Debt litigation is an option you may want to look into. 

     Debt settlement, also known as debt arbitration, debt negotiation or credit settlement, is an approach to debt reduction in which the debtor and creditor agree on a reduced balance that will be regarded as payment in full.[1] During a negotiation (litigation) period, all payments by the debtor are made to the debt settlement company, which typically withholds payments to the creditors, even if the debtor has paid a lump sum or made payments. Once all the debtor's accounts are in default due to this non-payment, the debt settlement company has leverage to force the debtor to accept a reduced lump sum payment as settlement. The debtor's credit rating goes down significantly due to the default, especially if the debtor was not behind on payments before the negotiation period commenced. Even though the accounts are "settled," the default appears on the debtor's credit record for seven years. Nevertheless, some debtors prefer this method of debt reduction over bankruptcy. When discussing debt litigation we also need to look at debt collection. 

     Debt collection has been around as long as there has been debt and is older than the history of money itself, as it existed within earlier systems based on bartering. Debt collection goes back to the ancient civilisations, starting in Sumer in 3000 BC. In these civilisations if a debt was owed that could not be paid back, the debtor and the debtor's spouse, children or servants were forced into "debt slavery", until the creditor recouped losses via their physical labour. Under Babylonian Law, strict guidelines governed the repayment of debts, including several basic debtor protections. Interstingly enough, Both the Bible and Quran issue stern restrictions regarding how much interest to charge on a loan. The Abrahamic religions discouraged lending and prohibited creditors from collecting interest on debts owed. By the Middle Ages, laws came into being to deal specifically with debtors. If creditors were unable to collect a debt they could take the debtor to court and obtain a judgment against the debtor. This resulted in either the bailiff of the court going to the house of debtor and collecting goods in lieu of the debt, or the debtor being remitted to debtor’s prison until the debtor's family could pay off the debt or until the creditor forgave it.

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