There are several options, but the first involves drawing up a budget of your income and expenditure and working out where your money is going and how to best avoid losing more of it.

Next is to contact your creditors and ask them to reduce the payment size for a period whilst you get back on your feet. They can refuse, but it's up to them.

If you don't mind losing your car and house, bankruptcy may be an option, however, you will never really be able to get credit again.

If you want an easier method, you could go for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement which allows you to keep your house and car but takes five years to discharge. You pay what you can for about five years into a fund and this is shared out amongst the creditors.

Lastly, you could think of debt consolidation and or debt management.

 It depends if you have a house or not. If you rent, then you could consider bankruptcy. You will not necessarily lose your car if you need it for work. Although the bankruptcy is registered on your credit reference file for 6 years, it is not true that you will not be able to ever get credit. You should be automatically discharged from the bankruptcy after 1 year and then it is up to the lender whether you get credit or not and will depend mostly on your income. I would not advise consolidation debt, it's a short term solution with long term negative consequences. If you don't have a house then an IVA is not a particularly good option, but if you have a house then an IVA ensures you keep the house. You will need at least £300 disposable income per month for this to work. You could allow your accounts to default by not making payments. As all credit debt is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act all credit debt follows the same pattern, and the accounts will default after 2 months of missed payments. Disadvantages: a default notice is registered on credit reference file for 6 years and allows a creditor to take court action, advantage is that all interest and charges will be stopped allowing you to pay a small amount each month and the debt will go down. I suggest you go to your CAB or phone Pay plan, CCCS or national debt line

 You have several options; just pay the bills...consolidate...default on some of them...bankruptcy...

Just paying the bills is the best option, it will probably take quite some time, be hard on future fun but in the end, your credit will not get hammered and you will have taken care of the things you got yourself into on your own...consider getting counseling to assist you.

Consolidating your bills is as stated above, a quick fix with a bad future, the only exception is bills that are really small (under 1000.00) that will be paid off quickly...but in the end, don't do it unless you have no other option...

Defaulting on a loan is not much of an option, they will possibly take you to court to get the money and unless you have lost your job and have no income, the judge will rule in their favor and you will end up paying for the loan, and your credit will be hit...

Bankruptcy is another option, don't listen to everything you hear...you will not lose your house in MOST cases, or your vehicle...the state you live as well as the feds have rules protecting you from loosing items such as a place to live, a way to get to work, buy food, take care of emergencies, and make money just to list a few...some states even have provisions for feeding your pet!
The people that say bankruptcy are bad either are collection agents, creditors, or just don't know what they are talking about, the government made it harder for a reason, but not to the point where someone that needs the system can't use it...here is a link for bankruptcy; http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/index.asp

credit issues are here to stay...the cost of live is going up faster than most of us are getting raises in our pay, so we have to be more diligent in the keeping of our money on a daily basis...don't worry, keep you spirit high, keep your head up and with perseverance, it will work out!

 If you're drowning in credit card debt you need to call up your credit card customer service and "BLUFF". Tell them you are considering closing down your accounts if they don't lower the interest rates. Believe me, these companies want to retain your business so they will offer you something as long as your account is in good standing and you haven't defaulted (23-32% nominal apr.) Second option, refinance your home and consolidate your debt into one payment. Third option, bankruptcy but try to avoid at all costs........good luck