Bankruptcy can provide you with protection from creditors when you truly are unable to repay the debts owed to them.  In many cases, it allows you to eliminate or substantially reduce your debt burden so you can recover financially without constant phone calls and correspondence from creditors.  

   After heavy lobbying by the credit card and banking industry, Congress enacted the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.  The goal of that legislation was to reduce the number of bankruptcy cases by adding more requirements for financial reporting by debtors.  Although the current laws are more favorable to financial institutions than they once were, it is still possible for consumers to obtain bankruptcy protection.  

   For many people, the changes may mean nothing more than an increase in the amount of documentation they will have to present in order to file.  Whether to file or not is ultimately a personal decision, but if you are falling behind on your credit card payments, using one card to pay off another, tranferring card balances, or using a home equity loan to pay credit card balances, you should consider some alternatives, including bankruptcy.