5 Advantages to Filing for Bankruptcy

Declaring bankruptcy is a means and a right to get a fresh financial start. It allows individuals or businesses to resolve financial issues, rebuild credit, put a stop to aggressive debt collecting actions, and discharge certain kinds of debt that have become unmanageable. Here are 5 advantages to declaring bankruptcy.

1. Address missed payments, defaults, repossessions, and lawsuits that are keeping your credit score down. While bankruptcy will also hurt your credit score, it is often an easier and quicker way to rebuild your credit score than to try and deal with each creditor individually over a number of years.
2. Put a stop to creditors’ aggressive debt collecting practices like harassing phone calls, dunning letters, repossessions, and declined transactions. Even in the case of student loans, which are not dischargeable, at least you can prevent future aggressive collecting actions.
3. You’re wiping the slate clean. The opportunity to get a fresh financial start should not be underestimated. While bankruptcy can have its own stresses, there is a great deal of peace of mind and relief to be gained from declaring bankruptcy. And keep in mind that you will probably end up keeping all of your personal possessions, either because of exemptions or lack of interest from creditors.
4. While being in a disastrous financial situation often becomes all too public, bankruptcy is something you can keep fairly private. Friends, co-workers, and even your family do not have to know that you have filed for bankruptcy (unless you owe them money as well). The only time your bankruptcy will show up is on a credit history report, and as stated above, that can sometimes make a better statement to a lender than being stuck in a financial quagmire. And even if your employer was to find out, it is illegal under bankruptcy laws for an employer to discriminate based on bankruptcy.
5. Debt discharge. This is an obvious one, but it’s huge. All of the (unsecured) debt that has been making your life miserable will disappear.