This will allow you to start working on paying off debt or wealth building.

Did you have a lot of debt or consider yourself to be in a good financial position?

Still working on debtor contact.

(This applies to the individual servicemember’s debt or joint debt with a spouse.)

Joint and several liabilityIf you are two or more persons, your obligations as debtors are both joint and several.15.

My question isn't whether I should use debt or not - it's how to know when I am over-leveraged. 

If it is deductible in your tax situation, that may be a very low interest debt (or cheap money)...On the other hand, your returns on a solid rental in El Paso (search bp on forums on figuring your return or run some rental calculators, etc) will likely earn a much higher rate of return; hence the money will likely get the best return in the rental investment, so rather than using that cash to pay off a very low interest debt (especially with the deduction) you place it In a much higher returning investment...

if you find a note that you are the maker of, I.e. you are the obligee or debtor, offered at a discount, you can buy the note in the name of an entity you own, different than the same entity that is named as payor of the note.  

Bankruptcy is nothing more than a process whereby a debtor's assets are sold and the proceeds distributed to his/her creditors (assuming it is a liquidation vs. a reorganization). 

For new college grads I always suggest either paying off all current debt or staying out of future debt.