Ensuring All Debts Are Discharged: Importance Of Credit Reports In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
With the economy still recovering, many Americans are tempted to file for bankruptcy in order to relieve themselves from growing debt. In 2010, 1,100,116 Americans filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and surrendered all of their assets in favor of being able to start fresh financially. Getting credit reports from several credit bureaus is a crucial step when filing for bankruptcy. You can easily get your credit reports without the help of a bankruptcy trustee or an attorney.
Keeping Track of All of Your Debt
To be discharged from debts, you must provide a report to the court that includes information like the type of debts that you owe, the creditors that you owe, the date of which you obtained the debt and the amount that you owe for each debt. Debts that are not filed in the report will not be discharged, and you cannot file for chapter 7 bankruptcy again for eight years once your bankruptcy application has been processed and approved.
To prevent being left with debts that you are still liable for, but cannot pay, you want to be extremely diligent in making sure that all of your debts are included in the report that is submitted. Once you have compiled the report, you should consider asking your bankruptcy attorney or trustee to confirm that no debts have been forgotten.
The Reason Behind The Importance of Obtaining Credit Reports from Several Bureaus
Due to the important nature of including all of the debts within the report, you want to make sure that you obtain reports from several bureaus, as creditors are not likely to report debts to all credit bureaus. A credit report from a single credit bureau can easily be
Conclusion
You can also verify whether there are any debts missing by looking through your receipts, credit card bills and more. Your bankruptcy trustee or attorney will do their best in finding as many debts as they can to include in their report; however, you should also verify all claims in order to reduce the chances of errors happening, especially since you cannot include additional debts once you have completed the entire bankruptcy process, and you will still be stuck with the debts.