Circumstances in life cause millions of people to go into debt each year. Suffering an illness or injury can lead to thousands of dollars in medical debt, for example. Losing a job can cause a person to rely on credit cards to get by on until he or she finds a new job. When you are facing thousands of dollars in debt that you cannot realistically pay back, you could find yourself subject to collection activities like wage garnishments and freezing of your bank account. You could free yourself from this harmful debt, however, by retaining the services of a debt consolidation company, credit repair law firm, or bankruptcy attorney in Washington, PA today. Deciding What Chapter to File If you have never before filed bankruptcy, you may wonder what chapter is best for the type of debt with which you are dealing. Would it be better to consolidate what you owe or would you fare better to ask the court to forgive all of your applicable debts? The type of chapter that you can file for will depend on a number of factors including whether or not you have ever filed a bankruptcy before, how much money you make, the value of your assets, and the types of debt you owe. Based on these factors, the attorney you hire can advise you on the best chapter to file to deal with your debts. If you make too much money to file for total liquidation, you have filed for Chapter 7 in the last eight years, or you owe a relatively small amount of debt that you can pay off in a year or two, you might fare best to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This type of bankruptcy consolidates all of your debt and allows you to make monthly payments that will be dispersed among all of your creditors. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidates most kinds of debts except for back taxes, child support, student loans, and civil fines. You can have medical debt, credit card debt, and other types of debts erased with a Chapter 7 filing.
