What Advantages does Chapter 13 have over Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
FORECLOSURE AND SHERIFF SALES: CHAPTER 13 WORKS EVERY TIME
Indianapolis Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyers can stop foreclosure to save your home. First, Indiana residents can use Chapter 13 to both stop a foreclosure or sheriff sales. But, unlike Chapter 7, Chapter 13 also provides a mechanism in which the arrears and normal ongoing payments can be paid to the lender. Essentially, Chapter 13 is a 100 % full-proof way of forcing your mortgage company to take payments and stop their foreclosure action for good! (As long as you can afford to make the payments.)
TOO MUCH INCOME OR TOO MANY ASSETS? NO PROBLEM. FILE 13
Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be very powerful in Indiana because it allows you to keep all your assets even if you do not have sufficient Indiana Bankruptcy Exemptions to cover all of your property. Any payment through the plan that is paid to your unsecured creditors (such as credit cards, medical bills, or any other creditor that does not have collateral) will allow you to keep many more assets beyond your Indiana bankruptcy exemption limits. Also, when our clients make too much income and cannot “pass the means test,” they can still get powerful relief through filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Indiana. If either of these issues come up, you can rest assured that our office will have all of the knowledge necessary to come up with a plan that will work for you.
AVOIDING WHOLLY UNSECURED MORTGAGES IN INDIANA CHAPTER 13
Chapter 13 can also allow certain liens and unsecured 2nd or 3rd mortgages to be “avoided” (or removed through legal actions during the Chapter 13 case).
CHAPTER 13 CAN STOP REPOSSESSIONS AND IN SOME CASES, EVEN HAVE REPOSSESSED AUTOMOBILES RETURNED TO THE OWNER
Chapter 13 can stop a repossession and also many times make the payments for your vehicle(s) “reorganized” at a much lower payment. In certain cases, when a vehicle was just very recently repossessed, Chapter 13 can force your automobile creditor to return the vehicle to you even after a repossession takes place.
CHAPTER 13 CAN BE FILED AT ANY TIME – WHERE CHAPTER 7 CAN ONLY BE FILED EVERY 8 YEARS.
Our clients many times encounter financial problems before 8 years has passed since they filed Chapter 7. Other times, our clients will chose to file Chapter 13 with many other timing issues such as understanding that there will be the potential of large debts coming up from medical debts in the future. Chapter 13 has no “waiting times” or “bar dates” from filing (except there are smaller waiting times to receive a discharge in the case). Therefore, Chapter 13 can have much greater flexibility in dealing with many types of debt situations.
PAYING LOWER PAYMENTS THAT YOU CAN AFFORD AND KEEPING YOUR CREDITORS AT BAY!
This is one of the best advantages of Chapter 13: many times the payments for your debts can be made much lower. Also, during the Chapter 13 case, none of your creditors are allowed to collect against you or harass you in any way. Many times our client will file Chapter 13 just to stop any form of aggressive collection and set up an affordable plan that helps them keep their sanity and dignity in dealing with their their creditors.
