Many people think that filing bankruptcy can be the worst, or close to the worst thing they can do, believing it will ruin their credit and result in bad things happening such as losing their home, their auto or other property.
The reality is just the opposite.
In almost all cases, filing bankruptcy can be the best thing you can do for your credit and for yourself. It eliminates unpayable debt, it protects you and ALL your property, and it is a giant stress reliever.
Also, Bankruptcy relief is guaranteed by law. This is huge! For instance, the many debt consolidation programs you may see advertised on televison or the internet have no guarantees. Beware of them! They like to say they can reduce your monthly credit payments and reduce what you owe, but they rarely do. And remember this, there are usually many hidden fees they charge you; those commercials are not free.
In fact, per the Federal Trade Commission, less then one in six debt consolidation programs that people enter into are successful. That is generally because no creditor is under any duty to agree to any debt reduction or payment modification. And even if a creditor does reduce what you owe, you have to pay tax on the amount reduced. Often what happens, in cases where you have three of more debts, one creditor may agree to a debt reduction or payment modification, but the others do not, but you do not know that, and bad stuff starts happening.
These debt consolidation programs are notorious for not providing you with specific and true information as to what your creditors have or have not agreed to in their program. People presume that the creditors that the program says are in the program are in actually in the program and in agreement with the program. And people are also lead to believe that their monthly payment to the program satisfies every creditor, yet usually it does not, and people often find themselves being sued by creditors six or seven months into the program.
In bankruptcy, your creditors are under a legal duty to eliminate your debts and not bother you and, there is no tax consequence to this debt elimination. Again, huge.
A bankruptcy case generally lasts a little over three months. Then your debt is officially gone. The debt consolidation programs usually take a minium of at least three years of monthly payments AND you are not sure what is happening and when.
One other thing, also huge. If you pay your normal obligations for a year after your bankruptcy, on such things as utility bills, car loan payments and the like, and you pay them on time, you should have a credit rating of 700 plus after a year. That is good, double good, because you have little or no debt, and a high credit rating.
If you would like a free consultation to discuss your situation with me, please call my office at 716-877-4490. I’m sure I have an office near to you.
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