge debts? Thanks you so much for your help. Edit: My initial information wasnt fully accurate. Here are the details she clarified:-5k medical-10k credit cards-20k car loan  <response>: Usually you get the best results when you declare bankruptcy in the event you owe more than you can realistically make in a year. Thats not the only criteria, but it gives a rule of thumb. Large medical bills 100,000 are an obvious example where this applies, but not the only one.I dont know that thats her case. She would not be able to discharge student loans, so you would have to exclude those from the potential benefit of bankruptcy. 