[TinyFish]

That's what I understood about the checks too, but surely there is some legal recourse if she can get a hold of these people? Otherwise, why would we not all just write bad checks all over the place? Maybe she's already tried this, but since it sounds like some of the bad situation and a lot of paralyzing anger comes from this source, maybe addressing it would bring some relief, emotionally if not financially.

I'm a little unclear on the husband situation. I was under the impression that there is a previous husband, who may or may not be providing some money towards the kids upkeep, and now the current husband, who is disabled and is covering the house, insurance, and one car payment, but whom she cannot/does not want to tap for anything else in the way of support. Maybe I'm misunderstanding. It is a complicated situation to be sure.

BTW, what is a 'chargeoff' in this context? Is that the amount owed on the cards? Do you have a breakdown of minimum montly payments for all of this? Maybe someone could help summarize, since I'm very unclear as to how much debt there is total, what form it takes and what the minimum payments are. It is hard to advise without knowing the whole story, as painful as I'm sure it is.

-TinyFish