This Transcript was auto-populated
Transcript:
00:00:00 [Music] Hi, my name is Joe Pileleti with Pileleti Py and Nichols Law Firm and today we’re going to talk about Chapter 7 bankruptcy. What is Chapter 7 bankruptcy? Well, there are two main kinds of bankruptcies that consumers file and that is opposed to businesses and those are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. We do have another video on Chapter 13 if you do want to watch that. Chapter 7 is the most common type of bankruptcy. It’s the easiest, quickest, cheapest type of bankruptcy. What does Chapter 7 do? Well, Chapter 7 will help you
00:00:31 eliminate, you know, debts, unsecured debts like credit cards, medical bills, loans, evictions, judgments, or if you have a car accident where you didn’t have insurance and you owe the insurance company money, Chapter 7 will help with that. There are all sorts of, you know, types of debts that can be dealt with in Chapter 7. There are some debts that cannot be discharged in Chapter 7, and those mainly are student loans and certain, you know, government debts such as taxes. When you call my office and
00:00:55 ask questions, I’m going to offer you a free consultation and probably within just a few minutes, we’ll be able to figure out what type of bankruptcy you’re eligible for and whether a Chapter 7 would be a good fit. I’m going to ask you some questions when you call. First, I’m going to ask how much money you make because in Chapter 7, there is a limit to the amount of money that you can make. There is something called a means test. The means test is the amount of money you earn relative to the number
00:01:17 of people in your house. If you make too much money, you might not be eligible for a Chapter 7. uh if you make less than that, you probably would be. We’re also going to talk about what kinds of property you own. If you own a house, uh we’re going to talk about what it might be worth, how much you owe on it. If you own a house, you can still file a chapter 7, but if you have too much equity, we’re going to talk about that and make sure that chapter 7 is right for you. I’m going to ask you whether
00:01:42 you are married. Uh most importantly, I’m going to ask what types of debts you have and and what the amounts of those debts are. All of these things are important to figuring out whether Chapter 7 is right for you. If it turns out that you don’t make too much money and you don’t have a lot of property and you haven’t filed Chapter 7 in the last 8 years and you do have the kind of debt that is dischargeable in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, then that might be a good fit for you. It’s going to eliminate
00:02:04 your debt and you aren’t going to have to give away any of your property. If you don’t have a lot of property, you’re going to be able to keep everything and that’s important. You’ll be able to keep your house and your car. That’s, you know, 99% of the time that’s that is the case as long as you’re current on your payments. So, those are the main questions that we’ll talk about. When you call, we’ll make sure that Chapter 7 is going to give you a fresh start. Chapter 7 lasts for about 4 months, and
00:02:26 after that, all your debts are going to be gone except for the keeping, such as your house or your car. People a lot of times ask how chapter 7 is going to affect them. Is it going to affect them for the rest of their life? Am I going to lose my job? Are people going to look down on me? The answer to those questions is no. You’re going to be able to rebuild your credit. Chapter 7 stays on your credit report for around 7 to 10 years. But what is most important is that after a couple years, you’re going
00:02:47 to be able to start rebuilding your credit score. And you know, many times, most times, right after filing bankruptcy, people get letters in the mail from companies asking them to buy cars from them and finance cars through them. And once you get your discharge after about 4 months, people are generally able to buy a car right away because at that point, you don’t have any more debt and you’re actually, you know, much better credit risk than you were probably before the bankruptcy as long as you have income. People ask, are
00:03:12 they ever going to be able to buy a house again? Yes, you are going to be able to buy a house, usually it takes around 2 to 3 years after filing to get back on your feet and buy a house. That’s very, very possible. So, if you have any questions about a Chapter 7 and what debts you can get rid of and what you can’t and how it works, feel free to call me, shoot me an email. I’ll be happy to give you a free consultation over the phone, in the office, over Zoom. We’ve been doing this for a very long time and have helped a lot of
00:03:38 people, and we’d be happy to help you. [Music]