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PERSONAL FINANCE, PERSONAL FINANCE

Bankruptcy
Written by Kevin Smith

If you are severely behind on your bills and all other debt management plans have failed, the last
option available is declaring bankruptcy.
What is Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy is a type of forced debt settlement, and it is a legal procedure. When you declare
bankruptcy, the court will gather all your unsecured creditors together to hear about the debts
you owe. They will then examine all your assets and determine a plan to pay out as much as they
can to settle as many debts as possible.

How this happens will depend on the type of bankruptcy you declare, but once the courts have
established the total repayment possible, all outstanding debt balances are discharged
(cancelled), and your creditors can make no more attempts to collect from you. This process does
not apply to all your debts, just most unsecured loans. Mortgages, car loans, and student loans
cannot be discharged through bankruptcy.

The types of bankruptcy are named after the “chapters” where they are found in the Bankruptcy
Code. Codes are the permanent laws of the United States.  Most of the chapters are just general
rules or are types of bankruptcy specifically for farms or businesses. There are two types of
bankruptcy that an individual can apply for: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.

Bankruptcy and Credit

Filing bankruptcy will discharge your debts, but it will also destroy your credit. A bankruptcy
will remain on your credit report for the longest allowable amount of time – usually between 7
and 10 years. During that time, and especially for the first 3 years, it will be extremely difficult
to get any new lines of credit.  This includes credit cards, but it also applies to car loans, and
even trying to rent an apartment. If a creditor is willing to lend to you or rent to you, there will be
extremely high security deposits required. Bankruptcy is an option available only after every
other debt management plan has failed.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is also called “Straight Bankruptcy”. It is the fastest and most direct way
to go bankrupt, usually taking about 6 months from start to finish.

If you declare Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, you will be assigned a trustee who will be responsible for
managing all of your debts. The trustee’s job is to sell off your assets to pay off as much of your
debt as possible. This includes your bank accounts, your property, any investments, and even any
of your personal property that has a significant market value. Once your trustee gets as much
cash as possible from these sales and from your bank accounts, the cash is divided between your
creditors. Any debt that still remains is discharged and your creditors cannot attempt to collect
any more.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you need to pass a “means test”. This means you need
to earn less than the median income in your area to qualify. If you are too rich, Chapter 7 is not
an option.

You also need to have unsecured debt, not including student loans. This means if all of your debt
is from your mortgages, car loans, and payday loans secured by a property title, Chapter 7 will
not help.  These creditors can simply repossess or seize your collateral, discharging your debt.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, you will also be required to undergo credit counselling
and credit education classes.

Secured Debt

Chapter 7 bankruptcy only applies to unsecured debt, like credit cards and medical bills, but not
to student loans. If you have secured debt, like a mortgage, there is no bankruptcy protection.
This is because secured debt has collateral.  If you fall behind on your mortgage payments, your
bank will simply foreclose on your house, sell it at the market price, keep enough money from
the sale to pay your outstanding loan balance, and give you any remaining money. 

Chapter 7 and Your Home

With a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the trustee has full authority to sell off your home or other property
to settle your other debts. However, just because they can does not mean that they will.

Every state has different “exemption” laws regarding the property that cannot be taken away
when you declare bankruptcy. No state completely protects your home, but they might say that at
least $60,000 of your home’s value is protected. In this case, if the trustee sells your home, they
need to give you $60,000 of the proceeds before distributing money to other creditors.

But wait, it gets more complicated!

Remember that your mortgage is not part of the bankruptcy debt. This means if the trustee sells
your house, they need to pay you the exemption amount first, then pay off the remaining balance
of your mortgage, and only use the remaining piece to pay off the other creditors. If the trustee is
not going to gain additional cash from the sale of your home (after giving you your exemption,
paying off the mortgage, and paying all sales/closing costs), they will not bother.  You can keep
your home.
Chapter 7 and Foreclosure

In practice, this is fairly rare. If you are so far behind on your other bills that bankruptcy is the
only option, you will probably be behind on your mortgage too. This means the bank may
already be looking at foreclosure. Having the bank foreclose on your home or having your
trustee sell your home leaves you in the same position.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is also called a “restructuring”. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a much

longer process, usually taking between 3 and 5 years to finalize.

With a Chapter 13 filing, you are not assigned a trustee, and your assets are not all sold off.
Instead, you are mandated to create a payment plan, and submit it to the court for approval.
Then, for a period of either 3 or 5 years, most of your income will go directly to the court, who
then distributes it to your creditors according to the plan. After the time is up, any remaining debt
is cancelled.

This might sound like a sweet deal, but your creditors will always get an amount equal to what
they would have been paid in the case of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Chapter 13 is mostly an
option for people with higher incomes and homes with more equity who want to make sure they
do not lose their homes.

Eligibility

You will need to earn more money for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and there is a means test to
qualify, just as with a Chapter 7. Basically, the income you make over the course of the 3- to 5-
year period needs to be greater than what a trustee would get by simply selling off your assets.

As with the Chapter 7 requirements, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy also requires credit counselling
and education.

Secured Debt

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is designed to keep all your assets intact, without mass sell-offs or
liquidation. This means that your mortgage and car payments will be unaffected.  You will keep
making the monthly payments and will retain ownership of your home.
Your Payment Plan

Your payment plan is the center of the Chapter 13 filing. It is a summary of all your “disposable
income” per month, and a plan of how that income will be divided between your
creditors.  Disposable income represents your net income minus your reasonable living
expenses. Reasonable living expense includes all the payments on your secured debt (like your
mortgage), plus some amount to cover food and other small bills. Once you have developed a
payment plan, you will submit it to the courts for approval. Your creditors can object to how
much you plan to pay them, but the final word is with the judge.

All of your disposable income is then paid directly to the courts, who distribute it to your
creditors according to your payment plan. In many cases, the amount will be automatically
deducted from your paycheck before you even see it, just to make sure you hold up your end of
the bargain.

Further Questions:

1. What do you understand by the term bankruptcy?

2. What is the difference between Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcy?
3. Will there be more likely to be more bankruptcy cases in a growing or shrinking economy and
why?

Using resources available to you, explain with examples, what your understanding of foreclosure

Pop Quiz

[qsm quiz=147]

Challenge Questions

1. What do you understand by the term bankruptcy?

2. What is the difference between Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcy?
3. Will there be more likely to be more bankruptcy cases in a growing or shrinking economy and
why?
 4. Using resources available to you, explain with examples, what your understanding by
foreclosure.

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