First off, lets cut the OP a little slack. She could have just gone and filed bankruptcy and never posted on the DIS that she had done so. Instead, it seems that she is looking at all of her options, the first two she listed would have her pay back what she owes. Listing BK last, I'm going to assume (since we're all doing a lot of assuming here) that she feels it's a last resort and is not her first choice. What she is looking for is advice on how to pay off her debt, and only if it turns out that it isn't possible (and it isn't always) would she then turn to bankruptcy.
Her situation may be 100% her fault, only partly her fault, or she could be completely blamless. It really doesn't
matter how she got into this mess, what matters now is how she gets out of it. If her situation is due to overspending, then the only bearing that has on her future is to curb her spending and changing her habits while she is digging out.
If after doing everything she possibly can to pay it back, she finds that it is truely impossible (and that can happen...even cutting everything to the bare bones and eating mac and chesse 3x a day, income only goes so far. You can't get blood from a stone) then I don't have a problem with bankruptcy as a last resort, even if the situation is mainly of the person's own doing...
as long as they learn from the process. The only people I have a problem with are those that do BK and then go right back to their old habbits, racking up debt as fast as they can and doing yet another BK down the road. Those people make me ill.
The fact that the OP came on the board looking for advice on several options, most of which would have her pay back her debt, leads me to believe that she is likely to learn from her past errors rather than just walk away with out a care in the world. As such, I believe she is worthy of our time in trying to get her going in the right direction.
Sooo....OP if you are still reading this, without exact details of your situation, here is some general advice.
1) As other's have stated, CCCS and only CCCS is the way to go if you want to do credit counseling. While for the most part everything they do you can generally do on your own, the fact is that not everyone has the time, ability, or will power to do it on their own. If that describes you then I'd call them ASAP and get the ball rolling on it. It will lower your interest rates and set you up on a payment plan that will have you pay back every dime in a reasonable amount of time (I think the average is about 3 years, as always YMMV depending on the amount of your debt, your income, and your other obligations).
2) If you want to take a shot at doing it on your own, here is what I would do in your shoes:
-Call up credit card companies and ask to have your interest rates lowered. If they won't, ask to speak to a supervisor. If you have been late on the account, ask to speak to their hardship department. Not all CC's will play ball, but even if you can only get a few of them to lower rates, that's more money you have to pay your debts with each month. That's the one thing CCCS can do that we can't do on our own, they have ways of making even the most stubborn of CC's lower their rates when nothing else does the trick. If you find that no matter how hard you try, most or all of your cards won't lower your rates, call CCCS and do the debt counseling.
-If you are going to be late on any other of your bills (mortgage, utilities, car payment, etc.) then call their respective hardship departments and let them know what is going on. It may or may not help but it can't hurt and may just buy you some time before the wolves come to your door.
-Now...sit down and figure out where all your money is going. Pull out past credit card statements, bank statements, old bills, receipts, anything that tells you how you've spent you money in the past. Don't forget annual or semi-annual bills like
AAA membership or insurance premiums. Look at your current bills/spending as well. This should give you a picture of what you've been doing in the recent past. Now, look at what your take home pay is. Subtract what you are spending to what you take home. You'll find one of three things - that you are spending more than you take home, that you are spending exactly what you take home, or that you are spending less than you take home. Odds are that it's either senario one or two, or you wouldn't have posted.
This gives you a snap shot of how things stand, which is exactly what you need before you can decide on how to proceed. Needless to say, you need to get as much of your take home pay free as possible to put towards your debt, so in turn you will have to cut back on spending to do that. Some things you can cut, some things you can't...only you can decide what your sitation is. For some a cell phone is a luxery, for other's it's a requirement of their job or they need it for urgent personal reasons, like a sick relative. Only you know in your heart which is true. For things that are truely a need, you can often find less expensive alternatives by shoping around, so just because it's a need, doesn't mean you can find a way to cut at least some of the cost out of your budget. Food is great example. Food is a need, but that doesn't mean the grocery budget can't be cut. Transportation is also a need, but there are tons of ways to cut that down, from selling a car with a payment and taking the money and buying a good-running-but-otherwise-beat-up vehical for cash, to shoping around for lower auto insurance premiums, to just driving less to save on gas, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce this "fixed" expense.
-Now that you have your first budget (I say first because budgets are not a static thing, you often need to revise them. I do mine monthly!) in place, you know know how much money you have to put towards your debt. If it isn't very much, at this point you need to consider several options to raise more cash. To get more money on a regular basis, extra jobs or a higher paying job would be your best options, though in this economy it's easier said that done. For some one-time cash to get you going, look around your house and start finding things to sell (craig's list, ebay, garage sale, or even all three!). As Dave Ramsey says "sell so much stuff the kids think they're next".
-Savings. Before starting to pay off debt, you need to get a few thousand dollars into savings ($1k minimum, $3k maximum). Why? Murphy's Law is why! Your car will break down, the roof will leak, the kid breaks an arm and you need money for co-pays, you name it - it could happen. This is now your safety net instead of your CC's! When your in hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. A small emergency savings account lets you do that. So, sell stuff to get that going, or save your new-found "extra" money until you get an amount your comfortable with. Only then do you start paying it all down. In fact even if you do the CCCS route, I'd stash some emergency cash first, since CCCS will require you to close all your CC's as a part of the program.
Okay, so - You've called all your creditors and done what you can to lower rates and payments. You've made a budget and cut all the fat. You've put some $$$ into savings for a rainy day. Now you are ready to tackle your debt! There are two schools of thought on this. One is to pay the smallest balance first, working up to the largest balance. The second way is to pay the highest interest rate first, working down to the lowest. Paying the higher interest rate first usually saves you money, paying smallest balance first lets you knock some small bills out of the way, freeing up more money to tackle them faster while shrinking the list of bills you need to track each month. Both have advantages and disadvatages. I am of the opinion that it doesn't generally matter much, as long as you have a plan and stick to it - you'll eventually reach your goal! You should do what makes sense to you.