<prompt> Human: I was just about to meet with the BK lawyer soon, but then I got a 1099-C for my first mortgage, which cancels the debt. Now Im thinking I should try to pay off the second which is about 36k. I dont have a lot of money and I wonder if I could talk them down to like 5, which is about what I would drop on a lawyer to file BK. My only other debt is about 3k in credit card.  <response>: watch out, as forgiven debt is seen by IRS as income and you will have to pay taxes on it ... ask your BK lawyer about that 