Although bankruptcy filings have been on the rise these past few years, only a small percentage of people file for bankruptcy in the United States each year and fewer file for bankruptcy more than once. Most all filers experience a temporary loss of their credit scores after they have filed. As a result, many filers feel it is harder for them to get financing. That idea may have been what motivated this question from a debtor who posted it on a bankruptcy forum site in 2011, “Is it possible to get financing to purchase a house and a car after filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy for the second time?”

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, commonly called liquidation of your assets, is normally the simplest and quickest form of bankruptcy. It is available to individuals, married couples, corporations, and partnerships. A trustee that is appointed by the court will gather and sell your non-exempt property, and he will use the proceeds from the sale in order to pay your creditors. Most Chapter 7 cases are “no-asset” cases, meaning you do not have any non-exempt property for the trustee to sell.

At the close of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, all unsecured and non-exempt debts that were not satisfied by the liquidation process will be discharged. That means the debtor no longer has a legal obligation to pay the debts.

Credit bureaus, who pay public record vendors to collect bankruptcy information for them, can legally place the information on their credit reports for up to 10 years. Creditors, who subscribe to the credit reports, can use the information to reject potential borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy if they so choose. Not all creditors choose to reject borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy.

Generally, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) cannot discriminate against you for filing bankruptcy. Their rules are that if you qualify, they will loan you money for buying a house after 24 months from the bankruptcy closing. You will be asked to make the same down payment and receive the same interest loans as anyone else qualifying for the loan. Qualifications for the loan require you to be employed and to buy a home with the payments a certain percentage of your gross monthly income.

Other home mortgage lending institutions have different rules for when they might lend to someone who has filed bankruptcy, and their qualifications for lending may also be slightly different than the FHA. These same lending institutions may discriminate against you for filing bankruptcy based on your credit rating. To get mortgage loans from these institutions may result in larger down payments and higher interest rates. On the other hand, there are some lending institutions today that may give a mortgage loan one day out of bankruptcy with no down payment.

Automobile loans are handled similarly to mortgage loans, but you are less likely to find a government backed loan for an automobile. You can get loans for cars, but you might expect to pay high interest with large down payments. There probably will not be any lending institution who will loan you money for a car without you having a steady income.

This personal bankruptcy question was posted on the internet in 2011 in a bankruptcy discussion: “How long will a dismissed bankruptcy stay on your credit?”

A dismissed bankruptcy is a filed bankruptcy that has been discontinued either at the request of the filer or the court. There are a variety of reasons for having a dismissed bankruptcy, but regardless of the reason, there are two facts about a dismissal that will most likely influence your credit report- there has been no discharge of debts and the bankruptcy was officially filed.

Filing for bankruptcy is a process. Once you file a a bankruptcy petition with a U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court, the information is placed in their records. Once the petition reaches the court and is entered into the system it becomes public record, and public record vendors can report the information to credit bureaus. Credit bureaus receiving the filing information can keep the bankruptcy on a debtor’s credit report for up to 10 years.

Just because a bankruptcy has been dismissed, credit bureaus may not necessarily remove the bankruptcy from their reports. The fact remains you filed for bankruptcy and may still have outstanding debts, especially since the debts were not likely discharged in bankruptcy. This information could be valuable to creditors who might be considering extending you credit.

Here, it may be important for you to also understand that credit reporting agencies are not required to remove information about a filed bankruptcy from credit reports just because the bankruptcy was dismissed. Since there are a variety of reasons why a bankruptcy can be dismissed, including bankruptcy fraud, the reason for the dismissal may be valuable information to a wide variety of people of whom you may be doing business.

Mistakes can be made within the filing and credit reporting systems, but when they do occur, removing the information from the credit reports can be a timely and costly legal process, even though these mistakes may not be of your doing. The Fair Credit Reporting Act governs how you should handle such errors if they occur.

How long will a dismissed bankruptcy stay on your credit report? Potentially, without some type of cooperation from the credit bureaus or a judgment from a court of law, up to 10 years.

Mistakes or no mistakes, bankruptcy laws can be complicated, and common sense indicates you might need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how these complex laws may apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan areas of Allentown, Bethlehem, or Easton, Pennsylvania, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice but is intended to be for informational purposes only.

There are two basic types of student loans- government and private. Can you receive either type of student loan after filing for bankruptcy?

The long answer to the question is that government loans are based on need rather than credit, whereas, a private loan is usually given based on credit. That means, theoretically, once you file a bankruptcy and it goes on your credit report, you may have a harder time getting a private student loan than a government student loan.

Prior to 2005, government student loans were the only loans that could not be discharged in a bankruptcy, but the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 changed how private student loans were handled in bankruptcy cases.

Today, both private and government student loans enjoy an exemption against bankruptcy discharge except in the event of proving undue hardship. Undue hardship is very hard to prove in a bankruptcy court. That means it is somewhat easier today to collect student debts, especially if the loans cannot be discharged by filing bankruptcy.

As a result, private student loan institutions are more likely to loan you money after having a bankruptcy on your credit report than they were prior to 2005. Because of your poor credit from filing bankruptcy, the catch in securing private student loans today is that the lending institution may require higher interest rates to get the loan. In addition, lenders are more likely to offer adjustable interest rates. Both of these situations make it very difficult for many debtors to pay off their loans, especially if they do not get the high paying job that might be expected after graduating.

The government, on the other hand, wants you to improve your economic opportunities so you will pay taxes one day. It is more willing to grant you a student loan for such things as tuition and school expenses. Nevertheless, there are limits on the amount of government loans you can receive. Since the government basis for giving a loan is based on need, interest rates are fixed rates that remain the same for all debtors, regardless of whether you have filed a bankruptcy or not.

Can you receive either type of student loan after filing for bankruptcy? The answer is obviously, yes. The only thing you need to consider about a student loan after you have filed bankruptcy is whether or not you can afford the loan.

Student loans can no longer be discharged by filing bankruptcy unless you can prove undue hardship. Maybe government loans may still be a good thing after filing for bankruptcy, but private loans may have interest and costs that grow faster than your salary.

If you feel you have an undue hardship case that keeps you from paying your loans, contact us today, and we will help you find a bankruptcy lawyer in your area who can help answer any questions you might have about bankruptcy laws.

If you live in or around the metropolitan area of Gary, Indiana, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

Student loans are difficult to discharge in bankruptcy, but contrary to popular belief, they are not entirely impossible. That fact must have prompted this question asked in 2011 in a bankruptcy forum, “Can you declare bankruptcy on consolidated student loans?”

Assuming the one asking the question has multiple college student loans from both private and government loans, the only way a student loan can be discharged in bankruptcy is by showing the payment of the debt will impose an undue hardship on you and your dependents.

Congress passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in 2005 and added private student loans to the bankruptcy exemption list along with government student loans. That means, unless undue hardship is proven, whether or not you consolidate the loans, all student loans are exempt from bankruptcy discharge.

Therefore, bill collectors have the right to pursue collections for these types of loans as long as the automatic stay of the bankruptcy is not in effect or undue hardship has not been proven.

The moment you file a bankruptcy, a judge will order all collecting actions to cease, an important feature called the automatic stay. The automatic stay, applicable to all types of bankruptcy filings, means that the mere request for bankruptcy protection automatically stops and brings to a cessation certain lawsuits, foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions, repossessions, garnishments, attachments, and debt collection harassment.

After the bankruptcy has closed and the proof of undue hardship has failed, a collection agency can once again take collection actions against you to collect the student loans including interest and penalties. Before they can collect, they must file a lawsuit in a proper court of jurisdiction in order to get a judgment ordering collections. Once they get a judgment against you, they can possibly garnish your wages, levy accounts, and attach liens to assets.

Before collectors would be able to pursue remedy of a judgment, they would have to know how many and where your assets are to make any difference, but even finding the assets does not guarantee collection. Any secured assets cannot be seized because they will already have existing liens.

Having your wages garnished is usually the most successful pursuance of judgment. The reason is a debtor, because of the paper trail left from paying taxes and using banks, cannot hide his place of employment, and by law, an employer is legally obligated to obey a court order to garnish the debtor’s wages if the state in which the debtor lives allows it.

Student loans are one of the most difficult areas to deal with in bankruptcy cases.

Bankruptcy laws can be complicated, and common sense indicates you might need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how these complex laws may apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan area of El Paso, Texas, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

Many of you want to know the answer to the question, “How soon after a foreclosure covered by bankruptcy can you buy another house?”

A person who has had their property foreclosed on or given a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure within the past three years is not eligible for an FHA loan. The same person is not eligible for a conforming loan like a Fannie Mae until five years have past. Each commercial loan entity has their own rules as to when they will loan you money for a mortgage. Any of these rules can be superseded by extenuating circumstances.

Bankruptcy cases have their own rules about when you can get a mortgage on another home. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, commonly called liquidation of your assets, is normally the simplest and quickest form of bankruptcy. A trustee that is appointed by the court will gather and sell your non-exempt property, and he will use the proceeds from the sale in order to pay your creditors.

A person who has filed a Chapter 7 must usually wait two years from the date of the discharge of the bankruptcy to get a mortgage loan. The borrower must have established good credit by this time or elected not to incur new credit obligations. Under certain extenuating circumstances like the borrower showing the bankruptcy was cause beyond their control, a borrower might be able to get a mortgage loan as quick as 12 months after the discharge of the Chapter 7. In addition, a lender must document that the conditions that caused the bankruptcy are not likely to occur again.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy, commonly called a wage earner’s plan, enables individuals with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or part of their unsecured debts over three or five years. A Chapter 13 does not disqualify a borrower from getting a mortgage loan as long as the borrower can show in writing where one year of the payment plan in bankruptcy has been achieved and the payment performance has been satisfactory. In addition, the borrower must receive from the bankruptcy court permission to enter into the contract with the mortgage lender.

How soon after a foreclosure covered by bankruptcy can you buy another house? Technically speaking, you can buy a house as soon as you can pay for it. If you were to come upon a cash means of paying for the property, a foreclosure or bankruptcy cannot keep you from being an owner. What a foreclosure and bankruptcy does in this case is prevent you from buying a home on credit unless you follow the guidelines already presented in this article.

Filing a bankruptcy can complicate your financial situation while also providing you a fresh start. Common sense indicates you might need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how complex bankruptcy laws may apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan area of Akron, Ohio, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

Many of you who have gotten into financial difficulties while owing a lot of income taxes may have asked yourself this question, “If a tax debt is owed to the IRS can filing bankruptcy settle this debt and allow you to start over?”

Back taxes can be discharged in a bankruptcy under certain federal guidelines. The following is a brief summary of the federal guidelines that must be met before a personal income tax may be discharged in a bankruptcy case:

1. The tax must be due and owed for a period of more than three years, and the due date of the taxes is more than three years before the bankruptcy case is filed.

2. The tax return for the tax debt at issue must be filed more than two years before the bankruptcy is filed.

3. The tax debt issue has been assessed by the taxing authority more than 240 days prior to the filing of the bankruptcy case.

4. The debtor filing the return must not have attempted to evade the paying of the tax nor can the debtor filing be willfully fraudulent in submitting a return.

The only other way you can get federal income tax relief is through what is called an “offer in compromise.” The term theoretically means a method for resolving IRS back taxes. It involves making payments of a small portion of an outstanding tax bill owed and forgiving the rest.

Contrary to what many taxing services may imply, getting an offer in compromise is relatively rare. Certain conditions have to exist before a taxpayer will be forgiven any portion of the tax bill including penalties and interest on late payments. Most offers in compromise end up with the taxpayer making monthly payments until the tax burden, interest, and penalties are paid in full.

If you have resources of any kind, more than likely, the IRS will demand you pay your back taxes in full plus any penalties and interest. They may allow you to make installments, but they can levy your property by garnishing your wages or repossessing other assets you own if they choose.

Unlike most state officials, the IRS has unparalleled authority to collect its taxes and can often over ride most state laws. It is not very easy to escape a federal tax bill. If it were, people would not pay their taxes.

Otherwise, filing for bankruptcy protection remains a viable option for those of you who have more debt than you can possibly pay back. Bankruptcy laws can be complicated, and common sense indicates you might need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how these complex laws may apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque or Santa Fe, New Mexico, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

Homes can be owned jointly by married couples or by people who have no other relationship than partnering on the investment of a home. There can be co-ownership by a couple to unlimited numbers of owners in a property. The ownership can be divided equally amongst the co-owners or it can be unevenly distributed by investment. So, what happens to the others when one of the co-owners files for bankruptcy? Will bankruptcy affect the co-owner of a house?

The answer to the question can be multifaceted, depend on the relationship of the co-owners, and the type of bankruptcy filed. There are basically two types of bankruptcies most individuals can file- a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, commonly called liquidation of your assets, is normally the simplest and quickest form of bankruptcy. A trustee that is appointed by the court will gather and sell your non-exempt property, and he will use the proceeds from the sale in order to pay your creditors.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy, commonly called a wage earner’s plan, enables individuals with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or part of their unsecured debts over three or five years.

For the most part, one of the advantages for filing a Chapter 13 is to provide protection for co-debtors. In this case, the filing would have no affect to the co-owners of the mortgage as long as the filing owner makes timely payments to the plan. With timely payments, the other co-owners are protected by the automatic stay of the bankruptcy court, and their credit scores are not affected.

If a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is filed by one of the co-owners, the filing could affect the other co-owners in a variety of ways. The filing could cause the beginning of the foreclosure process on the house, it could eventually affect the credit scores of all co-owners, or the bankruptcy court trustee could seize the property and sell it for the percent of ownership in the equity, if there are multiple non-related co-owners.

The way a deed on a co-owned home is titled defines how real property is held and plays an important part in how the property is subjected to judgments and bankruptcy laws. Homestead, federal and exemption laws are all affected by how the deed of title reads. As an example, if a home is jointly owned by a married couple, the trustee could use all the non-exempt equity in the home to pay the spouse’s creditors. If a deed of a home is titled to non-related entities, the trustee may have to satisfy other state laws before seizing the property to satisfy creditors.

The affects of bankruptcy can be varied and complicated. Common sense indicates you might want to consult with a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how these complex laws might apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan area of Tulsa Oklahoma, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

This personal bankruptcy question was posted on the internet in 2011 in a bankruptcy discussion: “How many times or when can you file bankruptcy again in any state or place?”

In 2005, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in order to control the perceived abuses caused by serial bankruptcy filers. As part of those changes, an individual is limited by law on when you can file, but not on how many times you can file.

There are basically two types of bankruptcies most individuals can file- a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13.

A debtor cannot obtain a discharge in a Chapter 7 case if the debtor obtained a discharge in a Chapter 7 case filed within the past 8 years, or a Chapter 13 case filed within the past 6 years.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be filed 4 years from a prior Chapter 7 filing or 2 years from a prior Chapter 13 filing. The time periods in either case are measured from the commencement dates of the respective cases. The dates of discharge have no bearing on the disqualification.

Congress has also recently made changes in the bankruptcy laws intended to reduce or eliminate the effect of the “bankruptcy stay” for serial filers.

The moment you file a bankruptcy, a judge will order all collecting actions to cease, an important feature called the automatic stay. The automatic stay, applicable to all types of bankruptcy filings, means that the mere request for bankruptcy protection automatically stops and brings to a cessation certain lawsuits, foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions, repossessions, garnishments, attachments, and debt collection harassment.

If you have had a bankruptcy dismissed in the previous year, the new changes in the laws now makes the automatic stay only good for 30 days, and the stay will not even come into existence if the filer has had two bankruptcies dismissed in the previous year.

Another change in the law includes being barred from filing a new case for 180 days when a case has been dismissed, if the dismissal is because you willfully failed to abide by an order of the court, to properly prosecute the case, or if it was at your request after a creditor requested relief from the automatic stay.

The laws also imply if you are found guilty of bankruptcy fraud, depending on the severity, you can be barred from filing bankruptcy for up to life.

In order to know whether or when you can file, it would be wise to consult with a bankruptcy lawyer. Bankruptcy laws can be complicated, and common sense indicates you might need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how these complex laws may apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan area of Birmingham, Alabama, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

This personal bankruptcy question was posted on the internet in 2011 in a bankruptcy discussion: “If a motion for relief of stay has been granted in a bankruptcy case is there any defense?”

The moment you file a bankruptcy, a judge will order all collecting actions to cease, an important feature called the automatic stay. The automatic stay, applicable to all types of bankruptcy filings, means that the mere request for bankruptcy protection automatically stops and brings to a cessation certain lawsuits, foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions, repossessions, garnishments, attachments, and debt collection harassment.

The automatic stay has historically been one of the most powerful tools a bankruptcy filer has in his or her arsenal for protecting themselves against any further actions by creditors. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 basically changed how courts viewed the automatic stay. Bankruptcy courts can now look back over a period of time to take a closer look at any abuse the filer may have committed in the handling of their assets before they filed for bankruptcy protection.

Creditors can now petition the bankruptcy court to question asset abuse possibilities a filer may have committed in handling assets that could have been used to pay creditors. If a creditor is successful in their petition, they can potentially get the bankruptcy court judge to lift the automatic stay so they can sue the filer for collections on their debt. A filer not responding to the petition made by a creditor is asking for trouble, because it is much harder for a filer to get a bankruptcy judge to reverse his decision to lift the stay once it has been lifted.

Unless there is extenuating circumstances that prevented you from defending against the petition in the first place, there is not really any defense for having the stay reinstated for that particular creditor if he is successful in getting the judge to relieve the stay.

If you cannot get the stay reinstated, your only recourse is to try and negotiate with the successful creditor, a feat now made potentially more difficult. The automatic stay of bankruptcy is one of the main reasons you file for protection. Giving up on the stay without a fight can possibly be financially catastrophic to your particular situation.

That is why most of you might need a bankruptcy lawyer when you file for bankruptcy. A lawyer can help protect your rights during the bankruptcy process by defending against petitions presented to the court that may change the outcome of the process. They also can help you understand how bankruptcy laws might apply to your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan areas of Greenville, Spartanburg, or Anderson, South Carolina, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.

This personal bankruptcy question was posted on the internet in 2011 in a bankruptcy discussion: “Are assets in your child’s name like custodial accounts and 529 plans protected if you have to file bankruptcy?”

Depending on what state you live, who funded the custodial accounts, and the length of time the custodial accounts have been in place will determine how bankruptcy courts will approach and handle the accounts.

Most custodial accounts are handled by state and federal exemption laws when it comes to filing bankruptcy. On the other hand, most bankruptcy courts will take into consideration who funded the custodial account if the exemptions are not enough to cover the accounts.

For instance, if a grandparent funds a custodial account for their grandchild’s future and the parent’s name is on the account for custodial reasons, the filing debtor needs only to prove this to the court and most bankruptcy courts will not pursue the funds to satisfy the needs of the bankruptcy filed.

If the debtor funded the account, bankruptcy trustees might pursue the funds. It all depends on how long the funds have been in the account and if the trustee believes the child is the actual owner of the funds. What a bankruptcy trustee might not want to do with such accounts is to give any type of impression a parent could place money into custodial accounts to hide non-exempt money from being used to pay creditors in a bankruptcy. If a filing debtor intentionally does this, the act could be construed to be fraud, and bankruptcy fraud is a punishable crime. Custodial accounts are a very sticky area for both the bankruptcy courts and the filing debtor.

A 529 plan is a college savings plan that allows individuals to save and invest on a tax-advantaged basis in order to fund future college expenses for a child. An Education Savings Account (ESA) is another tax-deferred plan you can use in order to fund future college expenses for your child. Depending on the state in which you declare bankruptcy and the state in which a 529 or ESA is created, most 529s and ESA plans are completely protected from bankruptcy with certain provisions.

If the creation date of the college plan was created more than 720 days before filing, the account is fully protected from bankruptcy. If the creation date of the college plan was between 365-720 days before filing, the account is protected up to $5000 per beneficiary. Plans created less than 365 days ago are not protected from bankruptcy unless a state exemption covers the amount.

Bankruptcy laws can be complicated, and common sense indicates you might need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to help you understand how these complex laws may apply in your particular situation.

If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan areas of Richmond or Petersburg, Virginia, contact us here today at www.betterbankruptcy.com .We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.