Can I still file for bankruptcy?

Question

I was recently sued by a credit card company, but a judgement has not been issued yet. I was wondering if I could still file for bankruptcy.

I wanted to add that no, this is not my only debt. Thanks for the serious responses, too.

Answer 1

I'm a bankruptcy attorney in California. When you file for bankruptcy, the automatic stay halts nearly all collection efforts by your creditors. This means that the lawsuit will stop. If you receive a discharge of the debt, then the creditor will be permanently barred from collecting the debt and any judgment against you voided. If a judgment is filed and a lien filed against your property before, you need to file a motion with the court to have it removed.

You haven't posted enough information to determine if you are eligible for BK. You should consult a local attorney for more information. Most will give a free consultation.

Answer 2

To be on the safe side, I would wait until the judgement has been issued because then you will be able to file on the original amount plus all the file and processing fees as well.

However, if this is the only debt you have I personally don't think it's worth damaging your credit by filing bankruptcy. If you have this debt and have been sued already, why not try to pay it back a little at a time instead of going through 7 years of bankruptcy trustees and such? Also with the recent bankruptcy law changes, if this is the only debt you have, you may not be eligible to file bankruptcy - usually bankruptcy attorneys don't charge for the initial session so I would check it out before you pay to start something you may not be able to finish.

Answer 3

Well, to answer your initial question of whether you should file bankruptcy or not is really up to you ultimately. I wouldn't advice it if your debt is less than 10K as generally a consolidation could get you out of the hole on that issue and you can rebuild your credit. The next issue since the laws have changed, do you qualify based on the income guidelines for your household? Chances are, it sounds as if you do, but then I don't know what you make or how many are in your household. Secondly, it's gonna cost you a grip to file now as what used to be $300-$500 to do several years ago will easily cost you $1500 or more. Plus you'll also have to seek credit counseling before you move forward in the process. As to your reference regarding the 7 yrs., it's not necessarily automatic as they go on the last date of activity on the account. This is how the creditors get you and have the ability to extend that 7 yrs. to an eternity. Now, you can always dispute any issues you have on your credit report, so don't be afraid to do so. They have to send you an address and contact number of the creditor within a reasonable amount of time or the credit bureau has to remove it from your credit report. Many people don't know this, but it's how so many people are able to have some things removed, because they fail to research the info in a timely fashion. This can be good for you if that's the case otherwise you may be stuck with some things on the report. I hope this helped. Good luck!

Answer 4

Make sure you read the lawsuit you got. Most of them are written in a way that if you don't respond within 20 days, it's a default judgment, and you lose automatically.

I'd work on a payment or settlement plan before I tried to file a BK, since they're so much harder to do nowadays. It's unlikely that one credit card would qualify you for a full discharge, so you'd have to pay some of it back anyway through the courts. Better to not file BK and settle it out on your own.

Answer 5

Its expensive to file for personal bankruptcy, about 1500.00 dollars, where would you get the money from. If you can get the money from somewhere offer them half and they will probably take it.

Answer 6

YES, and your attorney will stop all judgements agains you.