These are among the many reasons that people sometimes opt for bankruptcy
Wage garnishments – Clients are having their wages garnished for a credit card, medical bill, payday loan, tax debt, etc.
Bank freeze – Clients have their bank account frozen because a creditor that got a judgment against them freezes it and takes all of their money.
Lawsuits – Clients are getting sued by a creditor or debt buyer for a credit card, medical bill, payday loan, car repo, etc.
Can’t keep up on their credit card payments – Clients are having a hard time making their credit card payments.
Can’t afford their payday loans – Clients pay an astronomical amount for relatively small loans.
Debt Settlement Trap – A lot of our clients try to do a debt settlement or debt consolidation before bankruptcy. A lot of times, they pay these companies high monthly payments (that they can’t afford) and the debt settlement/consolidation company doesn’t do anything for them. And the client gets sued by the creditor anyway.
Creditor harassment – a lot of our clients just want the phone calls stopped. Their phones get blown up all day, every day, and it drives them nuts.
Medical Bankruptcies – a lot of our clients have a lot of old medical debt. They get sued on these old medical debts often.
Car Repossession – we file a lot of bankruptcies for clients whose car is about to be repossessed. We can file a chapter 13 for them and get them caught up on the payments. Or, we file bankruptcy for someone who had their car repossessed, and now the auto lender is trying to collect what is left on the loan.
Car payment too high – a lot of our clients purchased cars at buy-here-pay-here lots, so the interest rate is extremely high and so is the monthly payment. We can file chapter 13 for these clients and drastically reduce the interest rate and car payment on these cars.
Utilities – I’ve been seeing a lot of these cases lately. The client is behind on their utilities (lights, gas, water) and the utility company threatens – or actually does – shut off their utilities. For these clients, we can file a quick chapter 13 bankruptcy and keep the utility on (if it hasn’t been shut off) or turned back on if the utility has been shut off.
Divorce – a lot of people get saddled with a bunch of debt post-divorce and can’t afford it. we can help them get rid of it.
Foreclosure – bankruptcy can stop a foreclosure and help clients facing foreclosure make up the missed payments over a period of 5 years.
Tax Debt – we can discharge some taxes in bankruptcy. If the tax can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, we can often times work out a payment plan that is cheaper or more favorable than what the taxing authority (state, federal) is willing to do.
Tax Levy – a lot of times the state will freeze someone’s bank account for past-due state taxes. Bankruptcy can get that unfrozen.
Student Loans – we can sometimes discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy. Or we can force a more reasonable payment plan on the student loan lender.