A recent article in Forbes attempts to assess certain emotional challenges that a small business owner may experience during bankruptcy proceedings. The same principles apply as easily to Arkansas consumers filing to discharge non-business consumer debt. Some tips and common sense principles should serve a person or married couple well in approaching the challenge of successfully completing a bankruptcy filing and obtaining a final discharge of debts.
The article highlights the emotional letdown and loss of self-confidence that may result from the mental images engendered by a bankruptcy filing. The author sees the surrender to bankruptcy as a kind of admission of defeat. Everyone who uses this powerful government-granted remedy, however, is virtually always a hard-working person or couple who have always paid their obligations. It is natural for them to feel a letdown.
The thing to do is to turn that thinking around and turn it into a positive. Any person or married couple approved by an experienced bankruptcy attorney to file a personal consumer bankruptcy will be discharging large amounts of unsecured credit card and possibly other debts. The remedy of bankruptcy is a federal law provided by Congress to those who need a fresh financial start.
The remedy is the most powerful tool available to overwhelmed debtors – it allows them to quickly and permanently discharge 100 percent of unsecured debt in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Unsecured debt is that which does not have collateral pledged. Thus, credit cards, medical bills, and any other loans that are not protected by collateral are discharged fully in a Chapter 7.
Other types of solutions in Arkansas and elsewhere are more difficult and financially demanding. Payment plans directly with creditors or collectors generally fail due to the perpetuation of the same financial problems. Most people with large unsecured debt need quick and swift relief that wipes out the debt. The federal law of bankruptcy accommodates those needs, gives a more complete ending to the problems, and starts the debtor up fresh, with a clean slate.
Source: Forbes, “4 Tips For Coping With The Emotional Cost Of Bankruptcy“, Joe Apfelbaum, Aug. 21, 2014