Filing for bankruptcy should not be taken lightly. Bankruptcy stays on your credit report for as long as a foreclosure, 10 years, severly limiting your future financial life. In addition, if you are filing bankruptcy to stop a foreclosure bankruptcy usually only delays the inevitable- filing bankruptcy DOES NOT ensure your house will be saved from foreclosure preceedings.
Before you file for bankruptcy it is imperative that you fully understand exactly what you are getting yourself into.
Your bankruptcy attorney will be collecting a great deal of personal and financial information from you. Your attorney will be collecting information about your spending habits, which can be a highly personal matter to you. While in bankruptcy you will be paying monthly fees to your attorney.
You have to decide whether to file Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy.
Chapter 7 requires you to give up all non-exempt property to the creditors. Then you will be discharged from SOME of your old debts. Your mortgage, for example, must still be paid in full. This, and other non-exempt debts, in addition to your bankruptcy fees, means you will be paying MORE each month after filing bankruptcy. Most people do not realize this. If you default from your payment plan, your house is still lost to foreclosure!
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy means you try and repay ALL of your debts over a period of 3-5 years. You also have to pay your bankruptcy attorney fees.
Which ever bankruptcy you do decide, you must realize that filing bankruptcy is not as simple as it sounds, and is much harder than it was a few years ago.
A second bankruptcy also will not save a house from foreclosure.
Remember, FILING BANKRUPTCY DOES NOT SAVE YOUR HOME FROM FORECLOSURE- AFTER FILING BANKRUPTCY YOU ARE PAYING MORE PER MONTH AND MOST PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD THESE EXTRA FEES. Therefore, filing bankruptcy only extends the time until foreclosure, it does not actually stop foreclosure! |