How do I file bankruptcy in Southern California and what type should I file?
Hi.
I have a very good credit score. I have never made a late payment on anything in my life. However, I am foreseeing disaster and see no way out of it. My debt is about 17K in credit cards and student loans of about 10K so a total of 27K. I am not worried about the student loans, since I am in school and so they are currently "on hold" till I finish and when I am expected to pay them its only like 0 per month for ten years. However my credit cards are getting worse and worse and the only way I can make myself stop relying on them is to wipe them out. Unfortunately I have practically zero income (about 0 per month) and I am in college and live with mom. I am 24 years old. This is pretty sad, I know, but I think I have to file soon. Its a shame because my credit score is about 720. I just leased a new car, which is under my name, but again, family is supporting me. So... I feel that I should just file bankruptcy (chapter 7 is what I am thinking) and just live off what I earn for thew next ten years. I own nothing of value, and am on my mom's lease, and also want to know if they will take away my car when and if I file.
Please, I know everyone says its a "last resort". I am viewing it as such. So if it comes to this, what is the best way to go about filing and hoe much will it cost me financially and also how long does it take? Will my debts be wiped clean? I heard that student loans don't go away, which is fine by me. Its the credit cards that are about to crush me. I need real advice, not just empty worthless criticism. So please ONLY ANSWER IF YOU HAVE RELIABLE EDUCATED ADVICE.
Thanks guys. Happy holidays.
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If you want to spend the most amount of money possible, file with an attorney.
They charge $1500-$3000 and then you have to pay the $300 filing fee.
To file with the court, it costs $300. If you need help preparing the documents, then you can pay someone to do that for you.
That cost about $700-$800.
That will save you a lot of money and you can find reliable people to create the documents with all of your information.
Just beware of the fake softwares out there on the internet that you can buy. some of them just send you pdf & word docs which you can get for free on the bankruptcy website.
Chapter 7 is the way you would want to go. You wipe out your debts and don’t have to pay anything.
Chapter 13, you have to pay everything back and still get a bad mark on your credit.
You should call them, cancel your cards and have them reduce your payments and stop your interest.
Make an appointment with a good bankruptcy attorney. Most offer one free or very low cost appointment to take a look at your individual situation and advise you (a) whether you can file, (b) whether you should file, (c) if so, what chapter you should file, and (d) whether there might be any other viable choices for you. The advice you will get in person from a good bankruptcy attorney will be FAR better, more reliable, and more accurate than ANY info you could possibly get anywhere on the Internet, including here.
In Southern California, from what I know, the attorney fee for filing an uncomplicated Ch 7 will probably run somewhere between $1500 and $2000.
IF you truly have a completely uncomplicated Ch 7 (see an attorney first to get a real attorney’s take on this) AND you are willing to put some real time into doing some legal research (NOT just on the internet) to learn the ins and outs of filing your own case (pro se) you **MIGHT** be one of the FEW people who **MIGHT** be able to represent yourself without that posing an undue risk.
In my opinion, since the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform law (BAPCPA) VERY few people can safely file their own bankruptcy (pro se) without taking a HUGE risk. But if anybody could, it would probably be a single person filing a simple Ch 7 with essentially no assets and no other debt besides a few well defined creditors whom the debtor cannot possibly repay.
**EDITED because Y!A "coffee break" only posted partial text of my response, cutting it off in mid-sentence.