The worst advice hardly, you’re exaggerating. Your credit will take a hit for 7 years, which is definitely a long time but the worst of it is you will pay more up front in deposits and pay high interest rates from loans. I’ve walked away from more than $18k during the last crisis and here I am today with a great credit score and am looking at buying a house potentially soon (or at least was pre COVID). The worst thing you can do is to continue paying on something you know you’ll lose anyway, causing even more financial problems for yourself.