March 2010

Life After Bankruptcy

In the past people would do just about anything to prevent filing for bankruptcy. It was simply so embarassining and people felt ashamed. However now more and more people are seeing bankruptcy as being a ticket out of financial troubles. Of course, there's a lot more to bankruptcy than simply filing for it and then walking away from all of your responsibilites. One of the results of bankruptcy is a very impaired credit rating. If you have found yourself in this situation you will probably want to find ways of repairing your credit score.

As soon as anyone becomes bankrupt, your credit records will updated to reflect this and will show up for a total of seven years. So if you are looking to apply for a credit card, loan or bank account you will find that this is easier said than done. However if you do your best you can begin to improve your rating to make yourslf more trustworthy.

You may feel that there is nothing that you can do and that the best course of action is to simply do nothing. After 7 years things will improve and you can go back to normal. However this is unwise because you can start to make repairs to your credit score immediately. There are a number of different measure you can opt for and there are also consultants that can assist in this.

Before you do anything else you should request your credit report from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You are entitled by law to request a free copy every 12 months. You can also visit annualcreditreport.com which is a certal website for all three credit agencies and allows you to make a request centrally.

When you receive the copies you requested you can then look through it very carefully to see if there are any errors. It could be that they have got your address details incorrect or there are credit cards listed you never applied for. When you spot errors you ought to notify the corresponding agencies to have them update their details.

If you want to apply for a credit card you will need to look at options that are on offer for those with terrible credit scores. There are some credit cards that are "secured" whilst there are others that are pre-paid. The pre-paid cards are great because you can only spend that amount of money that is on your balance. So there is no worrying about whether you can afford to pay off the bill.

Make sure that you pay any bills in a timely manner so that it doesn't work against you on your credit reports. Over time if you have been keeping your credit very clean you will see your rating improve and banks will feel they can trust you more and more.

If you are ever in the mind to apply to credit again, you should talk to a human being with the company to find out if you are likely to be eligable. They will have a better idea of whether you will be declined or accepted. If you simply apply online you might be rejected and every time you do this it will show on your credit report. This really doesn't look good at all.

OK, so you are now living the life of a bankrupt but please see this as an opportunity to take better control of your finances. All too often people don't understand what they are doing with their money and that's how they get into trouble.

Some Possible Reasons For Bankruptcy

When you are in a situation where you can not meet your financial responsibilities, often there is little other way that to file for bankrupt. There are loads of reasons why people end up facing this prospect and here are just a handful of them:-

Losing A Job - This is perhaps the biggest fear people have when it comes to their finances. If you lose your job then suddenly your household income plummets like a stone. Unfortunately because of the financial situation as it is today many people are losing their jobs. Not only will they lose an income, they will lose a number of benefits previously provided by the employer such as health insurance.

Medical Expenses - Any of us can become ill or be involved in some kind of accident. Even if you do your best to look after you health you can still need medical treatment. If you have comprehensive health insurance this might not be too much of a worry to you. However if finances are very tight or your have lost your job you might not have any health insurance so have to foot the medical costs yourself. If you are in this situation you should look further into Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Loan Repayments - There are many reasons people take out a loan, it could be to pay for a house, car or some other item of value. If you want to prevent having any of these items being repossessed then you should look into the benefits of filing for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. With this option you are able to have any of the missed payments merged into the bankruptcy plan. Instead of paying the creditors directly, you will be paying a trustee who will in turn pay the creditor for you.

Debt Collectors - Many people who have missed their repayments live in fear of debt collectors. They can phone you and even turn up at your door. This is very intimidating to people who simply don't know how to deal with debt collectors properly. Although debt collectors should be polite and professional there are those who can become quite aggressive. Therefore people think that becoming bankrupt will stop these debt collectors in their tracks.

Hopefully you now have an idea of what circumstances people find themselves in when the decide to file for bankruptcy. This doesn't mean that bankruptcy is always the answer of course. It's very important that you take legal advice to ascertain what is best for you.

What Bankruptcy Really Means

Loads of folks are facing the prospect of filing for personal bankruptcy and not everyone really understands the consequences of doing so. There are those who say it's no big deal but really, it is a big deal and you ought to know what you are getting yourself in for.

When you have debt collectors knocking at your door it's very easy to think that all you need to do is file for bankruptcy and all of your problems will simply melt away. No matter how stressed you are about money and debt collectors you shouldn't go down the bankruptcy road until you know what you are facing.

Due to the fact that bankruptcy is simply liquidating your assets, all of your assets will be put at risk. So everything you own including your home, car, shares and so on are put under the spot light. They will be sold off in order to settle any outstanding debts you have.

If you are likely to inherit money in the future you will be putting this inheritance at risk also. Just because you have filed for bankruptcy doesn't mean any future assets are safe.

So besides the issue of current and future assets, you also have the issue of dealing with a damaged credit rating. So if you want to take out any kind of credit or want to become a company director you will find yourself with problems.

Although bankruptcy is more acceptable these days, your bankruptcy order will be advertised in your local area which means any one and everyone will be able to see it. This can be very embarrassing for many people because financial issues should really be a private matter.

So please before you rush into anything drastic, make sure you know your facts. A lot of people don't want to know the downsides of bankruptcy because they just want it to be the answer to all of their financial worries.