|
Many people in San Antonio, Texas file for personal bankruptcy - you are not alone. It is important though that you make an informed decision when considering San Antonio bankruptcy and so, we recommend you do a detailed research on bankruptcy and alternatives to bankruptcy. The article outlined below is provided by our San Antonio bankruptcy attorney. |
Alternatives to San Antonio bankruptcy
You have never been bankrupt before, but you are starting to think it may be your only option. You want to explore all of your options before you make a decision. To determine your alternatives to personal bankruptcy, you can do research at sites such as www.personal-bankruptcy.org, and you can consider other alternatives to San Antonio bankruptcy, such as:
•Talk with a reputable credit counselor about budgeting and your finances. A counselor can help you figure out where your money is going and can help you spend more wisely. It may be that by having a “second pair of eyes” assess your situation, you may not need to go bankrupt.
•Reduce your spending. If you can reduce the amount of money that you spend each month, more of your monthly income can go towards servicing and hopefully paying off your debts. Of course, if you have limited income and a number of fixed expenses, it may not be possible to reduce spending enough to free up enough cash to repay your debts. However, this is usually a good place to start.
•Debt consolidation. If you have sufficient monthly income, you may be able to go to a bank or credit union and borrow enough money to fully pay off your debts. You are then left with one monthly payment, and your interest rate is probably lower, so you can pay off your debts in a reasonable amount of time, avoiding San Antonio bankruptcy. For some people this is only an option if they have a co-signer, so this may not be the best option for you.
•Talk to your creditors, and try to work out a repayment plan. You can talk to the companies you owe money to and try to get them to offer you lower rates or better terms. They may be willing to give you a better deal rather than risk having you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which case they could end up getting nothing. In many cases, you can call up a credit card company and they will lower your interest rate if you ask, because if they don’t give you a better deal they know that you may switch to another credit card company, or worse for them, go bankrupt.
•Sell some of your possessions. You may be able to pay off your debts by getting rid of some of your belongings. If you have an extra car, or even extra household furniture, selling it may generate enough cash to pay off many of your debts. Of course, you can only sell things you can live without, because selling old items, only to have to replace them with new items, makes very little financial sense.
•File a Chapter 13 wage earner plan. This is a great alternative to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, because it allows you to enter into a repayment plan with your creditors, without filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
By exploring all of your alternatives, you will then be able to determine if personal bankruptcy is necessary. If you decide that bankruptcy is necessary, either under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, consult a San Antonio bankruptcy attorney for a full explanation of the process.
 |