The gist is that if your credit card debt is out of control that you should consider both credit counseling and bankruptcy. In St. Cloud credit counseling is available from Catholic Charities and The Village Financial Services. Lutheran Social Services also provides that service. Generally speaking, they would do a "debt management plan" which has you pay your debts over about four years. They get ahold of your credit card companies and get them to agree to payments. Often the interest rate can be lowered substantially. This is NOT the same as the radio commercials and TV ads that say you can settle your debt.
And I would be willing to talk to you about bankruptcy options, so you can see which alternative is better for you.
A link to the newspaper column is here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/
