How do I determine my current debt?

No need to be embarrassed. Seems like you have the classic reasons for bankruptcy being the one of the right options for you. If you cannot pay your ongoing debts and will not likely have income improvement sufficient to catch up with debt, bankruptcy may be the only realistic solution. As to your debts, you can start by going online and obtaining a free credit report for all 3 major credit reporting agencies; or if necessary, purchase the reports. This will give you a pretty good idea of the creditors reporting you. Check the creditors in the report against creditors you actually know you have. That is probably the best you can do. It does not matter what the amount of debt is if you are truly not able, or likely to be able, to pay that debt off within a reasonable year or so. You can try to do a debt settlement program but only if you have a stable job and income.

The current debt can be determined with reasonable accuracy by obtaining a credit report. That should have most of your credit listed.

You can find out the name, address and amount owed by you by running a credit report.

Please do not be ashamed. It is important to gather all the information that you can from every source in order to file for bankruptcy. Please understand that filing for bankruptcy is a very complicated process. It is wise to talk to an experienced bankruptcy attorney before deciding to take this important step. Most Arizona bankruptcy attorneys offer a free consultation about the basics of bankruptcy.

You can determine most of your debts by running a credit check on yourself which will reveal any debts that have been reported to the credit reporting agencies.

Your current debt is the total of all the people you owe money too. Your credit record will be checked before you file Chapter 7. That is your double check. You need to speak with a bankruptcy attorney soon. Normally, I would not recormmend filing bankruptcy while you are still unemployed.... you have no wages to protect from garnishments. You also need an attorney to negotiate down your current debts (if you are not going to file for bankrutpcy).

Probably the best way is to collect all the paperwork you have from all the creditors, collection agencies, attorneys and what-not and put it in a big pile. Arrange everything by the original creditor and find the highest demand you have for each original creditor (If you owe a bank for a credit card and, over time, the bank has sent the bill to 3 or 4 collection agencies, try not to double count anything.) Then get a copy of your credit report. There are a ton of websites that will connect you. If you have not obtained a report in the last 12 months, your next one is free. There are 3 large credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can obtain a free report from each one each 12 months. So if one of them says you have used your freebie, go to one of the others. The websites I use are www.freecreditreport.com and www.annualcreditreport.com, but there are others just as good. These websites are trying to sell you something you don't really need, but the free report connection is going to be there, usually at the bottom and in a gray box that does not stand out. Look for it and you will find it. (Personally I find Experian report to be the most user friendly, easiest to understand, but they generally contain much of the same information.) There will almost certainly be a lot of junk, bills you don't owe, bills of others with the same name, especially if you are named for your father, but there will also be things about which you might have forgotten. Again, take the entries on the credit report, match up the duplications, take the whole pile with the pile of paper bills from above, and make a list of names and amounts. Get out the hand held calculator and add up the numbers. Of course, there is more. The IRS does not do credit reporting. Your child support will be there but the amount won't be. Information will be wrong or grossly out of date, but put all of this together with some good note taking and carefully raking your memory and you can get a good approximation.

Don't be ashamed. You are entitled to pursue bankruptcy to get a fresh start. In general you can settle debt for 50% or less, but you have to have cash. It does not sound like you are in that position. As far as determining your debts get a credit report.

In this situation, the prospective petitioner needs an immediate consultation with an experienced bankruptcy practitioner. You may obtain a free credit report from the government sponsored service www.annualcreditreport.com; however, creditors are not required to report if they don't want to. This prospective may have issues with creditors who do not report (hospitals and other healthcare providers), so the volume of debt shown by a credit report may be the tip of the iceberg of what is owed. It is important the petitioner seek competent counsel in the petitioner jurisdiction to determine qualifications and rights under Title 11 of the United States Code.

The discharge of your debt does not depend on the accuracy of the amount of your debt.

One way is to get a list of creditors and debts is to get a free credit report. You must list all the debts in your bankruptcy, any debt you do not list will not be discharged.

A lot of attorney's, including me, pull your credit report to determine who you owe.