Saturday, August 14, 2010

How To Avoid Filing For Bankruptcy

By Adriana Noton

The majority of people have been in debt at one point or another. The bad thing about debt is that is like sinking sand, once you enter it's hard to get back up. When you start missing payments it can be hard to catch up on your past due amount as well as what is currently due. Some people get so behind that they have to file for bankruptcy.

There is several chapters of bankruptcy but there are two most common. One of these is Chapter 7 which is where your property that is not exempt gets sold to pay the debt you have. In Chapter 7 both business and individuals can file for this but not everyone that files can qualify.

The second type is Chapter 13 which is a two to five year plan to pay off the debt that you have. In order to qualify for this one you would have to prove in court that you have a reliable source. With this one you would have to pay a certain amount of money each month to allow you to pay off this debt within that time.

Although it is hardly ever explained to a person, there are other bankruptcy alternatives. You can do other things that may help reduce your debt such as credit card consolidation. With this option you can gather all the credit card balances you have and transfer them onto a new credit card. You can also obtain a loan that will pay off all these credit cards. You now only have one single monthly payment. The important thing with this option is refrain from using the paid off credit cards again.

You can also obtain a debt settlement. When you have missed several payments your creditors may transfer your debt to a collection agency who may offer you a debt settlement. This means that you pay a lower amount than your original balance. The bad part of this one is if you do not have enough for the minimal payment or past due amount, you probably will not have enough to pay this settlement amount.

You can also contact a credit negotiator who can complete a creditor negotiation for you. There are some restrictions such as you have to have a certain amount of debt and a certain limit on each balance. The credit negotiator will work with your creditors so that you can settle the debt for a less amount than what you owe.

You also have the option of getting all your bills together to see what your monthly expenses are. This way you can begin to eliminate those expenses that you do not need at the moment. Some of these are subscriptions and memberships that you do not require. You can also limit the grocery amount as well as the monthly you have set for yourself. This way you can use that extra money for your debt.

These are just some alternatives before you have to file for bankruptcy for example file bankruptcy Toronto or file bankruptcy Durham redion. When you fall in to debt there are still options you can do to get out of debt. While many of these will have a hard impact on your credit, the truth is you already have a bad impact on your credit when you missed payments.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment