Bankruptcy | Bankruptcy Information

For borrowers suffering the many humiliations large and small of debts increasing beyond their control, there are actually several different forms of debt relief available to average consumers. What may surprise most Americans, actually, is the extent to which bankruptcy will no longer be considered among the debt relief alternatives that seasoned financial advisors recommend to most clients. Three years ago, while the economy was still relatively robust and the media was distracted by Iraq war coverage, the congress slipped in a few seemingly minor alterations to the United States bankruptcy code that went on to weaken tremendously the protection available. Unfortunately, at this present time, with debt loads, inflation and unemployment spiraling even as property values fall across the nation, consumers are only now beginning to understand that the Chapter 7 debt elimination program they had always assumed to be a final outlet for unpayable burdens may no longer exist.

The full meaning of this legislation would take far too long to fully explain, but, suffice to say, court trustees must now strictly follow Internal Revenue Service guidelines before rendering any decision on the feasibility of Chapter 7 protection. Worse yet, even for those few borrowers whose incomes are sufficiently low for Chapter 7 to be a practical consideration, those that somehow manage to successfully declare for the debt elimination program will find that virtually all assets (including, by the viewpoint of the Internal Revenue Service, the computer you are reading this article on, the table that supports that computer, the rug underneath said table, and so on) are now subject to potential seizure for auction so as to immediately repay their creditors. Every consumer that fails to meet the new and comically harsh standards for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection will instead be passed toward the Chapter 13 debt re-structuring program. This is, indeed, a form of debt relief, but, as with anything controlled utterly by governmental regulations that ignore the day to day needs of private citizens, it is debt relief of absolutely the ugliest and most damaging sort.

After a bankruptcy notice appears on the credit report, borrowers will at least never need to worry about debt relief again. After the recording of a Chapter 13, even though essentially all bills will be paid by the filer and rather more quickly than would be pleasant, said borrowers will never again have the opportunity to be offered credit accounts for many, many years. Even used car salesmen will back away, shaking their heads.

To put it plainly, Chapter 13 has all the deprivations and forced budgeting of the harshest debt settlement programs alongside the credit shattering repercussions of debt elimination bankruptcy. The program does, in the loosest possible sense, offer some relief to debtors utterly without any other hope. There will always be a final outlet. Still, Chapter 13 should not even be talked about in the same breath as debt consolidation or debt settlement. It simply has no possible advantage or benefits compared to the other debt relief alternatives. Compared to robbing a liquor store or selling one's organs, Chapter 13 protection may come out on top as a sound lifestyle choice, but only just.