Credit Repair delima? bankruptcy or pay-off?

I'v recently been told that filing for bankruptcy is a good idea for someone with horrible credit... Bottom line; I have over 15 grand in debt (some old, some new) and want to buy a house within a year or so...... what would be my best option? bankruptcy or paying up? appreciated.
...............................................................................
If you can pay it off then you should do so but make sure that you call the creditors and get a letter in writing stating they will either remove the negative account all together or remove the late payments. This is very easy to do with collections agencies- and they take settlements easier as well. Make sure you get it in writing or you will not have any ground to stand on if they do not do as they say they will. If they simply sage they will re-age your account that is not helping you, your account will just be updated to show you paid a past due account- not helpful but creditors assume consumers don't know any better.

You can find more info here:

http://www.safelinked.info/jump.php?link...

Best of luck.
...............................................................................
If you CAN repay your debts, you are better off doing so. If it would be futile, and would just keep you impoverished for longer and longer, trying to repay debt that is essentially unrepayable, then bankruptcy is a better choice.

$15,000 is not a lot of debt, so far as bankruptcy filings go. Its really on the low side, among those who file bankruptcy. There is no "minimum debt requirement" for filing bankruptcy, but most bankruptcy attorneys will advise you to make arrangements to repay this amount of debt if at all possible, rather than filing bankruptcy for such a relatively small amount of debt.

At this point, given the current economy, it is pretty difficult to predict what mortgage lenders will be doing a year from now. Anybody who tells you that they "know" which course of action would better position you to buy a house a year from now is really just guessing. IN GENERAL, repaid debts bode better for future mortgage applications than a recent bankruptcy. But there is so much new legislation coming down the pike regarding mortgage lending right now, that it is really almost impossible to predict what the mortgage climate will be like a year from now.