Total Bankruptcy

We talked a few days ago about how critical it is that a debtor complete the pre-filing credit counseling requirement. It turns out that there are also pitfalls for the debtor who gets too ambitious in completing the financial requirements in a consumer bankruptcy case.

The credit counseling requirement must be completed before filing. However, two recent cases have clarified that the financial management course required for discharge cannot be completed pre-filing. This restriction isn't as dangerous as the pre-filing requirement, since the remedy thus far has simply been for courts to require a fresh financial management course prior to discharge, but it's lost time and additional course fees if the class has to be repeated, so it's definitely to your advantage to make sure that each course is completed separately, in its proper time.

so does this mean credit counseling corps like delray are not legit?

do they really help in eliminating debt like it says on that article? how legit is a "debt management program"?

The single best source of information about the legitimacy of various debt management agencies is the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC provides resources on its website at www.ftc.gov that not only educate consumers about what questions to ask and what issues to watch out for in seeking help with debts, but also provide bulletins about current investigations and legal actions by the FTC against some of these operations.

You may also want to take a look at our article reporting some recent FTC actions in this area: http://totalbankruptcy.com/bankruptcy_articles_debt_elimination_program.htm

Is it safe to apply for only one credit card only to improve my credit score before my bankruptcy ends?