MasConcepts Incorporated

After 3 years of debilitating addiction, depression, and failed business ventures/unemployment, i (29M) am now finally in a stable enough place to address the massive financial hole i’ve dug myself into. I have $16k in personal credit card debt (~25% APR), $34k in an unsecured personal loan (15% APR), and $25k in business CC debt (~25% APR) for an LLC in which i’m the sole proprietor. By some miracle, I haven’t missed any payments and as of today, almost nobody in the world has any idea how royally i’ve fucked myself. Credit score is around 760 (down from 805 last September when i took out the personal loan to pay off my CC balance at the time).

Trying to figure out the smartest option for me going forward. I’ve spoken to people at American Consumer Credit Counseling and if i go with their program, on paper they should be able to negotiate my credit card interest rates down to the point where (best case) I pay around $1100/month every month for the next 6 years to pay it off. For perspective, I live in LA and at minimum i need $4k a month to pay rent and support myself and my cat who has a ton of expensive health issues, so an extra $1k a month is huge for me.

I’ve settled into a new, relatively stable job — stable compared to what i had before, but still commission-only sales which is inherently unstable, at least month to month. After working part-time on and off in this field for over a year, i’m confident in my ability to bring home at least $80k gross income this year as a whole now that I’m finally working full time again. Given my track record however, a healthy degree of skepticism toward any financial prediction i make for myself is entirely deserved, and the irregularity of pay makes the prospect of having to come up with ~$5k a month for the next 6 years with zero wiggle room daunting to say the least.

Is ch. 7 worth it for me at this point? i have absolutely zero assets to speak of — no investments, no property, nothing. The closest thing to an asset i have is my car which i bought for $2k in 2021 as a salvage title (225,000+ miles today). I understand ch. 7 should by no means be taken likely, but after speaking to several different bankruptcy attorneys, based on my past income over the last few years ($30k in 2025, damn near zero in 2024, and $123k in 2023), i definitely qualify for it based on my income the last 2 years, and my 2023 income provides demonstrable evidence for why i overestimated my income when applying for all my credit cards. Other than the low but not nonexistent threat of getting sued by my creditors, the only downside i can think of to filing for ch. 7 right now before my income increases is the massive stain on my credit history, but would that really cost me more than $80k over the next 10 years? There’s no way in hell i could ever afford to buy a home within the next 10 years even without any debt, so that’s not an issue. California doesn’t allow insurance companies to raise your rates based on your credit score. It would suck trying to get a car loan but i can’t imagine the higher rates from that would outweigh $80k especially if i buy a cheap ass car which i would.

TLDR: I have a fuck ton of debt, all unsecured, and zero assets. Right now i have a window based on my past income where i could qualify for Ch. 7 and get everything wiped. Given my circumstances, does it make sense for me to do that or should i just bite the $80,000 bullet for the next 6 years and try to pay everything back which i’m not 100% sure i could do? TYSM for any advice you can offer and especially thank you if you read this whole massive fucking essay lol