Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Information may not be reliable

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is the most common form of bankruptcy that individuals prefer to file with our office, if they qualify. In most cases, you would be entitled to keep your home, your car and your salary, while at the same time getting rid of all that credit card debt without having to pay any of it back.

You qualify as long as your income over the last six months is below the median income for the state in which you reside. Although, most people that contact our office do qualify, it is best to speak with our office about what the median income is. Most people would be surprised to find out that a married person in New York with a spouse and three children can earn $90,000 and still file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Most people that contact our office are able to keep their home even though they are filing for bankruptcy and may have over $100,000 in credit card debt. Bankruptcy laws all you to keep your home if your equity (which is the difference between the amount of the mortgage balance and the value of the home) does not exceed the allowed exemption. So, in New York City and Long Island for example, if you and your spouse own a home, you and your spouse can have up to $300,000 in equity and can still be able to file for bankruptcy and keep your home.

The fact remains that in an overwhelming majority of clients, filing for bankruptcy will not further damage your credit. Most people thinking about filing for bankruptcy already have a low credit score because they either have a tremendous amount of debt or because they have only been paying the minimum payments and/or have been late with their payments or not paying at all. In these cases, most people would be surprised to find out that filing for bankruptcy may actually improve their score much quicker.