Bankruptcy Questions Answered

Neil Robertson asked:


Bankruptcy is the debt resolution of last-resort in the UK, and still carries with it a stigma. It is also the debt solution that has the most devastating affect on your ability to get credit or a mortgage in the future. It is difficult to separate fact from fiction in the area of bankruptcy, so what happens if I declare myself bankrupt?

It is important to note at this point that declaring yourself bankrupt is not something that you should do lightly, and you should seek qualified advice.

A very important point concerns your home if you own it jointly. There may be steps that you can take to sell your share of your home to your partner/another family member which would remove the risk of it being sold. Get specialist advice on this.

You will need to get a form from your local court that you will have to present when you declare bankruptcy. You should also check at this point what the current fees are for declaring yourself bankrupt (485 at the time of writing, or possibly 335 if you are on income support). This form will need to be filled in before you petition for bankruptcy.
Before visiting the court you need to be aware that any bank accounts that you have an interest in will be frozen. You therefore need to make sure that you have enough cash to provide for your basic needs until you are next paid.

You would normally make an appointment at the court to declare yourself bankrupt. In actual fact if you turn up with the correct forms and the payment without an appointment during normal court hours you have to be seen, but normal practice is to make an appointment. You will need to take the bankruptcy fees in cash (no cheques accepted). The court appearance will normally be a formality, and you will then be free of your unsecured debt immediately.

After you are declared bankrupt your bank accounts will be frozen and you will need to attend an interview to discuss your financial situation and the reasons for your bankruptcy. The insolvency service will want to find out whether you have any assets that can be sold to pay money into your bankruptcy. Also, they will go through your budget to see if you can afford to pay any money from your earnings towards your bankruptcy. All of this detail needs to be discussed with a qualified adviser, but it is worth pointing out one key fact. If you are part of a couple, then the insolvency rules do not apply to your partner, i.e. they cannot insist that your partner pays anything towards mortgage/rent or utility bills etc. This is very important since if you fill in the forms showing that you pay half of the mortgage/rent this may result in you having a monthly excess. If so, you will be ordered to pay some of this money to your creditors for up to 3 years (continuing after your bankruptcy is discharged). If you don’t have any excess then you will be relieved of any responsibility for paying your creditors when you are discharged, which could be after only 6 months but certainly within a year.

The insolvency service will want to know if you have any assets that can be sold. They will only be interested in high value items such as your home, cars, boats etc. Current practice in the UK is that bankrupt’s homes are very rarely visited to assess whether there are any personal items that can be sold. The time and effort is simply not worth the small amounts of money that would be raised (unless your home is full of antiques).

Your car may be at risk of being sold unless you can prove that you NEED it for work (i.e. you cannot travel to work by public transport).

If you live with a partner/family and own your own home (and haven’t already taken steps to sell your share to someone else) then the insolvency service will not sell it for at least a year from the date that you are declared bankrupt. This can give time for your partner or another family to buy back your share.

Once your bankruptcy is discharged (normally in less than a year) you will be free to start re-building your life debt free. You will probably find it almost impossible to get unsecured credit for a number of years. Mortgages are more available, but the rates will be higher. It pays to shop around, because the rates on adverse credit loans can vary widely.



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Cornie Herring asked:


People loves credit card because it provides convenient on spending that meets today’s lifestyle, but they also **** it because it may cause them to trap in overwhelming debt, some people even need to go for bankruptcy filing to relief themselves from credit card debt. If you are at this worse financial situation due to large credit card balances that beyond your financial affordability to clear it, what are the options available for you to resolve your debt problem?

Many heavy credit card debtors tend to think of going for a bankruptcy filing so that they can relief themselves from hassling phone calls and surprising visits from their creditors to ask for their debt payment. But, they did not or might not aware of the consequences of filing a bankruptcy that will follow them for years (7 to 10 years) before they can freely reuse their credit again. Hence, bankruptcy filing should always be your last option after you have explored all alternatives for better options than bankruptcy which can potentially resolve your debt issue.

Credit card debt consolidation can be your alternative to bankruptcy. You should always explore this option for debt relief before you go for extreme solution such as bankruptcy filing which may badly hurt your future credit worthiness. You either can choose to consolidate debt with an unsecured or secured loan. But, if you have reached the status of receiving harassing phone call and getting visits from debt collectors, then you may already hurt your credit ratings due to the late payment or default payment. Then, it might be hard for you to get an unsecured loan to consolidate your credit card debt; however, it still worth to try to search for one, but be prepared that you won’t be able to get the best interest rate. If you manage to get an unsecured loan with interest rate that is good enough to consolidate the debt and bring it to current status, then you can avoid the need to filing for a bankruptcy.

If you own a home, you will be at a better situation to resolve the overwhelming credit card debts by consolidating them into a secured loan. You can apply for a home equity loan or refinance a mortgage to cash out money to pay off your debt. By pledging an asset for a loan, you should be able to find a good loan with low interest rate which you can use it to consolidate your debt. Remember, using your home to secure a loan also means that you are risking your home because you may lose it if you default the loan, so you should always make your loan repayment on time and don’t build more new debt before you clear the loan.

Summary

Bankruptcy filing is not the only solution for heavy debtors to get a relief from their overwhelming debt problem. You should always explore other alternatives for better debt relief options such as debt consolidation, which can potentially resolve your debt problem and able to minimize impacts on your future credit worthiness.



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Cornie Herring asked:


Are you in this situation? You are facing a serious and overwhelming debt issues and you are considering of filing a bankruptcy to get an instant release from the stressful debt problem. While the process of making up your decision, you keep asking yourself to look for other option that you can go for besides the bankruptcy filing. Is there an alternative to bankruptcy?

Have you explored all your options? In fact, there are many factors to consider in deciding whether bankruptcy is an appropriate option. You might need to consult an attorney before you decide to go for this option. The rule of thumb, bankruptcy must always be your last option when you really can’t find other better option to get you out of debt.

You may trapped into your overwhelming debt issues and the depressed situation makes you unaware of other potential debt solutions and thinking that bankruptcy filing is only way to get rid of debt. Sometimes a few advices are all you need to get your finance in order, or putting a proper debt management plan can save you from your debt problem. Hence, get help from a professional such as consumer credit counseling service might help you to avoid the need to go for the bankruptcy option.

Consumer credit counseling is non-profit service that is designed to help people who have money problems. It offers free service about how to get out of debt and how you use your credit wisely. Based on your financial situation, a counselor that assigned to handle your case will help you to explore all your available options that may help you to resolve your debt issues. In most case, you may be proposed to sign up a debt management plan, in which a small monthly contribution is needed.

Although enrolling into a debt management plan is optional in consumer credit counseling service, sometimes you find it a helpful to follow the plan and recover your financial to a better situation so that you won’t drag into the last option of bankruptcy filing.

If you decide to take up a debt management plan, you normally will go through a full assessment of your financial situation. You need to let the counselor know in details your regular income, expenditure, how much you owe, who are your creditors and other relevant information about your personal circumstances. And based on information you provided, a debt management plan will be proposed to you by the counselor. Under the debt management plan, you will consolidate all your debt payment into one payment that pay to your debt management account, it will then be distributed pro data to your creditors. Your plan will be reviewed at a regular basis it meets your circumstances.

By go through a consumer credit counseling process, you get to know what other options available for you to resolve your debt issue instead of bankruptcy filing. The consequences of bankruptcy follow you for 7 to 10, any other option that may help to resolve your debt issue would be a better option than bankruptcy filing. Hence, you must go through a consume credit counseling before you comes to the conclusion that bankruptcy is an appropriate option.



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Roilee Mandeville asked:


How can you start with your bankruptcy? If you want to declare yourself bankrupt you have to start the bankruptcy process by filing the official bankruptcy forms. You need to know the various methods on how to file for bankruptcy. Your goal is to get the most inexpensive bankruptcy solution and save big money on legal expenses. This article will give you an overview of the different process of filing for bankruptcy. This article is not a substitute for legal counsel, and it is not intended to give you specific legal advice on your financial situation.

The Safest Method

This is the simplest and safest way to file personal bankruptcy — retain a bankruptcy attorney full-time. The attorney will help you through the entire bankruptcy process. It is the lawyer’s job to evaluate, prepare and file your papers. During the creditors meeting your attorney will address all the tough issues that may arise. The only negative in using this method is that it costs more. You must find a way on how to screen cheap bankruptcy attorneys in good order for you to get the best possible deal if you want to use this method.

The Hybrid Method

This method is the most followed technique in filing for bankruptcy. The hybrid method normally works best in filing Chapter 7. The key factor here is to hire the services of a lawyer or law firm to prepare your case. You need to pay the service provider with a flat fee. Once they file your papers you are on your own. You can save huge amount on legal fees because part of the solution is a do-it-yourself work. You should look for a bankruptcy preparation service that will also give you a short training on how to handle the do-it-yourself portion as part of the package.

The Cheapest Method

This method is a full self-help solution or “pro-se” filing. You need to educate yourself with the complexity of the bankruptcy laws. You can download the official bankruptcy forms free but it is usually easier to do this method if you buy an up-to-date bankruptcy kit or a good bankruptcy book. If you try to ask instructions from your local court clerks they will say they can’t help you. They will not give you advice on how to fill up the forms because that would be “practicing the law” — a task reserved only for licensed bankruptcy lawyers.

What to Do Next?

Now that you know the different ways of filing personal bankruptcy, which method are you going to use? The new bankruptcy law does not require you to have a lawyer, but it is in your best interest to seek the advice of an experienced bankruptcy lawyer. If you choose to file bankruptcy without the help of a lawyer, you will need to have to show a lot of patience and diligence. Keep in mind and remember that when it comes to filing bankruptcy, you either liquidate your assets or you protect them.



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Kris Koonar asked:


When you decide to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the legal process grinds into gear. The petition, the document asking the court to bring you relief under chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, is a simple two page form, signed by all debtors and the attorney. Once this form has been filed and the filing fee paid, you are given a docket number. From then on, all actions by creditors are under stay, except for those that are allowed by motion, in the bankruptcy court. Creditors can not demand money, take you to court over debt or foreclose or repossess your property.

A few days after this filing, you are required to submit a list of all your creditors and their addresses to the court. This document, the Matrix, must be followed within a week by the rest of the required paperwork, including schedules of assets and liabilities, income and expenses, your financial history and your plan for how you wish to reorganize all that under chapter 13, as well as the evidence that you will be able to complete the plan. After this process of initial submission of the Chapter 13 reorganization plan, you have the option of filing amendments to add creditors or modify the schedules or plans. Amendments may, however, involve the payment of additional fees to your lawyer, as well as extra fees to the bankruptcy court.

Unless your case has some contested issues which need to be heard before a judge, you will probably never have to appear in person. Instead, you will meet with a Chapter 13 Trustee, only one to three months after the initial filing of the petition. This is known as a 341 creditors meeting and everyone who is owed money will be invited to attend. At the meeting, the creditors will ask you questions about your financial situation. However, in most cases, few creditors ever attend and the guests are more likely to include only the big creditors and mortgage holders.

Your attorney will have to be at this meeting, to represent you and the person actually asking all the questions and coordinating the meeting will be the Chapter 13 Trustee. After this meeting, if there are no objections against it, all you have to do is to make sure you remit all the payments according to your plan and in a timely manner. Duration of time for making payments will depend upon your income and the size of your debt. By statute, all the reorganization plans must be between 36 and 60 months long. If you have enough income, the Trustee might demand that the plan be 36 months long and a larger portion of the available funds paid to unsecured creditors.

In general, if you have a little extra money one month, save it, rather than trying to pay a larger amount. If you miss a payment at a later date, you will not be given credit for any early payments made previously. However, if your income changes substantially, for a longer time, you need to inform the court and adjust your payments. Always make sure to pay on time. If you do not, one or more creditors or the Trustee will object and your case can be dismissed or converted to Chapter 7 and they may still foreclose with the permission of the court. Since you are already in a bankruptcy, one failed or late payment will leave you no recourse against losing your home. You will lose the protection of the court.



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