First, don’t worry. Remember – most, if not all, of your debts are on file somewhere – in your consumer credit reports. It is possible to pull your credit report from each of the three main consumer credit reporting agencies and find out what your creditors have reported with regard to what, and whom, you owe. These three agencies are Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax.

But what if you think you already know exactly who you owe and how much you owe them, prior to filing for bankruptcy? It is still a good practice to pull your credit reports before you file, anyway.

You should pull your credit reports because you may have forgotten a debt, a creditor may be reporting that you owe more than you think you do, and/or one or more of your debts may have been sold to a debt buyer without your knowledge. This is just a good due diligence practice.

The official site for free credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies is annualcreditreport.com. You don’t need to use the ones you see advertised on TV – they will cost you some money, possibly every month. So watch out what services you might be signing up for when you are surfing the net looking for credit report sources.

If you are going to hire an attorney to help with the bankruptcy, speak to that attorney first before you go to the trouble of pulling the reports, unless you just want to see them anyway. The attorney may already have a credit reporting service they want to use. Tell the attorney that you want a copy of the credit report they pull for you. Or, they may want you to pull your own reports first, before starting on your bankruptcy case. Different lawyers go about the preparation of a bankruptcy case in different ways.

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Americans have an unhealthy obsession with bad credit, as though a credit score were an indicator of self worth. This obsession is unnecessary. You don’t need a good credit score to live a fulfilling and happy life. Even if you have bad credit, the sun will still come out tomorrow.

Do you want to work for a bank? Do you want to buy real estate someday? If so, you probably have legitimate reasons to be concerned with how your credit report looks to others. If not, stop worrying about your credit. It is not worth the energy you spend on thinking about it, believe me. But if it is a priority, there are ways you can rebuild credit.

And you’d think people who are on the verge of filing for bankruptcy must be starting out with good credit, considering all the energy they expend worrying about how it might ruin their credit scores. But you’d be wrong, for the most part. Sure, some people who file for bankruptcy early enough might still have a decent score, but honestly, most people who are serious about it already have bad credit.

If you are legitimately concerned with your credit, consider this: Those starting out with bad credit should look at how a bankruptcy can help begin to rebuild credit by providing a fresh start. Those starting out with good credit, but who have dischargeable debts they can’t pay, should be looking at how far down their credit score can go if they let their untenable debt situation continue its downward spiral.

Thinking about a bankruptcy in New Jersey? Call Jennifer Weil at 201-676-0722 for a free telephone consultation or email me at jweil@jenlawyer.com.

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The answer is that bankruptcy information can stay on your report for 10 years. Most other types of negative information can be reported for 7 years.

Usually, a Chapter 7 stays on a credit report for 10 years while a Chapter 13 stays on a report for 7 years.

The Federal Trade Commission has a website explaining how to get free copies of your credit reports from the 3 major credit reporting companies. You should check your reports on a regular basis to make sure they do not contain any false information.

It is still possible to build a positive credit report even with a bankruptcy on your record, so long as you act carefully and methodically. If you’ve ever received credit card offers before, you are likely to receive them again after your bankruptcy.

If your goal is to build good credit, it’s worth your while to consider the post-bankruptcy card offers that you receive with an eye toward building a record of consistently and fully repaying an open line of credit.

If you are in New Jersey and considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy, please call me for a free telephone consultation at 201-676-0722.

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While surfing the internet looking for information on Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you may come across articles saying that you should not file for bankruptcy. These articles will cite a myriad of reasons: You’ll ruin your credit score, you won’t be able to get a new job, you won’t be able to rent another apartment, and utility companies will make you put down a deposit.

I say, don’t believe the hype.

You need to do what’s right for you. If filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy turns out to be the right thing for you, then do it. Don’t let the naysayers get in your way.

Because here’s the thing: Each and every person who is having problems with debt needs to do their own analysis, preferably after consulting with one or more professionals, to determine whether Chapter 7 bankruptcy is right for them. Blanket negative statements about the evils of bankruptcy don’t help with your analysis.

Let’s look at these bankruptcy evils one at a time:

You’ll ruin your credit score. Seriously, folks, if you’re having bad debt troubles, don’t you think your credit score has already taken a beating? Maybe it hasn’t – but you’re likely in a situation where you are just starting to have trouble paying your bills and the troubles haven’t hit your credit report yet.

But if you allow the debt troubles to continue without taking some decisive action, your credit score will eventually go down. Might as well do something about the debt that you can’t pay sooner rather than later, so that you can get to a point where you can start to build up your credit score again, if it’s important to you.

You won’t be able to get a new job. Yes, many employers run credit checks on prospective employees. But many employers do not. Sometimes it depends on what industry you are in. Trying to get a bank job? Banks will probably run credit checks on prospective employees. But many “mom-and-pop” small, non-corporate employers do not. In other words, this is a factor you should consider, but it may not be the end all, be all factor that decides whether or not you file.

You won’t be able to rent an apartment. Here again, some landlords run credit checks and some do not. You probably won’t have your pick of every single new apartment to move into, but you wouldn’t have anyway, because some apartments rent for more than you can afford. This factor depends a lot on what’s available in the area where you want to live. So it’s something to consider, but it’s not the only factor (and not even a huge one, at that).

Utility companies will make you put down a deposit. Utility services cannot be cut off because you filed for bankruptcy. If you owe a past debt to a utility, then you may have to put down a deposit after you file. This is why it’s a good idea to be current on your utility bills prior to filing for bankruptcy.

If you’ve already finished with a bankruptcy, you may have to put down a deposit for a utility company in the future after you move and try to get utilities. But this can happen even without a bankruptcy on your record – for example, if you move to another state and start service with a utility company you’ve never used before, they might ask you for a deposit just because you’re a first-time customer. If you’re concerned about this, you may want to try renting an apartment that has utilities included in the rent.

Bottom line, the evils of bankruptcy are not evils at all – and they certainly should not be what keeps you from filing.

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