Pre-Filing Counseling

One of the most senseless changes made to the bankruptcy law in 2005 was the requirement to go through pre-filing budget counseling. There are several ways to do it -- in person, by phone, or online. The cost ranges from $40 to $150, from what I can tell, depending on what "non-profit" group you choose to do the counseling.

We chose Springboard, and spent $55 and about 90 minutes going through a counseling that accomplished nothing more than convincing us that bankruptcy was indeed the right choice for us. I mean, look at this spending plan! If we're nearly $60,000.00 in the hole, we don't have much choice but to file bankruptcy.

The counseling describes the most common types of credit counseling available, so that you'll know what other options you have besides bankruptcy. Then it explains the most common types of bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) to help you decide what you might do if you file for bankruptcy. There's a quiz at the end of each section, and a couple of the questions are worded so that if you actually answer them the way they sound like they should be answered, you'll be wrong.

Then there's the budget plan. WOW! You have to enter all of your income (the easy part), all of your living expenses, and all of your debts. It seems like we just did all of this for our attorney. It categorizes all of your debt in such a way that, for us anyway, we had to refigure things three or four times to get it where they want it.

All of this, at the cost of $55 (which, it seems, is a bargain), for a ridiculous little certificate that my attorney has to file with our bankruptcy petition. And we had to have separate certificates for my wife and myself.

Well, it's done, and we'll sign the paperwork next Thursday. I just can't wait to have the whole sordid affair behind us.