Matt and Toni used their credit cards when times were good to buy furniture and otherwise set up their new household. They assumed they would keep earning enough money to pay off their debts.
But Toni, a home health aide, had stretches of unemployment between clients, so they starting using the cards to pay their other bills. She took six months off when she had a baby, putting them further behind.
Instead of rising, the couple's income is about half of what it was a few years ago, said Matt, who works for the state of Washington. Meanwhile, their revolving debt has ballooned to $50,000. And this fall Toni had another three-week gap in employment.
"That doesn't seem like much," Matt said, "but it was enough to really push us over the edge."
Liz Weston
Matt had been toying with the idea of bankruptcy for years, but when he visited a lawyer he learned that he didn't have enough cash on hand to even start the filing.
"I've had the initial consultation," he said, "but am not able to pay the fee to have the means test conducted, much less the rest of the fees."
It's not uncommon for people to struggle so long with impossible debts that they wind up too broke to pay a lawyer or the filing fees for bankruptcy, said Henry Sommer, a former president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and a supervising attorney at the pro bono Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project in Philadelphia.
The most common type of bankruptcy, a Chapter 7 filing that erases most consumer debts, typically costs $1,500 or more. A Chapter 13 filing, which involves a repayment plan, can cost twice as much.
Costs for both types of filings rose after the 2005 bankruptcy reform act imposed a means test and other limitations on filing. As costs have risen, so have the number of people filing without a lawyer's help -- by 187%, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
People who file for bankruptcy without attorneys rose from 6% of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings in 2007 to 8% of Chapter 7 filings and 10% of Chapter 13 filings this year.
Now, some of these folks could simply hate lawyers, but more likely they're trying to save what little money they have left.
This strategy can backfire, though, since a poorly filed bankruptcy can be dismissed -- meaning you don't get any relief from your creditors -- or you could lose some property that might have been protected if you'd gotten competent help.
Before you risk that, consider the following options:
Figure out if you're judgment-proof. If your income and property are legally protected from creditors, you can still be sued, but the creditors won't be able to collect. That's known as being judgment-proof. You may be judgment-proof if you own very little and have no income, or if all your income is from Social Security, because Social Security payments are legally protected. The list of property that's exempt from creditors' claims varies by state (check here) but often includes clothing, household items and a car worth $2,000 or less.
If you're judgment-proof, you may not need to file for bankruptcy, Sommer said. You can just send a letter to your creditors telling them to stop contacting you.
There is a hitch in being judgment-proof: If your creditors go to the trouble to sue you and get a court judgment, they may be able to collect from you if your circumstances improve in the next 10 years. A bankruptcy filing, by contrast, would legally erase the debt.
If you think you may be judgment-proof, it may be worth scraping up a couple hundred dollars to confirm that with an attorney (you can get referrals from the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys). Some attorneys will charge less.
