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Before You Declare Bankruptcy, Learn The Truth Behind These Myths

24 August 2016 by Richard Ramirez

Filing bankruptcy can be stressful, but in many cases, it really is the best option if you are financially up a creek without a paddle. You can take some of the stress out of the process by making sure you truly understand what filing bankruptcy means and entails. Unfortunately, there are a lot of false myths surrounding the process. Here's a look at some of those myths -- and the real truth.

Myth: All of your back debts will be erased when you file bankruptcy.

This might be true for some people, but it's not true in all cases. Whether or not all of your debts are discharged will depend on the type of debt you have. Student loans, for instance, are not usually able to be discharged in bankruptcy. In order to get these discharged, you must show that paying them will impose undue hardship on you and your dependents -- and this is often a tough argument to make if the rest of your debt is being discharged. If you owe back taxes to the federal or state government, child support, or restitution from a crime, these debts also cannot be discharged.

Before you decide that bankruptcy is definitely right for you, it pays to sit down with a bankruptcy attorney and go over each of your debts, totaling those that can be discharged and those that cannot be. If a lot of your debt is unable or unlikely to be discharged, bankruptcy may not, in fact, be worth the hassle.

Myth: You might as well buy everything you need now since it will be discharged in bankruptcy.

Resist the urge to go charge up to your credit limit in hopes that the debt will just be erased. When you go to bankruptcy court, they will examine your spending habits in the months before you filed bankruptcy, and if they see this pattern, they may not approve the bankruptcy. Or they may choose not to discharge the debt that appears to be from frivolous spending.

Myth: You won't be able to have a credit card after bankruptcy.

While it will be a lot harder to get a credit card after bankruptcy, there are cards available to those with bad credit -- which you will most definitely have for a few years after you file. In fact, getting a credit card after bankruptcy can be beneficial if you're careful to pay it off every month. Doing so will help build your credit score back up.

For more information, contact Geranios Law PLLC or a similar firm.

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