Tehachapi, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

A question like this (should I file and which chapter is appropriate) really needs a consultation to review all the facts of your situation to get an answer. Just off the top of my head, with $5K if that is all the debt you have, BK is probably overkill. But perhaps you have other debts besides credit cards. As far as collection agencies calling you - check out Fair Debt Collection Act. Google it. It outlines the types of things the debt collectors can and cannot do. For example, if you write a debt collector a letter demanding they stop calling you, that is what they by law are supposed to do, stop calling you. They can still send you letters. If after they have received your request they continue to call they are violating the law and you could collect a small sum for this by taking them to court. State of California also has "Rosenthall Act" which further defines what can and cannot be done by debt collectors.

Is that all? Bankruptcy is appropriate when there is virtually no chance of ever repaying even 25% of your debts over a 3 - 5 year period of time. Typically, I believe someone should not consider filing unless they owe around 50% of their annual income to creditors, and I am reluctant to file any case where the debt that can be eliminated is less than $25K. After all, you are only eligible to discharge debts in bankruptcy once every 8 years, and what would happen if you became very ill or injured after filing a bankruptcy and had no right to eliminate tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in new debts.

Yes, a short sale is more beneficial. You have no personal liability on these mortgages because you did not reaffirm them but if they foreclose, it will be on your credit report as a foreclosure. ?Doing a short sale will avoid this. Whether you can get another home immediately depends on whether you've maintained your credit since the bankruptcy. If you've made your payments on time and don't have an overload of debt, getting another loan should be easy.