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Personal bankruptcy isn’t for everyone
Some more thoughts about whether you should file
How do you know if filing for personal bankruptcy is right for you? Here are some more things to ponder before you decide to file.
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Personal bankruptcy is complicated and time consuming. Is it a good idea?
With the new bankruptcy legislation looming, millions of Americans are righly concerned about whether they should file for personal bankruptcy before the October 17 deadline. It’s not an easy decision to file; there are long-term considerations, including the fact that the filing will remain on your credit report for ten years. Furthermore, you will not be able to have your debts discharged again for eight years after filing.
We discussed some possible warning signs about bankruptcy in a previous article. Here we will look at a few more than may help you decide whether or not you should file.
- Are you working overtime to pay your bills? We don’t mean the occasional overtime to pay the Christmas gift expenses. We are talking about expecting overtime each and every week because you cannot pay the rent or the car note without it. If you have more bills each month than you can pay with your regular, non-overtime paycheck, you may have a problem. You won’t always be able to count on overtime, and besides, who wants to? Life is too short to work yourself to death.
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- Are you paying for food with your credit cards? We don’t mean the occasional night out at the steak place. We are talking about loading cars full of groceries at Piggly Wiggly and paying by credit card because you don’t have the cash in your checking account. Food is a recurring expense; you should have funds from your paycheck to cover it. If you don’t, and you’re paying with a credit card at 20% per year, you have a serious problem.
- You are applying for more credit cards because you have no room on your existing ones. If your cards are full or “maxed out” you don’t need more cards, you need to pay your bills. Obtaining more credit cards won’t make your situation better; it will make it worse. Ultimately, it will be one more bill that you can’t pay.
- You are being sued for nonpayment. This one is pretty obvious. Lenders don’t like to sue their customers; it takes time and costs a lot of money. It’s a last resort for them after they’ve called and nagged and begged you for the money you owe them. If you’ve reached a point where you are being sued, and you can’t do anything about paying the bill, then it’s probably time to consider bankruptcy.
These are just guidelines, and not hard and fast rules. Still, if you find anything in the above descriptions that sounds like you then you probably should consider at least speaking with an attorney who specializes in debt law. It can’t hurt to do so, but doing it sooner rather than later would be a good start.
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