Top Ten Reasons People File for Bankruptcy

July 12th, 2009 | by admin |

1. Eliminate the legal obligation to pay many of your debts..
This process of wiping the slate clean is called a discharge of
debts. The goal of a discharge is to reduce debt to give you a
fresh start. Whether it is through straight bankruptcy (Chapter
7 Bankruptcy) or through reorganization (Chapter 13 Bankruptcy),
most or all of your debts can be cleared.

2. Stop foreclosure on you house and allow you to effectively
make payments to catch up on missed payments of your mortgage.
If your home is in foreclosure, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will stop
the foreclosure any time prior to the sale. Bankruptcy does not
eliminate mortgages on your property without payment. Rather,
bankruptcy will structure a plan in order to repay your mortgage
arrears (the amount that you are behind). <stop foreclosure>

3. Prevent your car or other property from being repossessed.

Even if the creditor has repossessed your car, filing bankruptcy
can effectively force them to return your car or other personal
property (if the bankruptcy is filed quickly enough). The past
payments you have missed will be consolidated into your Chapter
13 Bankruptcy plan. After this you will no longer pay the
finance company, rather you will make monthly payments to the
trustee of your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy who will then pay the
finance company.

4. Reduce or even eliminate high medical bills.

Sometimes an unfortunate accident or major recently discovered
illness can completely ruin a family. Many families have to make
choices on allocation of bills. Often, bills that were once
important become insignificant to the large medical bills
acquired by a loved one. Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy can greatly
reduce the amount of medical bills. 5. Recent loss of
employment.

Studies show that loss of work is one of the most common reasons
people file for bankruptcy. This is very easy to see. A family
can get comfortable on two maybe even one salary. They can take
on regular amount of debts, join clubs, and pay normal bills
with relative ease. All of a sudden one or both spouses lose a
job and a family must go from two salaries to one. Losing a job
is closely tied to high medical bills. Losing a job means this
family may be left without the protection of insurance that was
once provided by their employer. Often times these two factors
combined create an almost impossible mountain to climb without
the help of bankruptcy.

6. Stop harassing behavior from creditors.

Some creditors do not always take the right course of action
when attempting to collect a debt. Often, creditors will
persistently call the home of a particular debtor with demeaning
and abusive behavior. Not only is this unethical it can rise to
the level of unlawful. In essence, bankruptcy will put on hold
the demands of many creditors and stop the harassing phone calls
and other inappropriate behavior all together.

7. Restore or prevent your utilities from being shut off.

As you have probably seen many of these reasons overlap. Some
lead to another. If your home is in risk of foreclosure then
your utility bill may also be in risk of being terminated.
Filing bankruptcy can prevent the utility company from leaving
you in the dark.

8. Provide help for large amounts of student loan debt. <student loans>

While it is true that your student loans will not be eliminated
like several other types of unsecured debt, bankruptcy can
consolidate your student loan debt. This consolidation will
allow a debtor to make monthly payments through Chapter 13
Bankruptcy that are within the financial ability of the debtor.

9. End wage garnishments.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy will stop wage garnishment. Wage
garnishment basically takes away your weekly earnings often
times leaving you without necessities. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
allows you to purchase necessities for you and your family.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will also help in this regard.

10. Challenge certain claims of fraudulent creditors.

Bankruptcy will allow you to challenge these claims from
creditors who are trying to collect more money from you than you
really owe. An attorney can provide the support and the backing
you will need to step up to these creditors. Attorneys often
even the playing field between a big creditor and a single
debtor. Filing bankruptcy with an attorney can stop fraudulent
reporting by a creditor.

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