You may have reached a point where bankruptcy is your only real option. You are trapped by debt and you need a way to get out from under it so that you can begin making forward progress once again; bankruptcy gives you a chance to start over, to start fresh. However, are you afraid that declaring bankruptcy could mean that you lose your home? With the right bankruptcy lawyers, you can make sure that you keep your house, that it is not taken by your lenders as payment for the loans that you took out.
The big difference that you need to know about lies in which type of bankruptcy you decide to use. The most common type is Chapter 7. This is a liquidation process. If you decide to use it, you have to liquidate any remaining assets that you have – which could include your home – and you then use this money to erase what debt you can. Since you are giving up everything, this process is rather fast. Most of the time, it takes less than six months. However, bankruptcy lawyers will tell you that there are other options if you do not want to lose all of your assets.
The other type of bankruptcy that you can file is known as Chapter 13. With this process, the bankruptcy lawyers will help set up a payment plan that you can use instead of liquidating all of your assets. As long as you stick to the plan and make the payments on time, you get to keep your home and still erase your debt. However, this plan does take longer since you are working with a smaller amount of capital. You will probably need to adhere to the payment plan for anywhere from 3 to 6 years.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy could still cause you to lose some things, such as your credit cards, but it protects the things that are most valuable to you and you family. Good bankruptcy lawyers can give you advice about which type you should choose in your situation and how to get the process started. However, if you already own your house and you have not yet finished paying off the mortgage that you took out, the odds are very high that Chapter 13 is the type that you should choose. Use it today to give yourself a brand new financial start.