Benefits of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

How Can a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Benefit Me?

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Although a client may be disappointed that they are over income and are required to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, many times a Chapter 13 is more beneficial to you than a Chapter 7.

Chapter 13 Benefits

  1. You can file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy even if you have filed a previous Chapter 7 bankruptcy within the last eight years (which is the time limit for filing another Chapter 7).
  2. We may be able to to lower your interest rate and payment on your vehicles.
  3. You may give back one or more of your vehicles that are underwater or unaffordable.
  4. You may be able to pay the fair market value of your car and pay a portion of the loan as unsecured.
  5. You will make one affordable payment to the bankruptcy trustee who will then pay your creditors. We will run an income and expense statement for the trustee that allows you to maintain your household budget before any payments to creditors.
  6. We may pay your unsecured creditors as little as one cent on the dollar, depending upon your circumstances.
  7. All interest stops on your unsecured debts and secured debts we may be able to have the interest payment reduced.
  8. We can catch up arranges in both your house and vehicles in a Chapter 13 by court order. This is true even if your bank has filed a foreclosure against your home, and in some circumstances even if car has been repossessed, we can get it back. This is not available in a Chapter 7.
  9. Your plan payment can be deducted from one or both of your paychecks so you’re not concerned about making that payment.
  10. You may be able to discharge a second mortgage and wipe-out judgement liens against your real estate in a Chapter 13.
  11. If you own a mobile home, we may be able to reduce the secured portion down to the fair market value and treat the balance as unsecured and payable at a small percentage on the dollar.
  12. You can repay non dischargeable tax debt without interest or further penalties. Text debt can quickly spiral out of control with penalties and interest. In a Chapter 13 you can fix the amount and pay it off during your plan.
  13. If, during your Chapter 13 plan, your circumstances change, we can suspend or lower your payments to keep you on track. We can get permission for you to buy another vehicle. In other words, we expect that your circumstances will change during the course of your plan and your plan will be flexible to allow you to change it so that it will be successful.
  14. Depending upon your individual circumstances, you can convert your chapter 13 to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy later.
  15. If circumstances have changed for you, you’re always free to have us dismiss your Chapter 13 at any time.

In our experienced lawyer’s hands, Chapter 13 provides many, many tools to help our clients reach their financial goals. We have filed over 8000 bankruptcy cases during the 33 years our office has been open. Many of these issues are quite complicated. We provide a free consultation for you to discuss the benefits of both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.