Bankruptcy Is Not The Answer

Things were looking so bad a few weeks ago that I started wondering if it was bad enough to start thinking about bankruptcy.  Although I don’t know a lot about bankruptcy, I did take a couple Business Law classes in college, so I know a little about it and figured I’d NEVER even consider it, much less file for it.

It did cross my mind and I decided to google “bankruptcy” and read a few articles about it.  The first web site that word pulled up was Wikipedia and I didn’t want to read that, so I went to the second site listed.  It was an article from Dave Ramsey called “The Truth About Bankruptcy”.

Here are the sentences that stood out to me:

• Myth: I’ll just file bankruptcy and start over; it seems so easy.
• Truth: Bankruptcy is a gut-wrenching, life-changing event that causes lifelong damage.
• If you’re facing the prospect of bankruptcy or in the middle of it right now, you know it’s a living nightmare. It can devastate your job, destroy your marriage and steal your peace of mind.
• Bankruptcy is not something I recommend any more than I would recommend divorce. Are there times when good people see no way out and file bankruptcy? Yes, but I will still talk you out of bankruptcy if given the opportunity. Few people who have been through bankruptcy would report that it is a painless wiping-clean of the slate, after which you merrily trot off into your future to start fresh.
• Bankruptcy is listed in the top 5 life-altering negative events that we can go through, along with divorce, severe illness, disability, and loss of a loved one. I would never say that bankruptcy is as bad as losing a loved one, but it is life-altering and leaves deep wounds both to the psyche and the credit report.

I looked at a few other articles and most people seem to have the same opinion.  It didn’t sound like anything I’d want to deal with, so I told myself to forget about bankruptcy and find a better solution.