Bankruptcy Indiana

It’s ironic – just when you need pain relief the most, you’re in the worst position to make an informed selection among all the different kinds of aspirin and analgesics stacked high on the pharmacy shelves.  As a longtime debt consolidation lawyer offering Indiana bankruptcy help, I find people facing exactly the same dilemma – too many options for debt relief, (some of which can actually make matters worse, much worse).

It happens all the time. Good folks in big trouble visit one of the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices with creditors literally breathing down their necks.  These folks are scared and they’re hurting.  They’ve heard all these radio and TV commercials about credit counseling and debt settlement and debt consolidation.  It all sounds hopeful.  It’s all very confusing. All these folks know is things are going very wrong for them very fast.

Every Indiana lawyer for bankruptcy, including all the good bankruptcy attorneys who are my colleagues in Anderson, Bloomington, and Indianapolis along with,the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers in my office there, is hearing lots of sorrowful stories.  Lots of people have been hit very hard by the economic downturn, and for many, relief has never seemed to arrive. Bad things are happening to good people.  They’re behind on mortgage payments.  Their wages are being garnished – or they’re terrified that’s about to happen soon.  Or, they were laid off and haven’t been able to find enough work to pay the bills for months now.  Credit card companies have lowered their credit limits and are charging outrageously high penalties and fees.  Their checks are starting to bounce.  Maybe their car’s been repossessed.  They need relief!

Small wonder it sounds good when a debt settlement company promises to reduce what they owe to pennies on the dollar!.  Small wonder it sounds good when a debt consolidator promises to reduce the “pain” to one monthly payment instead of many!  Can debt be settled, consolidated, and reduced the way the ads are saying?  Can filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana provide a possible solution?  At this point, you don’t know what to believe…

The one message I believe it’s important for me to convey to all my Bankruptcy in Indiana readers and clients has two aspects to it: 

• Experienced Indiana bankruptcy lawyers are first and foremost counselors.  That means there’s no quick answer that fits every situation – counseling means finding out about each individual’s issues and only then recommending a course of action.
• ONLY lawyers can offer legal advice, and only legal advice can truly help a debtor deal with wage garnishments, foreclosures, garnishments, and judgments.

And, as a longtime debt consolidation lawyer who’s been offering Indiana bankruptcy help for almost 25 years, I can tell you that when I say “counseling”, I’m not referring to counseling on how to manage your budget.  If you’ve found your way to this article, it’s probably too late for that, with bills mounting by the minute.  What you need is sound legal advice.

It’s probably also far too late for debt settlement, at least the way most debt settlement agencies offer to do that.  The usual arrangement is to have you deposit money in an account until you’ve reached a certain dollar figure which is 30-50% of what you owe to all your creditors. Only then will the debt settlement company begin to negotiate with creditors to accept less than what you owe.  Meanwhile, late fees and penalties continue to pile up.

That’s the reason these so-called “bankruptcy alternatives” have come under so much fire from lawmakers.  Most of the time, the so-called alternatives lead to bankruptcy, but with added months and years of heartbreak in between.

Not always, not in every situation, but more often than you’d imagine, the answer is right there in the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana.  Chapter 13 bankruptcy law often functions as the ultimate debt consolidation plan.  Bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana often functions as the ultimate debt settlement plan.   Most important, unlike the case with bankruptcy “alternatives”, with individual bankruptcy in Indiana, the relief begins right away!