PayoffPath — getting out of debt, with the math shown

Chapter 13's share of consumer bankruptcies by federal district, rebuilt from the June 2026 court release: 36.9% nationally, 82.1% in one district and 8.1% in another, plus filings per head…

Waiting periods run from discharge, and 62.8% of the 608,511 cases filed in the year to June 2026 were Chapter 7. Which clock most buyers are actually on.

Older income tax can be discharged, recent tax cannot, and liens survive. What the federal courts' own filing table records about tax debt: nothing.

At 22.15% the minimum takes 335 months and $35,418 of interest. A five-year loan at the measured 11.86% takes $443.48 a month and $6,609.

Three tests answer it, and none of them is a national average. Plus what the Federal Reserve's 1.35 trillion revolving credit total can and cannot tell you.

One minimum formula clears $10,000 in 266 months. A flat 2% of the balance never clears it. Both are correct arithmetic at the measured 22.15% APR.

Three questions that sort the industry, and the federal complaint file behind it: four company names carry almost a quarter of all 324,326 collection complaints.

Settle $20,000 for $8,000 and $12,000 may be taxable income. The two exclusions that often erase it — bankruptcy and insolvency — and how each works.

There is no special forgiveness program for either group. But both have real protections most people are never told about — and both are heavily targeted.

Why we publish no table of years, and the method that replaces it. Plus the biggest thing people tell the CFPB: 137,074 say the debt is not owed.

Answer before the deadline on the summons. Plus who the plaintiff usually is: the four firms drawing the most federal collection complaints are all debt buyers.

Five routes out of a wage garnishment, in order of speed. Plus what comes first in the federal record: 81,464 of 324,326 collection complaints are legal action.

At 22.15 percent, interest alone is 92.29 dollars a month on a five-thousand balance. Below that the balance rises, and that is the real floor of any plan.

Rank by consequence, not by pressure. And the federal record shows what a skipped bill becomes: 6,200,165 credit reporting complaints against 324,326 about collection.

Measured at 29 payment levels: the order you pay in is worth 134 to 1,020 dollars, and the amount you pay is worth 17,124. Both numbers, one portfolio.

It combines debts into one payment and does not reduce what you owe. Whether it helps is one comparison, and the Federal Reserve measures both sides of it.

The rate gap is 10.29 points, and on twenty thousand dollars it is worth 2,373 over two years or 6,637 over five. A lower payment is not the same thing.

One calculation decides whether an offer is worth taking, and three options need no approval. Plus the 10.29-point gap the Federal Reserve measures.

The Chapter 7 threshold for one person runs from $30,665 in Puerto Rico to $88,585 in Washington. At $50,000 you are under it in 52 of 55 jurisdictions.

Medical collections are treated differently from every other debt — a waiting period, a dollar threshold, and removal once paid. What that means for you.

Charity care, itemized billing errors and the No Surprises Act: three routes that cut the bill before you pay a cent. Apply even if it is in collections.

Four methods, ranked by how often they work. Plus what 6,200,165 federal complaints show: a correction 29.65% of the time, money 0.01%.

Start in month one: fix the reports, open a secured card, add a second tradeline by month six. Plus what bank delinquency data says about who lends.

A charge-off is your bank's accounting entry. A collection is a tradeline from whoever bought the debt. Seeing both is normal; two balances is not.

The federal courts logged 382,161 Chapter 7 filings in a year. The CFPB closed 410 collection complaints with money. Two routes of very different scale.

What to say when you are current, when you are behind, and when it has been sold. Word-for-word openings, and the four things never to say.

The stack above is measured against the balance. Paying the same balance at 22.15 percent adds 7,553 dollars over three years, and a fee inside the documented band eats every…

Six balances, eleven payments, one measured rate: the whole grid at 22.15% APR, the five assumptions behind it, and the 23 cells that have no answer.

Send it within 30 days of first contact and collection must pause until they verify. Copy the letter, the five items to demand, and how to send it.

Never pay a settlement without these four clauses in writing. Copy the offer letter, the confirmation letter, and the paid-in-full request.