May 18, 2012

Know the Consequences of Bankruptcy

By George Christodoulou –

Filing for bankruptcy can be devastating. If you have already had the experience of filing, you know the personal and emotional effects. One of the best things you can do is prepare yourself and your family by being aware of your options. Filing for bankruptcy is hard enough, but imagine knowing the consequences before they happen. Wouldn’t it be great if you could prepare yourself mentally and financially during a time that is already so difficult? Knowing what you could lose may help stop emotional consequences.

It is not always possible to know everything you can lose when filing for bankruptcy. The most difficult people to deal with are your family. This may come as a shock, but all too often, family members are disappointed in this financial choice. However, you have to think about your options and bankruptcy may be the only way out.

You may expect to lose your assets over time, but it is easy to overlook the emotional effects of your decision. The truth is, filing for bankruptcy may the only thing you can do to stop yourself from drowning. However, you may still be at risk in other ways. You could lose other valuable relationships and people.

Filing for bankruptcy is not always seen as the best option and is often looked down upon. You may not have your family’s support because of the social ideas it carries with it. If you know what you could lose, it will be easier to prepare yourself and the rest of your family.

If you have chosen to file, be aware that you may not be able to depend on every relationship, but worry about them later, now is the time to get your life back in order.

Bankruptcy is something you should try to avoid. There are many other options you can choose from. For more information, please visit http://bankruptdebtexpert.com

Even if you’re near bankruptcy and think it’s the only way out, know that you CAN do something about your debt:   Consequences of Bankruptcy

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Christodoulou

Common Misconceptions About Bankruptcy

By Joseph Devine –

The American economy has been largely built on a consumer population addicted to and reliant upon credit. Big ticket items like cars, appliances, furniture, and homes have been purchased on borrowed money for decades and it has gradually become the norm to overspend and to utilize the once sacrosanct credit cards for day to day purchases. This has spiraled outward for many people into an overall attitude toward and handling of money that has left them scrambling or unable to make ends meet. When financial obligations are greater than you can afford, it may be time to consider filing for bankruptcy protection under the chapter of the Bankruptcy Code suited to your debt and asset situation.

Making the decision to enter bankruptcy is difficult, primarily because there is a longstanding social disapproval of the practice. But as more individuals and businesses find themselves struggling to cope with unemployment, stagnant wages, and rising interest rates on mortgages, credit cards, and other financial instruments it is becoming an unspoken and necessary step for many. The matter is further complicated by intentional disinformation put forth by debt collectors and other entities and the presence of countless finance gurus and laypersons who offer their opinions unsolicited and sometimes with serious misunderstandings about the subject at hand.

Myths and Misery

While it is true that bankruptcy is not the best course of action for everyone, it is often the quickest and most substantial source of relief for a family or business saddled with a wholly unmanageable debt load. Financial stresses can lead to ill physical health and can compromise one’s emotional wellbeing, leading to the unintentional destruction of interpersonal and business relationships. Filing for bankruptcy can put all of your debts and any collection efforts on hold temporarily, and for many classes of debt it can excuse the debt altogether.

This can provide you with a window of time to recover and repair your financial situation so that you can conquer the debts that remain and avoid the errors that landed you in such a tough spot the first time around. You should remain aware of the following common misconceptions about bankruptcy so that they do not prevent you from gaining back your financial independence:

You will lose your ability to gain credit — though your credit score will suffer for several years, the erasure of debts from the books can still make you an appealing client for many credit card offers
Doctor and other medical bills cannot be discharged — although there are some kinds of debt that are not dischargeable, medical bills have no such security, generally speaking, and may be discharged
All of your belongings will be seized and sold — the federal and state bankruptcy laws provide generous exemptions that permit bankruptcy filers to retain many of their possessions, and in the vast majority of cases they are not forced to surrender anything

Knowledge is Power

Do not let an unscrupulous debt collector take advantage of you. To be sure that you have all the facts, contact the Arizona bankruptcy lawyers at the Harmon Law Office, L.L.C.

Joseph Devine

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Devine

How to Get a Personal Loan After Bankruptcy

By Rick Taylow -

How to get personal loans after bankruptcy? This is a question that every person who has suffered bankruptcy has to deal with. Bankruptcy leaves your credit in bad repair, but fortunately all is not lost. You can indeed do some things to fix up your credit.

The first thing you absolutely need to do is take out your credit report from the three major credit agencies and see if there are any errors in the reporting. Your report should be up to date and any inconsistencies should be reported to the publishing credit card company.

You should also look for the bankruptcy notice on all the credit reports. If it’s missing from any of them, contact the reporting credit agency about this. You may be required to forward your bankruptcy documents to them as proof.

If you are looking to apply for personal loans after bankruptcy, you are going to need to work on your credit right after the bankruptcy discharge. This is because most lenders will not lend to anyone with a bankruptcy discharge on their credit records for less than 2 years. Now this is not a “firm” rule and there are some exceptions, but as a rule of thumb you are going to have a much more difficult time trying to gain a loan in less than two year period. This rule virtually applies to anything credit related such as after bankruptcy car financing, after bankruptcy mortgage financing, etc.

If you use the two years following bankruptcy to improve your credit history by paying all bills on time, you stand a good chance of getting the loan you need. You can take out a secured credit card from a bank or from online and use this as a credit source to purchase items and pay off the card each month. This is the best way how to get personal loans after bankruptcy.

If you want to know how to get personal loans after bankruptcy  the key is to know what you are up against. I suggest you look online for information about personal loans with poor credit information. The advice will apply the after bankruptcy situations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Taylow

Getting a Mortgage After Bankruptcy

By Anubha S Shyam -

It is easy to declare bankruptcy, but it is unusually difficult to bear its brunt. You feel helpless, vulnerable, insubstantial and ineffective. Suddenly, everything seems to be out of reach and out of control. In such a grim scenario, you can’t even think of taking another mortgage to buy a home. However, in reality, you can easily get a home mortgage loan even after bankruptcy. You are just required to do a few things. Let’s find out what are they.

• Be very frank and honest- Before sanctioning you a home loan, the mortgage company would use different ways and means to find out everything about your financial health and your credit worthiness. For this reason, don’t hide your bankrupt status. Never even think to hide your true identity or present fake documents; this practice is completely illegal. Instead, be overtly frank and honest.
• Create New Credit Lines- Don’t allow your bankruptcy to overpower you; rather strive hard to make a new beginning. Create new credit line by applying for new credit cards. It is advisable to begin with secured credit cards. Such cards allow you to build your credit by using your own source of money.
• Start improving your credit report- The next step is to start improving your credit report. Check your credit report regularly to weed out all the errors and inaccuracies. A good idea would be to engage an agency that specifically monitors credit reports. Such an agency would not only handle your credit report efficiently, but would also deal with all the suspicious and unusual activities in your account effectively.
• Pay all your bill on time- Another important thing that you need to do is to pay all your bills on time. These bills include not just your credit card bills, but also your telephone and electricity bills. All this will work together to improve your credit report, and once, that happens mortgage lender will start to send you quotations.
• Devise ways for down payment- In addition to cashing out your fixed deposits, insurance policies, bank deposits and 401K, you can borrow money from your relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbors. Beside this, there are several down-payment assistance programs like Homes for All Program, Nehemiah Program, and AmeriDream Gift Funds, that provide funds for making the down-payment and paying the closing costs.

Also called down-payment grant programs or down-payment gift assistance programs, such programs merely act as a mediator between the buyer and seller. At the time of closing, the seller can give back a portion of the proceeds to the buyer. However, as sellers are not allowed to give down-payment directly to the buyers, down-payment assistance programs mediate and make the entire process legal.

If you have declared bankruptcy, mortgage companies would ask you to wait for about 2 years. After this period, if you have improved your credit report dramatically, you become eligible for 100% financing. Conversely, if you need a home mortgage loan before the 2-years period, then you should go to those companies that specialize in making mortgage available to those people who have recently gone bankrupt. Homes for Sale in Desert Mountain and Homes for Sale in Desert Ridge are some worth buying properties. Do take a look at them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anubha_S_Shyam

Have You Had Any Success in Recovering from Bankruptcy?

I was recently interviewed by a national magazine about how my clients recover from Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Some of the tips I discussed during the interview included:

  • asking a friend or relative to add you as an authorized user on a MasterCard or Visa
  • opening a savings and/or checking account at a credit union and establishing a pattern of regular deposits
  • requesting a small loan from that credit union and paying back each installment on time
  • opening a credit account with a gasoline retailer
  • finding a co-signer to open an unsecured credit card account

I explained to the reporter that I am hearing from my clients that large credit card companies are soliciting them for cards as quickly as 6 months post discharge – no surprise in that successfully discharged debtor are a great credit risk, having no debt and no option to file bankruptcy

The reporter, who is a very nice and informed gentleman, would like to speak to anyone who has had success in re-establishing credit after Chapter 7.  If you would be interested in talking to this reporter, please email me using the form on this blog and I'll put you in touch with him.