Either they pay your loans or their credit gets trashed , and after a bankruptcy it ' s not like you ' ll be swimming in great credit anyway . It ' s a little late for that . My dad went through a foreclosure and a bankruptcy , and my mom has barely kept afloat and often misses her own debt payments . Since using up all her equity , she somehow has been successful at guilting people in her family and at church into giving her money , but who knows how long that will last . Perhaps by now she has lost her house or declared bankruptcy . I wouldn ' t know . I understand your feelings , but it ' s a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face . I ' m in my 30 s now , and would like to eventually have a nest egg and the ability to be approved for credit .