It seems so obvious. Avoiding bankruptcy by sticking your head in the sand just won’t work.
However, you would be amazed at the large number of people who try it. They just stop answering the phone. They stop opening their mail. It seems to work for a while.
Reasons People Bury Their Head in the Sand
I know exactly why people do it. Some people get so stressed out that they just shut down. They block everything out so that they can just make it through the day. Answering the phone and getting screamed at by some nasty bill collector is too painful. As a consequence, they just stop answering the phone. Reading the debt collection letters makes some people so stressed out that their blood pressure shoots through the roof. Even with all of this stress, avoiding bankruptcy and ignoring the debt problems sometimes seems like the easier path. It’s not.
The Debt Bomb Explodes!
Then, their paycheck gets garnished. Or worse yet, all of their money in their checking account gets frozen. Some people have their cars repossessed while they are at work. It’s not a great way t0 end a hard day of work only to discover that your car has been snatched away by the finance company. For others, its when the mortgage company starts foreclosure proceedings.
I understand the rationale behind avoiding bankruptcy. If avoiding bankruptcy without being sued and garnished works for you, then do it. However, if you are living from paycheck to paycheck and you wonder how you are going to feed your family, you need to consider bankruptcy.
The debt problem will not go away by itself. Your creditors have ways of finding out where you work. They can also find the location of your banking account. The finance company knows how to find your car.
Georgia does not have usury laws. I met with a client last week who owed a signature loan to a local finance company where the annual interest rate was 30 percent! With super high interest rates, it does not take long for a reasonable amount of debt to become a debt monster. Super high interest rates can make avoiding bankruptcy impossible in many situations.
In Georgia, a creditor can garnish up to twenty five percent of your net wages. If you don’t open your mail, you won’t know that you have been sued by your creditor and that they are setting you up for a garnishment of your paycheck.
You Should Explore All of Your Legal Options
Why wait for debt bomb to explode? Why not meet with a bankruptcy attorney and come up with a reasonable plan to take care of the debt problems?
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3. How much does it cost to file?