Chapter 7

Managing your finances is certainly hard work, and for many of us, there comes a time when we need expert guidance. To reduce debt, you may consider credit counseling or filing for bankruptcy.

How do you know which route offers the best path for your financial situation?

Let’s review the advantages and disadvantages of each option as well as how to determine the right choice for you.

What is Credit Counseling?

Credit counselors work with you to improve your financial knowledge and money management. A credit counselor will review and analyze your finances to create a plan to reduce debt. You’ll be asked to disclose information about your income, expenses, and debt.

There are times when filing for bankruptcy offers the most advantageous results and is the right course of action. While it’s never an easy decision, filing for bankruptcy can help you find firmer financial ground and safeguard your future. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the biggest benefits of filing for bankruptcy.

Freedom from Creditor Contact and Harassment

One of the greatest advantages to filing for bankruptcy is what’s called the automatic stay. The automatic stay is an injunction which prevents creditors from collecting debts from, and suing individuals, who have declared bankruptcy. It also extends to contact in general, which means once the automatic stay goes into place, creditors will not be able to legally call you or send you letters. As soon as the bankruptcy petition is filed, the stay goes into effect, subject to some exceptions for, among other reasons, multiple bankruptcy filings.

If you’re dealing with harassment from creditors, this is one huge advantage to filing for bankruptcy. With the automatic stay in place, you’ll have the peace of mind you need to think through your financial situation carefully and get back on track.

Our homes are some of the most important places in our lives; they’re our spaces to just be and create memories with our families. After filing for bankruptcy, you may feel at a loss and wonder if you’ll ever be able to purchase a home through a loan again.

Rest assured, there are ways to purchase a new home in the future. It takes time to get back on your feet, but you can certainly do it. Take heed of the following advice when planning to buy a home after bankruptcy.

We’ve all heard of bankruptcy before and maybe you’re considering filing soon. But do you know how to file in the first place? Bankruptcy law isn’t common knowledge, and the process can be confusing. We’ve put together a guide on filing for bankruptcy in Virginia to assist you during this time.

The Means Test

The means test is used to determine if you are eligible to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Under this test, the court analyzes your income for the 6 months prior to your filing. compared to the median income in the state of Virginia. If your income is determined to be under the median income, you are eligible for Chapter 7. In the case that your income is above the median income, the courts will take a look at your expenses and debt to see if you still qualify. If not, you may file for Chapter 13.

If there’s one thing they don’t teach you in school, it’s how to manage your finances. For a lot of us, it takes trial and error to determine the best way to handle our money. Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way, and debts grow beyond what we can realistically pay off. In these cases, bankruptcy can be an effective way to discharge some debts, pay back the rest, and get back on your feet.

However, there’s a lot to know about bankruptcy and how to reach the most favorable outcome. In this blog post, you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know about bankruptcy but were too afraid to ask.

Filing for bankruptcy is a difficult decision and one that you’ll want to make wisely. You likely have plenty of questions regarding the process, filing procedures and potential outcome. To put your mind at ease, we’ve gathered and answered the…

When you decide to file for bankruptcy, you likely have more things on your mind than your financial future alone. You’re considering the future of your family and of course, your children. How will filing for bankruptcy affect them? Are there any adverse effects I should be aware of?

We’ll answer these pertinent questions and more in our blog post below.