MANAGING YOUR CREDIT REPORT

SPENDING BEFORE YOU THINK

You can’t become a financial wizard unless you first master some of the basics. This section will help you to do just that. The first step is simple—get organized. This step will include pulling together all of your financial documents and tracking your spending. Then, you will evaluate your expenses versus your income and develop a household budget that makes sense to you. Naturally, you will want your budget to include some saving as well as some spending, so this section will cover those topics and help you account for each item in your monthly budget.
Whether you have a handful of monthly bills or an armload, you will benefit from the Goof-Proof Rules for Managing Bills and those that cover how to control your debt. This section will provide you with tips and information on securing loans, and will wrap up with Checking Account Do’s and Don’ts.

Not all debts go away when you file for bankruptcy. Most unsecured debts are dischargeable, which means that you are no longer legally required to repay them. However, some unsecured debts are nondischargeable- that is, you still have to repay them even after filing for bankruptcy. For secured debts, you surrender the property that you used as collateral, or pay the debt if you want to retain the collateral.
Which type of debt you have determines whether you have anything to gain from declaring bankruptcy. Dischargeable debts include, but are not limited to, credit card purchases, rent, and medical bills. Nondischargeable debts include, but are not limited to, student loans, alimony or child support, taxes, properly executed contracts involving titles or liens, debts incurred as a result of drunk driving, and eve-of-bankruptcy spending sprees (or any substantial purchases close to the time of fling).

In addition, after you filed for bankruptcy, your creditors have 60 days to object. If they file a suit, it's possible that a discharge will be denied for the debt in question.

However, you can't really guess what the judge will decide about your creditors' suits (unless you know that one of your creditors is in worse shape fnancially than you are), but you should be able to identify your dischargeable debts. If that's what most of your debts are, then bankruptcy can help reduce your debt burden but don't forget that it doesn't your problems go away even if you have a good credit report.

Other than the decision between lawyer and no lawyer, the process for filing bankruptcy is close to the same for everyone, no matter where in the United States you live. These are the basic steps: You complete a set of forms, provided by the bankruptcy court, listing all your debts and all your property (that is, whatever you own, such as your home, car, furniture, and appliances). Plus, you give detailed information about your income and its sources, your current living expenses, and the money you've spent or given away in the last two years. You can incur serious penalties for lying to the court or trying to hide assets. Although honest mistakes are not punished, deliberate omissions, misrepresentations, and perjury may be. Your case could be thrown out of court; but prosecution of fraud is on the rise, and lying to the court may even result in a jail sentence.

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