regretfully, i would say yes, if you want to address the situation over a shorter period. other than that, you can stay in the house and make an arrangement with the companies. most of the major lenders have departments within their company that will negotiate with you to help address your issue. each creditor has an acceptance criteria and if they get this, they will stop the int/chgs. an example is MBNA, their contracual payment is 2.25% of the balance, so if you pay this, or more than this amount, you are a normal client, and pay int. now if their clients fall into difficulty, they will stop the int/chgs if the client can pay 0.8%-2.24% of the balance. this will allow them to keep it 'in house'. there are also client that really still cannot afford the 0.8%, so although they will stop the int/chgs, the account will then get passed onto a collector. but its important that you speak to them, otherwise they wont know your situation and keep applying the charges in the meantime.

although these companies make profits, they dont want to sell the debt for less than the value, so will do everything they can to help you, and avoid doing this.