Life After Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 Discharge Granted, Now What?

What does Life After Bankruptcy look like?  Your Fresh Start has occurred, and everything seems oddly quiet.  All is good, totally good!

It’s the notion of the “fresh start” or the “New Beginning”, and frankly, it’s the weight that’s been taken off your shoulder, the stress is no more, the family financial squabbles ceased, and worrying about how you’re going to make that next credit card bill payment, or fend off that collection company, or pay the mortgage when your check has been garnished, that’s gone. That’s why you hired an attorney, and that’s why you sought the discharge. Zipity-Do-Da indeed.

Yes, life after bankruptcy provides a fresh start, but that new beginning is only as good as you make it. The debt you lugged around for years, it’s gone, well unless you kept it. Now what? Of course, the worst thing you could do would be to continue on the same course of action that led down this road. It’s only a new beginning if you take a different path.

Bankruptcy is your fresh start.  It puts you back at zero, and we’ve learned by now that it’s a lot easier to climb from zero than it is to climb to it.  Start climbing!

Reaffirmation Agreements are common in Bankruptcy, click the link to learn more about them. Do you reaffirm? Do you not reaffirm? It would be highly ill-advised to reaffirm on car debt you cannot afford or to reaffirm a mortgage you cannot make, and yet it happens.

Be it in St Louis St. Charles or anywhere, the discharge in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is in fact, the door to starting over. Life after bankruptcy is a fresh start.  This time, know what to watch for, know what to do. You’ve been working with your attorney, doing the calculations, and preparing for the future. I cannot over-stress how important it is to educate yourself about debt and finances. Buy the books, go to the websites, hire the professionals. If you run a business, keep in mind, your accountant should not be your spouse or your buddy, unless of course, your spouse is an accountant but even then, remember “He who represents himself has a …………” Check your credit report, but be cautious about placing too much emphasis on it. Develop new systems, new methods, and new habits. Be informed, take it slow. I highly recommend further financial education, which is available from a variety of resources.

Today is a New Day!

By Guss Markwell