Bankruptcy Allows You to “Hang in There”

When asked in a recent interview by Anna Robertson of Yahoo! News what he had to say to America's 14.5 million unemployed, the Vice President Joe Biden responded, "hang in there." Pointing to a slow and gradual national recovery, Biden said that while the unemployment rate is only "dropping minimally," the economy is slowly improving, leaving Americans to wait it out. "A significant portion of the companies out there ... are saying now that they're gonna begin to hire this year," he said. "The message is hang in there, things are coming back."

While millions of hopeful men and women attempt to heed the Vice President’s advice and wait for things to return to pre-recessionary “normality,” the realities of the current economic malaise are bleaker. According to most reports, the unemployment rate is expected to remain above 9 percent this year and drop only a point or so in 2012, signaling more bad news for the nation's long-term jobless—6.4 million people who have been unemployed for six months or longer, and 1.5 million who have been unemployed nearly two years or more—who with each passing day find themselves bordering obsolescence in long unemployment lines.

Biden feels their pain. "I can remember vividly that long walk my father had to take up a short flight of stairs to tell us he was leaving to find a job," Biden said in the Yahoo! interview. "When you're out of work, it's not a slowdown -- it's a depression."

With 2011 forecasted as another year of “depression” rather than “growth” for so many, what actual solution exists for the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans seeking solutions for their growing debt loads?

In a word: bankruptcy.

In these tough economic times, record numbers of men and women—unemployed and otherwise—sought the safe havens of bankruptcy in 2010, approximately 1.5 million people filed for bankruptcy. This year may seen even more, with personal bankruptcies predicted to approach 1.6 million new cases, surmounting last year’s tally to become the largest number of filings since 2005 (when stricter bankruptcy laws were enacted).

So many are considering personal bankruptcy to “hang in there” in 2011 because individuals who file for bankruptcy can secure a much-needed “discharge” of their debts. In most bankruptcies, unsecured non-priority debt such as credit card or medical debts—debt that cause Americans the most troubles in this lingering economic crisis—is often discharged or reduced to a small percentage of the balance originally due. In fact, just by filing for bankruptcy, your case’s “automatic stay” stops creditor harassment, as well as foreclosures and repossessions of your secured property like homes and cars.

Once an individual has qualified for a Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy, an individual may exit without debt in as little as four months. In turn, a longer-term Chapter 13 bankruptcy often allows individuals to hold onto their precious secured property, even as they dispense with other debts in a tailored payment plan.

Not satisfied with just “hanging in there?” Are you ready for the benefits of bankruptcy? If you find yourself facing insurmountable debt, it is essential to begin the bankruptcy process with assistance. An experienced bankruptcy attorney knows the ins and outs of the bankruptcy process and can assist throughout your case, freeing you of debt and putting you back on the road to financial solvency. Contact the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt in North Carolina TODAY for a totally FREE debt consultation. Just call toll free to +1-833-627-0115, or make your appointment online at www.billsbills.com. Simply click on the yellow “FREE Consultation Now” button.