Bankruptcy Attorney Can Help

The nation’s economy has hit a stumbling block which has caused many citizens to seek the legal advice of a bankruptcy attorney. For a variety of reasons, many citizens have reached the point where their financial problems have escalated into the danger zone and they need reorganization of their debt or even a clean slate.

Some of the reasons for our current money problems include the bursting of the housing bubble, job layoffs and hiring freezes, easy credit sliding into mountains of debt, and personal calamities such as divorce or astronomical medical bills.

- Housing Bubble: Several years ago, home prices around the country began to climb at shockingly rapid rates. Homeowners began to feel rich and as if the sky was the limit. They borrowed against their equity and/or traded up into McMansions purchased with mortgage hybrids and no down payments. Many mortgages were approved with nothing more than a wink and a promise. When these loans began to sour, housing prices took a dive, taking many homeowners’ financial balances with them.

- Job layoffs and hiring freezes: Many industries in our nation have laid off employees and/or stopped hiring them. The automotive industry has had massive layoffs, retail stores have lost sales which have resulted in a lower need for salesclerks and people have stopped eating out in restaurants as much, in order to save money, which means fewer restaurant employees. Frugality is in vogue with both average citizens and businesses. In order to cut commercial bottom lines, employees have been laid off and companies are being cautious about hiring.

- Credit cards can add up to trouble: Many Americans have financed their existences on plastic. Plastic credit cards have been used to pay for everything from utility bills to groceries. While it may be more convenient to whip out a card for purchases and pay one bill at the end of the month, many consumers have been unable to pay off the balances. Soon statements with high balances of interest along with purchases’ costs arrive in the mail. Eventually the easy lifestyle becomes an anchor or a noose. Marketing made credit cards seem like an easier method for financing a lifestyle but many debt laden consumers have found it to be more of a trap.

- Divorce fallout: When a couple dissolves their marriage, it is also the dissolution of a financial partnership. What can be sustained by two partners’ incomes is much harder to achieve with one paycheck. Most divorcees end up with financial hardship which can eventually lead to bankruptcy.

- Astronomical medical bills: Even with health insurance, the co-payments and portions of medical bills that patients are left to pay can be astronomical. A simple surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars and a co-pay of even twenty percent can knock budgets off track. If a person doesn’t have health insurance coverage, one hospital stay can end up costing as much as a small house. Calamities, such as an uninsured citizen with a disease, can financially wipe out a family budget.

There are different ways that a lawyer can help people get back on track financially. Some methods legally restructure the debt into manageable portions, while others allow citizens to simply start fresh. A consultation with a bankruptcy attorney should provide the legal advice to help rebuild a person’s financial life.