8 year old bad credit of around 14K (Credit Card). Finally able to settle it, Whats the best route to take here. Bankruptcy?

If you have consulted with an attorney who has looked at all your paperwork, then you should be listening to her. She knows more about your situation than we do. We give general advice not legal opinions. If you want a second opinion on the specifics of your case you will need to get a second consultation. However it sounds like pretty standard and reasonable advice in general.

I agree with the concept of waiting for a creditor to bring suit and then decide what to do. Getting served can be the alarm clock telling you it is time to wake up and do something, either settling, defending the law suit, or filing for bankruptcy. I disagree with the concept that you need to any of the above. Did you make a typo when you wrote 8 years? Did you mean 2, 3 or 4? Typically, in Florida, the statute of limitations is 4 or 5 years, depending on whether the debt arose from a written agreement. Many judges consider the written document that accompanies a credit card to be a form of a contract. The 4 or 5 year period begins from the time you defaulted on the payment. If you made a partial payment, the clock starts ticking all over again for another 4 or 5 year period. If the debt is older than 8 years, you will probably not see a law suit. Depending on who is filing suit, starting a law suit on a debt that old is considered a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices or the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, or both. Credit items that old can not be reported on a credit report, per the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A letter to each of the credit bureaus pointing out that the notations are stale should get them dropped from credit reports. A bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for 10 years. So, to file bankruptcy now is premature. Bankruptcy should be a last resort. I do not feel that you are at that point yet. Settling the account may be an option, but here is the thing: if you settle with 1 or 2 but then the 3rd sues you and you file for bankruptcy, the $ you spent on the first 2 will have been wasted. In my view, better to just file the bankruptcy, and a bankruptcy filing would cost you about $1,500.00 - $2,500.00 depending on which lawyer you hire, and the bankruptcy wipes out all the debts. But again, I am not sure a bankruptcy, or even debt settlement is necessary at this point in time. is a great place for getting general information, but when it comes to questions such as yours, to render a meaningful opinion, the attorney needs to eyeball the documents.

I would be inclined to agree with your attorney. Statutes of limitations are a tough way to feel safe. The debts grow with outrageous rates of interest and quickly double and triple.

Your debt ballooned because of late fees and interest. If you want to clean up your credit and get rid of the debt once and for all, file for bankruptcy. Alternatively, defend a lawsuit based upon the expiration of the statute of limitations. Unless you represent yourself, it may be a costlier way to go as you would have to defend against each creditor that sued. However, most may not sue. But they may call and attempt to harass you. In that event, you could be presented with a claim against them for unlawful debt collection.

If you are not losing sleep over your debts, then the "wait and see" approach would be my feeling. There is no reason to speculate about who will come after you and when, and some of that debt may have been written off already. Maybe some letters to the credit reporting agencies are worth your time. If your short term credit score is a concern of yours, maybe settling the debts would better serve you, but you should be careful about what you say to creditors, and be careful not to "wake the beast".