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Speak With a Bankruptcy Lawyer Tomorrow!
You need answers to your tough debt problems. How can you be sure whether filing bankruptcy is the right answer? What about non-bankruptcy options? You need an attorney who will explore and explain ALL your options.
That’s what we do at West, Hurley & Malikiewicz.
If you're in debt and can’t get ahead, you need to get the facts. We are here to help.
Bankruptcy could be the solution.
In the last 12 months, over 1.4 million people used bankruptcy to get ahead.
Nearly one and a half million people can’t be wrong. If you need it, bankruptcy works!
Every day, people just like you file for bankruptcy to get ahead.
Bankruptcy just does not carry the stigma it once did.
Ask yourself, don't you know someone who has filed for bankruptcy?
Most people do. Do you think that someone is a bad person just because they had to file bankruptcy? Of course not! Everyone faces economic difficulty at some point in their lives.
Today, it just make some good economic sense to consider all options, including bankruptcy.
If you are tired of bill collectors calling you day and night, and you need relief, why not find out what options you have?
You can get answers for free simply by calling for an appointment to talk to an attorney who does nothing but debt relief. We will answer all of your questions, and then some, and let you know whether or not it appears that bankruptcy might be the right answer for you. Then, after we have carefully reviewed all of your options, you can leave, no strings attached, and think about whether or not this might be the answer you've been looking for.
Many people are surprised when we tell them not to file bankruptcy!
Yes, that's right, about one in 10 people who we speak with and up not needing to file bankruptcy after all. Sometimes they just need some help with their budget, or we can give them some advice that makes filing a bankruptcy unnecessary.
Of course, you won't know until you come in to speak with us.
Filing Chapter 7Bankruptcy
The most commonly filed a bankruptcy is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy works great if you have a lot of medical bills, credit cards, and other unsecured debts. Unsecured debt means that there is no property that you have pledged as security or collateral for the debt.
A common misperception that many people have about Chapter 7 is that you lose property.
This is not the case. Most of our clients keep their cars and homes.
Generally, if you current in your car payments and house payments and do not have too much equity in the car or house, you are able to keep them. You will just continue making payments, and never lose any property whatsoever.
Your income make a difference. Many people ask us about the means test in bankruptcy which became part of bankruptcy law in 2005. The good news here is that the means tested does not affect many people at all. In fact, only about 10 to 15% of the cases that we see in Chapter 7 even need to complete a means test. Of those that do have to complete the means test, most of them find that they qualify for Chapter 7.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a kind of bill consolidation. However, it is not the kind of bill consolidation where we negotiate with creditors. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, we will put together a plan that is based on a number of factors, but mainly your ability to pay.
In a Chapter 13 you will pay back only a portion of your debts, as a rule.
Many people mistakenly think that a Chapter 13 bankruptcy requires you to pay back all of your debt.
This is not the case, and never has been.
In fact, most of our clients in Chapter 13 bankruptcy pay back only a small percentage of the unsecured debt that they have. Sometimes as little as 1%.
Chapter 13 is most frequently filed for people who want to save their homes but, due to a medical condition or layoff or other interruption in income, they have fallen behind in their payments, and the creditor now refuses to work with them.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy gives you up to 60 months, five years, to pay back the amount of the missed payments.
It is also possible to catch up missed payments on automobiles as well.
In some cases, Chapter 13 permits you to pay only the value of the automobile, and not the entire contract price. In the right situation, this can result in a savings of thousands of dollars and you get to keep your car!
Our bankruptcy attorneys will review chapter 13 options with you if it appears that a Chapter 13 bankruptcy might benefit you more than a Chapter 7, or, if you are not eligible for Chapter 7. Chapter 13 bankruptcy 13 might solve all of your debt problems.
What Happens after I file for bankruptcy?
Everybody wants to know how bankruptcy will affect their credit.
Of course this is an important consideration, and most people mistakenly believe that a bankruptcy will have a long-term negative effect on their credit.
Although this was once true, filing bankruptcy today does not have a negative effect on your credit that it once did.
People like to ask us, how long will the bankruptcy remain on my credit report?
The answer is 10 years, but it's the wrong question to ask.
The real question that you want the answer to is whether or not the bankruptcy on your credit will have a negative affect, and if so, how long.
There is actually a three-part answer to this question that really gives you the information that you need to know.
First, you want to know how long it will take you to get a credit card. The good news is that you will be able to get a credit card immediately after filing her bankruptcy. That could also be the bad news, however, if you're not careful to keep the credit card balance under control. We recommend that you get a credit card right away after filing bankruptcy because it is absolutely the very best way to reestablish your credit after filing bankruptcy.
We explain to you exactly what steps to take and how to best use the card to reestablish your credit score.
Secondly, people want to know how long it will be before they will be able to purchase an automobile after bankruptcy.
The answer is that it generally takes about one year after your bankruptcy discharge in a Chapter 7 before you will be able to qualify for automobile loan and a good interest rate. This presumes, however, that you have properly used a credit card the way we explain to you that it needs to be done.
Finally, people wonder about whether or not they will be able to get a mortgage after bankruptcy, and if so, how long will it take.
Generally, we find that people are able to qualify for mortgages and good interest rates about two years after their Chapter 7 discharge. Of course, like the automobile loan, this presumes that you have taken steps to rebuild your credit after filing bankruptcy.
We follow up with you after your bankruptcy is filed to make sure that your credit report correctly reflects that the debt you listed in your bankruptcy has been discharged and is now at a zero balance.
Our firm is unique!
We don't stop after we file your bankruptcy.
We also go the extra mile for you and explain exactly what steps you need to take to reestablish your credit as quickly as possible.
And, while most attorneys close their file on you after the case is discharged, we follow up and give you, at no extra charge, the instructions and forms you need to make sure that your bankruptcy discharge is properly reflected on your credit report.
Our experience is that you can quickly rebuild your credit after filing bankruptcy.
In fact, it's often much faster to rebuild credit after wiping out bills in bankruptcy than it is to try to waste years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars trying to pay off impossible debt. Look at how much of your monthly payment actually reduces your balance. Pretty sad, isn’t it? How long will it take to pay it off? A lot longer than it makes sense to try, in many cases.
So, if you want a complete analysis of all of your options, including non-bankruptcy options, call us for a no strings attached no obligation appointment with a debt relief attorney who's only interested in helping you make the best decision possible.
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Visit our offices at:
| Dayton Mall Office | Springboro Office | Cincinnati (Tri-County) Office |
| 1129 Msbg-Centville Rd | 195 E. Central Ave. | 260 Northland Blvd. Suite 324 |
| W Carrollton, OH 45449 | Springboro, OH 45066 | Cincinnati, OH 45246 |
| (937) 224-3648 | (937) 748-1749 | (513) 771-8700 |
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