. Before you spend your pension. The first think a lot of people do to pay bills is take a 401K loan or draw down their pension. Do NOT do that, because creditors cannot touch your 401K or pension. Bankruptcy laws protect your pension and 401K. No one can touch it. File before you think of using retirement funds to pay creditors.

. When you lose a good job. There is an income test for Chapter 7. So if you lose a 100K a year job, why pay the credit cards unless you are going back to work right away. If you're not back to work in 4 months, you might qualify for Chapter 7. But if you wait until you go back to work, you might not qualify, because now you make more than the median income, and your only remedy is Chapter 13 debt repayment, based on your income.

. If illness and unpaid medical bills are your problem, wait until you are better, or have insurance before using up your right to file Chapter 7. If you are working and have ongoing medical that is unpaid, often Chapter 13 is a good idea, because it keeps your Chapter 7 option open.

. If you simply aren't making enough money, you should take my debtor education course, get out of debt, and learn how to budget. It just may be impossible to pay your debt on the salary you are making.

. Don't consider bankruptcy unless you can eliminate at least $10,000 in debt. It is just dumb to file any bankruptcy because you have a lawsuit for $4000. Settle it yourself. Save your bankruptcy for a real disaster.