Paying your bills: Which to pay first
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10. Don't pay when you have a good, legal defense.
If the goods purchased were defective or a creditor is asking for more money than they're entitled, you may have a legal defense for not paying your bill. You should obtain legal advice to determine whether your defense will succeed. In evaluating these options, remember that it is especially dangerous to withhold mortgage or rent payments without legal advice.

11. A court judgment boosts a debt's priority.
After a collector obtains a court judgment, that debt often should move up in priority because the creditor can enforce that judgment by asking the court to seize your property, wages and bank accounts. Nevertheless, how serious a threat this really is will depend on your state's law, the value of your property and your income. It may be that all your property and wages are protected under state law. If so, you should still pay this debt only after more pressing obligations. This is a good time to obtain professional legal advice if you have not done so already.

12. A student loan is a medium priority debt.
Student loan debts should be paid ahead of low priority debts, but after top priority debts. Most delinquent student loans are backed by the United States, and federal law provides special collection remedies against you, including the seizure of your tax refunds and denial of future student loans and grants.

13. Debt collection efforts should not boost a debt's priority.
Be polite to the collector, but make your own choices about which debts to pay based on what is best for your family. Debt collectors are unlikely to give you good advice. They'll urge you to pay debts that you should actually pay last.

14. Threats to ruin your credit should not boost a debt's priority.
In many cases, when a collector threatens to report your delinquency to a credit bureau, the creditor has already provided the credit bureau with the exact status of the account. And if the creditor has not done so, a collector hired by the creditor is very unlikely to do so. In fact, your mortgage lender, your car creditor and other big creditors are much more likely to report your delinquency than a debt collector who threatens you about your credit record.

15. Treat co-signed debts as your own.
If you have put your home or car as collateral on a co-signed loan, paying this debt should be a high priority debt when the other co-signers fail to pay. If you have not put up collateral, treat a co-signed debt as a lower priority. If someone has co-signed a loan for you and you are unable to pay the debt, you should tell your co-signer about your financial problems, so that he or she can decide what to do about that debt.

16. Refinancing is rarely the answer.
If you're having serious money woes, you'll want to be careful about refinancing. Refinancing a loan can be very expensive, and it can give creditors more opportunities to seize your important assets. A short-term fix could lead to long-term problems.

Source: 2006 edition of National Consumer Law Center's Guide to Surviving Debt.