Filing for bankruptcy can have a lasting impact on various aspects of your life. It can significantly affect your credit history for seven to ten years, potentially causing challenges in securing new credit, mortgages, employment, insurance, or rental housing. While some lenders or credit card companies may still consider extending credit immediately after bankruptcy, many prefer to do so only after a certain period has elapsed or once the bankruptcy record is no longer on your credit report.

If bad spending habits have led you to bankruptcy, legal forgiveness of your debts might not change the way you handle money and credit. You must learn money management skills so you do not fall into debt again. If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you will have to wait eight years from the date you filed to file again. 

Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding initiated when a person or business is unable to repay outstanding debts or obligations. It offers a fresh start for people who can no longer afford to pay their bills. The bankruptcy process begins with a petition filed by the debtor. All of the debtor's assets are measured and evaluated, and the assets may be used to repay a portion of the outstanding debt.

Assess The Damage

Before making a decision to declare bankruptcy, face your current financial situation and assess the damage.

Review your credit history. The three largest credit reporting companies are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Once per year, you are entitled to a free credit report from each company from Annual Credit Report, a service run by the three agencies with oversight by the Federal Trade Commission. Order your free reports:

The reports will list most, if not all of your debts. If you find inaccuracies in your report, call the company to file a dispute. The law requires that the credit reporting company verify the information with the company that furnished it and remove inaccurate information from your credit report.

---

Chapter 7 and Chapter 13

Requirements for Filing

If your income exceeds the State’s median income and after deducting allowable expenses you can pay at least $6,000 over five years ($100 a month) toward your debts, you must file under Chapter 13. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) living standards are used as guidelines for determining allowable housing costs, food, clothing, and other expenses and to determine how much money you have left over each month to repay your debts.  See http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankruptcy/nolo/ for a means test calculator for your area.

If you file under Chapter 7, you must provide a copy of your latest tax return or your case will be dismissed. For Chapter 13, you must provide tax returns for the past four years. If you have not submitted your income taxes, you must do so before you will be allowed to file for bankruptcy. In addition, you must provide a number of other documents, including

• A certificate of credit counseling
• Evidence of earnings in the past 60 days
• Monthly net income and any anticipated increase in income
• A photo ID
• A social security card or tax id number 

You cannot file for bankruptcy until you provide proof that you have participated in pre-bankruptcy credit counseling within the six months before you file. Before your bankruptcy case can be closed (discharged), you must complete mandatory post-bankruptcy money management training. You must pay the fees for these courses and the services must be provided by an agency certified by the U.S. Trustee.

Debits That Do Not Go Away

When considering bankruptcy, it’s important to know that certain debts cannot be erased. If you want to avoid foreclosure on your home or repossession of your car, you must bring your account up-to-date and continue paying your obligations.

While bankruptcy may be able to help you remove or repay many debts, these are some of the debts that generally can’t be erased:

• Child support and alimony. 
• Student loans.
• Debts you owe from a divorce decree or settlement.
• Income taxes from recent years.
• Fines and penalties such as traffic tickets, criminal fines, court-ordered repayments, income tax penalties, and recent property tax assessments.
• Credit purchases of luxury goods or loans or cash advances of $1,150 or more that occurred within 60 days of filing; debts owed to a single creditor of more than $500 for luxury goods purchased within 90 days of filing; cash advances of $750 made within 70 days.
• Debts or judgments based on fraud or illegal activities you committed, such as drunken driving, malicious injury to a person or property, embezzlement, or larceny.
• Any debts you forgot to list in your bankruptcy filing.

Exempt Assets

By federal and state law, certain things you own (assets) are protected during bankruptcy. These are called “exempt” assets because they cannot be sold during the bankruptcy process. Everything else you own of value (all your non-exempt assets) may be sold to pay your creditors during a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

Your exempt assets may include all or part of the value of your home that you own (your home equity). Other assets that you might keep despite filing bankruptcy are retirement accounts, autos, clothing, household furnishings, books, and tools of your trade. All assets, such as your home or auto that serve as collateral for a loan, must be listed in your bankruptcy filing.  

Your creditors cannot demand that exempt assets that you own to be sold to pay your debts. Any part of your home you own — your home equity?is protected to varying degrees by federal and state law. State provisions that protect your home (homestead exemptions) are subject to these rules:

• If you haven’t lived in a state for at least two years, you must use the homestead exemption for the state you lived in before the two-year period. 
• You can exempt only up to $125,000 of your home’s equity, regardless of the state allowance, if the home was acquired less than 40 months before filing or if you have violated securities laws or been found guilty of certain criminal conduct.
• Click here for current dollar amounts of exemptions available in California. 

Bankruptcy Court

You must file bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Division nearest to where you live. The court will need proof you have completed mandatory credit counseling, as well as past tax returns and paycheck stubs. You will have to provide information about your debts, creditors, income sources, loans, real estate, personal property, and living expenses. The documents you may need include payment demands, mortgages, deeds, summonses, court judgments, credit card statements, medical bills, bank account statements, child support or alimony agreements, student loans, and documentation of any past bankruptcy. 

Filing bankruptcy will stop?or “stay” collection efforts by your creditors for the duration of the bankruptcy case. If your creditors continue to contact you, they could be cited for contempt of court and ordered to pay damages. However, if you miss any requirements after filing, your creditors can petition to have the stay lifted. If the court determines that there have been frequent bad faith or abusive filings, the stay will be voided and collectors will be able to seek payment from you.

A trustee will be appointed to review your forms and documents. You may be able to keep your home, car or other possessions that the court determines necessary, but if you owe money on these assets, you must continue to make payments. Secured debts must be paid in full and cannot be reduced, even if the value of the asset that secures the debt has fallen.

In a straightforward Chapter 7 case, you typically will be notified about the final outcome of your case within three to six months, and, in most cases, debts that qualify will be discharged at that time.

Chapter 13 debts are discharged when the plan is completed?usually in three to five years.

A discharge does not mean your debts are forgiven, canceled or extinguished. It means that your creditors can no longer force you to pay the debt, but they still have the right to reclaim property in which they have a security interest.

Re-Establishing Credit

Filing for bankruptcy will negatively affect your credit history. You may find it difficult to get a new credit card. However, you might be able to obtain a secured credit card when your bankruptcy is final. Even people with damaged credit may be able to obtain a secured credit card by depositing money in a savings account. Your line of credit on a secured card usually is the same as the amount of money you deposit.

In recent years, some credit card companies have started to offer new credit cards to people who recently filed for bankruptcy because they know that people who have filed for bankruptcy cannot file again for several years. These offers are likely to be for credit cards with very poor terms, such as high-interest rates and penalty fees. Be very careful about responding to such offers.

Consumer debt is at an all-time high and many companies are preying on consumers looking for a solution. Be alert for companies offering an easy way out of debt?they may be for-profit counseling agencies (even if they say they are non-profits) or companies that promote bankruptcy as a quick and easy fix. Especially avoid any ads offering “debt consolidation mortgages.” Investigate any agency before meeting with it, and don’t sign any agreement or pay any money until you are convinced that it is the right thing to do.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do I Need An Attorney? It is possible to file a bankruptcy case pro se (without the assistance of an attorney) but according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court it is extremely difficult to do it successfully. Although the law requires bankruptcy attorneys to tell you that a lawyer is not required to file bankruptcy, professional advice can help protect your rights in this complicated legal proceeding. Your creditors almost certainly will have attorneys representing them. At the very least, consult with an attorney before making the decision to file on your own.
• Can my landlord kick me out? Bankruptcy cannot prevent or halt eviction if you fail to pay your rent after filing for bankruptcy.
• Will I lose my job? Your current employers won’t necessarily find out about your bankruptcy unless the conditions of your employment call for regular credit checks. In any case, you probably would not be fired just for filing bankruptcy?however, the stress caused by debt may have caused a decline in your work, which could be used as a reason to dismiss you. 
• Will I go to jail? No. There is no debtor’s prison in the U.S.
• Does my spouse have to file? In most cases, no. However, your spouse will be obligated to continue paying the full amount of any joint obligations you have, even if your responsibility for paying them is discharged by the bankruptcy.
• What will happen if I list a co-signed debt in my bankruptcy filing? Your responsibility to pay will be removed, but the co-signers will be held responsible for the entire debt. If the co-signed debt is not delinquent, you may be able to “reaffirm” it as part of your bankruptcy filing. (This means that, with permission from the trustee, you waive any right to protection from the creditor if you default on the debt in the future.)
• Do I have to give back my credit cards? This depends on the companies you do business with. If you reaffirm your liability for the debt during the bankruptcy filing, you may be able to keep the cards. However, credit card companies can close your accounts if they wish to do so.
• Do I have to pay my back taxes? Yes. You still are responsible for all taxes, and you must file all outstanding tax forms within 45 days of filing bankruptcy or the case will be dismissed.