I am strongly considering bankruptcy Can any one share personal experiences with bankruptcy good and bad.?
admin | Mar 30, 2010 | Comments 5
I have tried with no avail to pay all of my debts and am slowly in a downward spiral. I feel bankruptcy is my only option. Can someone give me advice or personal experiences excellent and terrible about their bankruptcies? No rude comments please I feel terrible enough as it is.
Thankfulness I too feel that it will save my life in a lot of aspects I am not late on any of my payments at this point but I am barley making minimums so the next month I am over my spending limits again and it is vicious cycle. I have to keep using my credit cards to pay my bills because all of my money goes toward my payments. I have already spoken to an attorney who is going to aid me through it and says that I sould have all of my liabilities removed. I have tried for several years to make myself out of this situation and it is just getting worse it is excellent to know that there are people willing to listen and for that thank you very much.
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I had to declare bankruptcy a number of years ago. It was not a touch I sought after to do, but I had no choice. I found a paralegal to aid me with the paperwork for not very much money. It was embarrassing, and it stays on your credit record for a long time, but there was no other way at the time. I have heard that there have been some changes since then, so you might want to look up the rules in your state.
Bankruptcy saved my life. Yes, it takes awhile to make people to lend you money again, but eventually, you can rebuild your credit. After you end your bankruptcy, apply for a small loan for a car, or a touch. (Make it a VERY small item.) You will make charged a high interest rate, but pay it, pay it ON time, every time. Eventually, you will make your credit back. My bankruptcy still appears on my credit check (as it occurred less than ten years ago) and I have as much credit as I want, and more than I need. Yes, the initially few months after the bankruptcy will be rough. But, if you make sure to pay everyone on time once you end your bankruptcy, you will be able to make back on your feet. Depending on how much you owe, you may never make on your feet paying it back small by small, and if you are making late payments or missing payments, at this point, your credit is probably ruined anyway, so you have very small to lose, unless you are sure that you are going to be able to pay back the debts eventually.
I can empathize…. I filed bankruptcy in 1996.
I was $42,000+ in debt and working 70hrs/wk trying to pay it off… after several years of bouncing up and down with my debt, I started getting sick and couldn’t keep up payments…. Had to file bankruptcy.
I chose The boards 13 instead of The boards 7 … you can check here ( http://www.creditinfocenter.com/bankruptcy/ ) for a excellent description of the differences between the two… my reason was prideful, I guess… I didn’t want to feel like I was walking away from my responsibilities. So, I paid back 20% over a 3 year period…. and the bankruptcy stays on your credit record for 7 years AFTER the final payment is recorded. In retrospect, I probably should have chosen The boards 7.
One the excellent side: I learned how to scrimp and save while I was trying to pay down my debt… so, after filing, I had a lot of extra cash available…. and I started putting it away… building a savings/retirement account (you can come out of bankruptcy in much better shape if you don’t repeat the same mistakes that got you there the initially time
).
Everything was bought with Cash for quite a while… even even if they let me keep a link of credit cards (shocking but right – I had a $10,000 limit on a DiscoverCard – they cut-rate it to $800…. and a MC originally at $8800 was cut-rate to $500 – enough for emergencies
)
Now, with that all said…. I’d initially recommend that you try an alternative to bankruptcy. There are several services out there… I reckon the major one is called Consumer Credit Counseling Service ( http://www.cccsatl.org/ ) . It is a Non-profit service, their fees are collected from the credit card companies, not the individual.
Using such a service will improve your credit rating quickly and avoid the embarrassment and long term effects of bankruptcy. I reckon I was probably too far gone for their services… but I really wish I’d tried ‘em out before filing bankruptcy.
Excellent Luck!
I suggest you consult a financial counsellor. These services are usually emancipated and are located throughtout most regions. You should make sound independent help tailored to your situation.
Bankruptcy is an resolution last resort and is very stressful. Have you examined all the alternatives to bankruptcy? If you have money coming in and you are paying debts off as you can, there could be ways in which you could reschedule your debt without filing bankruptcy.
Before you take any irreversible decisions, do some investigate to see whether there is any other way out. There’s a website here with a lot of useful advice about doable alternatives. I hope this helps.
Excellent luck!