IF you include EVERYTHING you can (even a bill you may want to pay off, for example) and you are "debt free" afterwards ... assuming you have money to put into savings maybe as well, and can meet all your obligations.... the credit card companies will immediately offer you credit again. Just like the previous poster said, you can't go bankrupt for several years then, and they can hound you and take you to court and double their costs and fees on you if you don't pay, so they think they can make money back "off" you and offer you credit again.

Try credit counseling first. Show that you tried to pay everyone off but they wouldn't play nice? There are countless free (I MEAN FREE no fees no nothing charges!) counseling centers. It would help you in the long run too, in managing your credit. It's painful either way.

To rebuild credit, put money into a savings account with your bank (or a better bank.) Then, take out a credit card with them, using the savings you have as it's baseline. You pay it off each month, so don't charge anything you wouldn't normally be paying cash for ... in fact, the way to do this is have the cash for what you want to buy (even small $10 items) charge the item and go put that money ($10) into the savings account. Within 4 months you will have begun to repair your credit, as you're showing good financial management sense.