Deciding to file bankruptcy can be a tough decision.
Almost everyone confronting the decision swings from “Fight” to “Flee”: struggle to pay the debts versus get relief from the constant pressure and start over.
Bankruptcy alternatives
To decide, you need to know what the alternatives are.
Can you avoid bankruptcy on your own: To explore non bankruptcy alternatives, create a budget for your realistic, monthly expenditures for current living. Include mortgage and car payments, but exclude all other existing debt service.
With the money you have available each month after paying your current living expenses, can you pay off your debts other than car and house at the current interest rates in 3 years?
Forget minimum monthly payments: calculate what it really takes to pay off credit cards at credit card interest rates with this online tool.
Can you reduce expenses, increase income, negotiate rates or sell assets to make that possible?
Retirement savings off limits
Consider long and hard before resorting to liquidating IRA’s or 401K plans to pay creditors.
These assets are generally protected by law from collection actions by creditors. Retirement savings are hard to replenish once spent; but most importantly, using retirement savings to pay creditors may create new debt in the form of income taxes and penalties for early withdrawal.
Your good intentions to repay creditors may just end up substituting Uncle Sam as a tax creditor in place of your existing creditors.
Can you avoid bankruptcy with outside help
If you can’t pay off your debt within three years on the present terms, contact a well established non profit organization.
They can help you make a budget and negotiate a repayment plan that may include a reduced or even zero interest rate on your existing debt.
These plans usually work best when the debt is primarily credit card debt.
Debt counselors sometimes exclude non dischargeable tax debt from the repayment plan, leaving the consumer paying unsecured, dischargeable credit card debt while non-dischargeable taxes or delinquent support go unpaid.
That approach seldom gets the debtor the relief needed.
Debt settlement plans seldom work
The media is full of ads for debt settlement schemes: send us a regular payment instead and we’ll negotiate a deal with your creditors.
Sounds great. Plays into the universal desire to pay off your debts consistent with your resources.
The only problem is that it seldom works. But before you’ve figured that out, the debt settlement folks have gotten their money, so they have no skin in the game.
You may have spent a bunch on settling the easy ones, and your problem isn’t solved.
Consider bankruptcy
If these repayment alternatives are not feasible, consider bankruptcy.
There is no magic formula that tells you whether bankruptcy is the best choice for you. An experienced bankruptcy lawyer is a great resource.
In general,
- the older you are;
- the greater the number of your dependents;
- the larger your debt;
- the smaller your cash reserves or retirement savings; and
- the greater the amount of your debt that is non dischargeable
the more likely it is that bankruptcy will improve your financial situation. How to weigh the factors.
Read more
How to pick a bankruptcy lawyer
What does it take to file bankruptcy
Doing it yourself: what could go wrong
Image courtesy of Mrs. Logic.
