If you wish to be debt free you should probably not file for personal bankruptcy. How can that be if bankruptcy is supposed to wipe out your debts with your creditors? Aren’t you supposed to be debt free when you come out of bankruptcy?
The number of people who successfully complete a Chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan is around 33%. This means that for 2/3rds of the people who claim Chapter 13 bankruptcy they do not successfully satisfy their repayment plan and default. So they do not fully discharge their debts.
The sad fact is that most people who file for bankruptcy once will eventually file for bankruptcy a second time. According to Suze Orman. 
Why is it so hard to get out of credit card debt using bankruptcy?
Because unless you can file Chapter 7 bankruptcy successfully, you will have to pay back most of what you owe to your creditors over a rigid 3-5 year repayment plan. You are already struggling as it is to meet your debt obligations and that is why you filed in the first place. But due to the new bankruptcy laws that favor the credit card companies, you will have to pay back most of what you owe and it is harder to fully discharge your debts using Chapter 7.
Instead of filing bankruptcy to get out of debt, consider a bankruptcy alternative such as debt settlement, also known as debt negotiation.
When you fall behind on your credit card bills, medical bills and even IRS tax debt, you can negotiate with your creditors and offer a lump sum payment to satisfy the remaining balance on the account. They will agree to forgive the rest of your debt for that one time payment.
This happens everyday with all the major credit card companies and it is completely legal.
The major credit card banks don’t publicize this option because they have a vested interest in getting you into a credit counseling program in which they only have to waive late fees and over the limit fees and reduce your interest rates instead of forgiving a large portion of your credit card balance.
With debt settlement many credit card companies will forgive as much as 75% of your outstanding balance. And you can accomplish this in as little as 6 months. Compare that to a 36 to 60 month bankruptcy repayment plan.
So to sum up, if you wish to be debt free once and for all filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy may not be the solution to your debt problems.

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