The Georgia Bankruptcy Guide was created by Hall & Navarro, LLC to help residents get their life back on track and lead them to a better future.
Georgia Bankruptcy Guide
How Bankruptcy Works
Bankruptcy is designed for people who are so burdened by debt that they don’t have many other options. It offers a lot of benefits, as well as some consequences you should be aware of.
The most frequently utilized forms of bankruptcy are Chapter 13 and Chapter 7.
Chapter 13 requires a payment term of three to five years. In a Chapter 13 you a scheduled payments to the Chapter 13 trustee and typically payments to mortgage holders on residences. A Chapter 7 is normally advisable if you do not owe monies to secured creditors such as car loans, furniture loans or delinquencies on you home loan. Both bankruptcies are designed to help you get back on your feet.
Bankruptcy is NOT Life Ruining
Again, there is a common misconception that if you have to file for bankruptcy, your life is over. That is simply misguided. Yes, there are things to consider before filing, but it is not going to ruin your life. It is intended to help you get your life back from debt.
You normally are able to keep your assets, and you may be able to keep your house, your car, and resolve some tax issues.
Try to reframe the way you think about bankruptcy. It is not meant to ruin your life or no one would ever file for it. It is there to get you out of crushing debt and on a better path. Our Georgia bankruptcy lawyers would love to discuss this with you.
Looking Deeper Into Bankruptcy
Managing money is not easy for many people. You are not going to be able to anticipate every big expense that comes your way, so sometimes people rely on credit to help them out and then get into trouble. You are among the many that have a hard time with debt. Savings can go from cushioned to dry as a bone very quickly for many of us. Our Georgia bankruptcy lawyers are happy to help you through this difficult time and help you understand what your options are.
You may be worried about what it says about you to go through bankruptcy. You may associate bankruptcy with failing. We hope this information has helped you see bankruptcy as less of a failure and more of an opportunity. It can actually show that you are willing to take an opportunity to change in order to save your future. Bankruptcy is a responsible choice to make when you really need the benefits it provides.
When you file for bankruptcy, the companies to which you owe money are notified. The process is meant to be handled with the help of a skilled lawyer. You are essentially asking for some debts to be forgiven, rescheduled, or reduced. You are going to have your finances looked at closely and you will be going through a lot of paperwork. One of our Georgia bankruptcy lawyers would be great to have help you through the process.
The Good Parts of Bankruptcy
You may have come to the internet in search of how bankruptcy may help you. When people get into financial trouble, it can be very stressful. It is likely taking a toll on your wellbeing. It might feel like a big leap to file for bankruptcy. We understand that it is intimidating. You should know that bankruptcy can result in a better future.
When you file, you are no longer going to be called by debt collectors all day every day. You won’t see them in your inbox anymore. What’s more, your assets may be protected through bankruptcy, meaning you keep your car and house, if you have those. Next, aside from family law, any litigation against you is ended. No more small claims court proceedings or garnishments.
Any questions you have about bankruptcy in general or Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13, please feel free to reach out to us and get the answers you are looking for. We know this is a challenging time for you and it can be very overwhelming, but know that you are making a good choice by looking into bankruptcy.
Spouse’s Bankruptcy Affecting Your Credit in Georgia
An interesting question that many people ask is whether a spouse filing for bankruptcy would affect their credit report. The quick answer is no, but it’s a big if, really. If you are jointly liable with your spouse on any debt, of course, it would affect your credit if the debt is not paid currently. If your spouse were to file bankruptcy and you had jointly owned or jointly obligated debt with your spouse, you would want to make sure that you continue to pay that debt currently or it would show up on your credit report as a delinquent payment. It would not show as if you are personally filing a bankruptcy but it would show up as a ding on your credit, if in fact the payments were not made current.
Falling Behind on Mortgage Payments in Georgia
I received a call from an individual the other day concerning delinquent mortgage payments in Georgia. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is an ideal mechanism to catch up on delinquent payments in a mortgage. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy lasts between three to five years. If, for instance, you are two or three months behind on your mortgage and the mortgage company is threatening to foreclose, a Chapter 13 would give you a period of time up to five years to catch up on those mortgage payments. You would take your delinquent payments and divide it by either 36 or 48 or 60, whatever length and term of your plan might be, and that is the amount of the delinquency that you would pay inside the bankruptcy. In any sort of bankruptcy, whether it’s a Chapter 7 or 13, you would still have to make your current payments. The month after you file, you would have to begin making your current monthly payments. If you are entitled to catch up your monthly payments in a Chapter 13, you don’t get to catch up your monthly payments in a Chapter 7 necessarily.
Rebuilding Credit After a Bankruptcy in Georgia
We have a lot of questions from our clients as to how you can rebuild credit after filing a bankruptcy. That is a very straightforward position. You have to incur debt in order to rebuild your credit. The first thing you might do is get a credit card, maybe it’s a secure credit card where you pay down and pay a deposit of $500 or so on a credit card in order to then use the credit card up to a limit of $500. Something as simple as that helps to build your credit report. You could have a relative cosign with you on an automobile note and that, again, helps to rebuild your credit. The main thing you’ve always got to think about in any sort of bankruptcy proceeding is that credit is what got you into trouble to start with. You want to be very judicious on how you reestablish your credit and how much you actually borrow, because the most important thing from any credit report is making timely payments.
Affects of Bankruptcy On a Credit Report in Georgia
Many times, people ask us what a bankruptcy will do to their credit report. The answer is it depends. Many people who come to us to file a bankruptcy already have bad credit reports because they’re delinquent on their payments or they’ve missed a few payments. If you missed a payment, missed a couple of payments, your credit report is already what I would call delinquent. In that instance, a bankruptcy really does not necessarily adversely affect your credit report tremendously. A bankruptcy will be shown up on your credit report. Again, a Chapter 7 is on your credit report for ten years, and a Chapter 13 is on your credit report for seven years. The real question always to me is what you are doing to rehabilitate yourself and to get yourself into a better financial situation. Any bankruptcy is supposed to help you look to the future and rehabilitate yourself so that you do have good credit in the future.
Differences of Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Georgia
I received a call from a woman the other day who asked me about the differences between a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is something like a snapshot. It’s a picture of your finances at one particular time. A Chapter 13 is like a video. It’s a moving target. You look at your situation over a period of time. In a Chapter 13, you have a period of time of three to five years to pay back all your debt. If you have car loans, other debts, medical bills, you’re set up over a period of time to pay back that debt. In a Chapter 7, it’s a liquidation type bankruptcy where you look at your situation at one particular time. Your debts are discharged. If you have car notes or house mortgages, you’re not given the opportunity to catch up those payments. You have to keep those payments current. Whereas in a Chapter 13, you have an opportunity to catch up those payments and pay them over a three to five-year period.Why You Should File for Bankruptcy in Georgia
A lot of people ask us about filing a bankruptcy. A bankruptcy should not be your first option. A bankruptcy works magic. It does a lot of good things for people. It stops a foreclosure. It stops wage garnishments. It stops repossessions. Bankruptcy works like magic for honest people. There’s no question about that. It can solve a lot of problems that help you get yourself back onto a good financial road. To file bankruptcy, you need to use an experienced attorney who would look at the details of your issues and help you determine whether or not it is the best alternative for you. Many times, you can work out issues with one particular creditor, obtain a loan or modification, for instance, on your house loan. You would want to use an experienced attorney to look at your overall situation to help you determine whether or not a bankruptcy is in fact the best avenue for you to basically rehabilitate your credit.
Preparing for Bankruptcy in Georgia
I received a call from an individual the other day in Georgia about filing for bankruptcy. Filing a bankruptcy is a pretty straightforward procedure. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 are basically form-driven, which means you have to bring in the same sort of documents, including two years’ worth of your previous tax returns, six months’ worth of pay stubs and three months’ worth of bank statements. You bring in all your bills, and if you can, put them down on a piece of paper or a ledger atomizing what bills you owe, what are the monthly payments, who is the creditor, and what is the collateral. You have to bring in your driver’s license and a Social Security card, as well. That basically gets you started for filing a bankruptcy.
How Long Bankruptcy Stays on a Credit Report
A lot of times, people ask us how long a bankruptcy will stay on your credit report. That’s a very difficult answer because it’s like Facebook and other social media; how do you ever get something off the electronic web? The law states that a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is supposed to come off your credit report in ten years and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is supposed to come off your credit report in seven years.
Handling Creditors after Filing for Bankruptcy in Georgia
We receive calls from clients occasionally that creditors continue to call after the filing of a bankruptcy. All creditors know that the filing of a bankruptcy automatically stays any collection action. If you receive calls from any creditors, first give them your attorney’s name, as well as the case number. Most of the time, that stops the future calls, but if the calls continue, then I would ask you to call our office and let us know that the creditors are calling and we will contact the creditors and have that stop.
Call Our Georgia Bankruptcy Lawyers Today
If you have not been through this process before, you likely have a lot of questions. Feel free to call our Georgia bankruptcy lawyers right away. We want to help you!
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