How Can Filing Bankruptcy Help My Financial Situation?

Things have changed financially in your life. What can you do to create a game plan to solve it?

One approach that people attempt to take is ignore the problem and hope it goes away. However, as people quickly find out, ignoring a financial problem does not help. In fact, the longer you wait to solve it, the worse it gets.

Your creditors are not going to just “forget about it.” We had one client get sued by his doctor over an unpaid balance of $8.50. That is $8. Not $800 or $8,000. I mean $8. Well that $8 unpaid balance turned into over $1,100 with attorney fees and collection costs. In Washington, judgments are good for 10 years and can be renewed for an additional 10 years.

So, in today’s World, if your doctor will sue you over $8, then the rest of your creditors will probably not “forget about you” either.

Bankruptcy is a Federal Law put in place for the express purpose of helping people make a new start when events have put them in debt that they cannot get out on their own. There are limits to what bankruptcy can and can’t do, so let’s look at what bankruptcy does:

• Bankruptcy eliminates unsecured debt. Secured debt is debt that is tied to an asset that can be repossessed or taken back, like land, a home or car. Bankruptcy can help you decide whether to return these items or agree to pay them off, but any debt that is not tied to an asset, like credit card debt or medical bills, can be eliminated in bankruptcy.

• Bankruptcy stops creditor and collection agency harassment. Filing for bankruptcy gives you the protection of the automatic stay, meaning all collections activities stop during your case. This gives you some breathing room and puts everything on hold while you get your financial situation sorted out.

• Bankruptcy can eliminate certain kinds of liens. A lien is a judgment from a creditor that allows them to take as much of your property as it takes to satisfy your debt to them. These liens can survive bankruptcy unless you take specific actions to eliminate them during your bankruptcy case.

Over the past 33 years, the Law Offices of Christopher A. Benson has helped over 2,300 of Washington clients take control of their financial situation. We can stop your garnishment and change your monthly payments for all your combined unsecured debt, and if you have had more than $600 garnished within the last 90 days, we can get all of the money back in most cases. But you have to act quickly–call (253) 815-6940 for your free consultation, or email us today. Evening and weekend appointments available.