<prompt> Human: About me: I am 29 years old and I live in San Diego, California, Im single although considering getting married in the next 1-2 years. My credit score is currently 599. According to my Equifax credit report, I have 0 accounts in collections. According to my Experian credit report, I have 1 account in collections for a past-due medical bill for 144 since 072012.My Income: In the last 2 years my debt has significantly increased because for most of 2012 I was working part-time due to medical issues an supplementing my income with a meager disability stipend which ran out in Dec 2012 and the first half of 2013 I was unemployed but receiving 200week in unemployment. I am currently underemployed working full-time 40 hourswk 14.25hr 29640year. My Monthly Non-Debt Expenses:Rent: 440 note: My half of the rent for our 2br1ba apartment should be 625 but my bf is giving me a break on the rent since Im making so little money. When I was working part-time and then was unemployed, he let me live here for free so I owe him much more than Im paying himGas: 200 monthly 36 mile daily commute round trip, grocery shoppingerrands, and we dont really use my car on the weekendCell Phone: 62 no other phoneMedical Expenses: 150 prescriptions, regular bimonthly doctors visitsMedical Insurance: 100 subsidized by my work Monthly Debt Expenses: Credit Cards:Debt Balance Interest Rate Min Payment:---::---::---::---:Card 1 2625 13.99 81.00Card 2 2037 23.99 62.00Card 3 3060 22.99 90.00Card 4 1332 29.99 47.00Card 5 2529 15.90 58.00Card 6 485 24.90 25.00Card 7 0 24.99 0Card 8 450 24.99 20.00Card 9 34 24.99 25.00Total Credit Card Debt: 12308Total monthly credit card payments min payment only: 408Note: with the exception of cards 7, 8, and 9, all of the cards are maxed out and what credit becomes available on them after making a payment is usually used up to pay for groceries or other expenses.Student Loans: yes, I know these cannot be discharged by bankruptcy18000 federal consolidated loan, 2 fixed interest rate, Im currently not paying anything towards it because it is still on a financial hardship deferment until the end of the year. Come January 2014, Ive opted for one of the income based repayment options and my payment will be 40month. Assets:I own no property and I have no savings. I do own my car it was a college graduation gift. It is a 2006 Hyundai Elantra and when I just did a Kelly Blue Book value on it, its worth about 5600 private party value. From what I understand of bankruptcy law in CA, because of the wildcard exemption in bankruptcy option 2, I can use my leftover wildcard exemption to cover the value of my car and keep my car considering I own nothing else of value. Reasons why Im considering bankruptcy:note: I believe I qualify for chapter 7 bankruptcy in CA based solely on my income but Ive also used a CA means-test calculator and it said I should still qualify for chapter 7 bankruptcy so that is the basis for my thoughts 1. Even though right now I can make my minimum monthly payment every month, I really cant increase what Im paying toward my bills or even just stop using up my available credit as soon as Ive made a payment. Youll notice that no where in my monthly expenses is food listed. Thats usually because I pay everything I have to pay and whatever is left is what I have to make work for food. I buy the majority of groceries for our household in trade off for paying reduced rent, not paying for internet or utilities. Could I probably budget to save 20 here and there on groceries and food, yes, but I dont think 20 is going to get me out of this hole. 2. Im young enough that this might not ruin my life completely. 10 years is a long time, yes, but in the meantime I can use that 10 years to get married, and start a family without the angry credit card monster looming over me. My boyfriend and I have been together for 7 years so marriage is definitely on the table. He has good credit and a 50kyr job and is making it OK. Weve discussed that if I were to do something to spare my finances, it would probably be best to do it before we got married. This is my mess and I dont even want there to be a possibility that creditors would come after any of his assets for my mistakes. I do, however, realize that this will complicate buying house should we be able to afford one in the future. 3. Ive looked at debt consolidation or settlement my mom did it a few years back and it would seem that it would a. likely ruin my credit just as much as bankruptcy and b. take years to process which doesnt help my get it done before I get married plan. My understanding of the settlement process is that I would go through an agencylawyer and essentially stop paying my bills and this would be reported on my credit which right now, I have all on-time payment history. I would then make payments to the lawyeragency and they would negotiate a settlement of my debt for pennies on the dollar. Once Ive paid into my agency account enough money to pay off that creditor, that account is paid and then closed. I have also read that you dont have the same legal protections from collections harassment that filing for bankruptcy gives. 4. Ive done credit modeling on creditkarma.com I dont know rpersonalfinances s opinion of credit karma but it was what I had access to and even if I were to pay off all of my debt tomorrow, my credit score would go from 599 to 680. While an increase, yes, I dont think it is by any means stellar credit. Oddly, they dont have a declare bankruptcy simulation so I substituted Allow ALL Monthly Accounts to Become Past Due 90 days and my score went from 599 to 567. Looking at this is one of the things that even made me look into bankruptcy in the first place. It seems like my credit is already bad yes, I know, Ive seen worse too, but I still think its pretty bad. If declaring bankruptcy cant make it that much worse and it would let me start over clean slate knowing what Im doing and not being an idiot 18 year old, I figured it was worth looking into.Reasons why I think bankruptcy might not be for me:1. Buying a house eventually. Im probably going to want to buy some sort of dwelling in the next 10 years and I know that having a bankruptcy on my record will significantly hinder that. What I dont know is if going through debt settlement wouldnt do the same thing. if anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know. 2. I am woefully underemployed as are many other people out there. I have a BS in Microbiology and an MS in Environmental Engineering and am working at a job that doesnt even require a bachelors degree because a job is a job and it was what I could find. Ive been trying for 6 years to get a job in my field talk about the wrong time to graduate from college. The nagging thought in my head is that if I was making more along the lines of even what an entry-level environmental professional would make, I could probably pay off my debt in a few years. Trouble is, theres no guarantee thats going to happen.So thats it, thats me and my situation. Any insight from finance people would be greatly appreciated. Ive tried to research at least the basics of bankruptcy before asking this question to you all but please ask questions if you think theres something I missed. Thank you!!tl;dr: CA resident, 29yo, 29640year income, 12308 credit card debt, 18000 student loan debt, no property, no savings, own car worth 5600, 599 credit score, all on-time payment history. Should I consider bankruptcy?Edit: 29640year income is before taxes. My take home pay is 1800month give or take. I cant say for sure because my health insurance wont kick in until Feb 17th. Im carrying at 10k cash accident policy 55.95mo and paying cash for my prescriptions to get my through my 90 day waiting period at work for my full benefits so I cant just take that 100 and put it toward the credit cards.Edit 2: I was also missing car insurance: 69month. Im looking through my monthly statements now and figuring out where all the money is going, because youre right, I should have a couple hundred left over at the end of the month but I can assure you, I dont as the balance of my checking account before I was paid last week was 3.73. Ill calculate more numbers and put them up here.Edit 3: Expense numbers for Nov 2013 I also compared to Oct 2013 to make sure they werent skewed. Pay: 1740 -476.67 Rent I pay 100 one week and 120 the next and so on, 440 wasnt the most accurate calculation -200 gas -186 medical -62 cell phone -69 car insurance -408 credit cards -410 food -100 not food household stuff and I think there was 1 movie ticket in there for a grand total of -171 negative 171 which would make sense because I had to put money back on my credit cards to make it through the month.  <response>: I dont see anything there warranting a bankruptcy. what credit becomes available on them after making a payment is usually used up to pay for groceries or other expenses.DO NOT charge anything to the credit cards once you pay something off. Use cash only, since you can not reliably use credit cards. Pay off card 9 first in full, and dont charge anything else to it. Apply 25 you freed up from that card and start paying extra towards card 8 card 4 has a higher interest, but since this balance is much lower, Id get rid of it first. Then move over to cards 7, 4, 2, 3, 5 and then 1. If you can, pick up a part time job, where you can make a few hundred bucks per month, and apply all of that towards your cards. It will be a slow process, but 12K is not a major amount, and if you live frugally you can get rid of it. As far as student loans go, 2 is basically free, so I would pay as little as possible, while you try to get the rest of your finances in order. 