Who much does it cost to file bankruptcy? And, does bankruptcy destroy my credit score?

Hello, my name is Derek Soltis.  I am an attorney here at the law offices of Patel, Soltis & Cardenas.

Every day I get two questions.

1. Will bankruptcy destroy my credit and

2. How much does it cost to file bankruptcy?

As far as hurting your credit and or your credit score.  Well as soon you get a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge normally you are going to start getting credit card offers in the mail and offers from car dealers. Why, because you cannot get another bankruptcy discharge for 8 years.  So, anything you run up on credit you are unlikely to get out with by filing another bankruptcy.

As far as credit scores go, your score can go up, go down, or stay the same.  I will give you some examples with visual aids.  My firm gets a consolidated credit report FROM Cin Legal that pulls all of your info from Experian, Transunion, Equifax, and Lexis Nexus. Lexis Nexis maybe something you have not heard of, but they will include a little more info then a typical credit report, and helps us prepare all of the forms that go into filing bankruptcy. See link for a sample copy: https://www.cinlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/bcr-premium-joint.pdf  This report will also include your current credit score and a prediction as to what your credit score will look like in a year after filing prepared by Credit Expert. I have included a link to a sample report

I also have a video that goes more in-depth to the reports and will show scores of clients with their information redacted and I will give a brief overview of their before and after credit score.  Click Here:

If you just want my firm to pull this report and have an attorney explain it to you, we charge $257 to do that, but if you are hiring us to perform your bankruptcy that is included in the price we charge.

So now on to other costs.  A chapter 7 Filing fee with the bankruptcy court is $335.  This can be waived under certain circumstances.  The court will also let you pay this fee over time.

There are also two classes that you need to take.  One prior to filing bankruptcy and one after you have filed.  Both can be done online or on the phone.  You can even take the course on your cellphone if you like.  The least expensive courses we have found are $9.76 each. Ccadvising.com for the first course and Beadviser.com for the second.

If you own a property like a house, a CMA needs to be prepared.  This is a Consumer Market Analysis on the value of the property prepared by a real estate broker.  Normally this costs $150 if we have to hire someone, but if you know a broker they may do this for you for free. And, just about any broker will do this for free if you agree to list your house with them even if it is underwater.

You will also need to get a copy of your credit report. You can get these free from https://www.annualcreditreport.com . If you are looking to repair your credit this is the free place to start.  We can also help with credit repair before or after a bankruptcy discharge.  We sign people up for a course called 7 steps to a 720 credit score that will walk you through steps to get your score up to a 720 2 to 3 years after filing for bankruptcy. This course sells for $1000 at 720creditscore.com I have another video on that here ==è

One other thing we will do to help with credit repair is 6 months after your bankruptcy is over, we have you pull your credit report from https://www.annualcreditreport.com.  We have an attorney review it and we will then sue to get anything on the report fixed if it is being reported incorrectly.  Why because they will be fined which you will get, and my firm makes attorney fees.

Bankruptcy Payment Plan and Legal Fees

Overall our legal fee is $2,444 for chapter 7. Adding the $335 court fee, and the two classes. The total is $2799.52 which you can pay over a year. However, after the first payment, we will file your bankruptcy, and you can stop paying your credit cards and medical bills.  We do payment plans like this since some people are too broke to file bankruptcy, and can only afford to pay us after stopping paying everyone else this includes wage garnishments, credit card payments, medical bills, and even student loan payments. As a side note student loans are usually not forgiven in bankruptcy, but while in a chapter 7 bankruptcy you do not have to pay.

If you have money at hand and you want to pay everything upfront we will take $699 off our legal fee and only charge $2100 upfront to cover everything.  We are not going to hide fees or hit you up for additional work or made-up costs.

We deliver more value than most attorneys.  We pull your credit report and analyze your debt prior to filing while other attorneys will make you do the work which we normally charge $257 d if you are not filing for bankruptcy but its include, pay for the filing fee $335 to the court some attorneys will make you come out of pocket for this prior to filing but we will pay it, we pay for both classes you have to take $20, sign you up for a $1000 course to repair your credit after your bankruptcy discharge, and after your bankruptcy is offer to sue your creditors to make sure your credit report is spotless.  So we include over $1500 in value-added services and work to repair your credit while most attorneys do the bare minimum to file a bankruptcy and then take on fees.

Your choice $2100 upfront, or $2800 over a year. 4 payments of $300 followed by 8 payments of $200.  We will file after you put down the first payment.

Call us today to ask any questions you have.  973-200-1111  or email us at info@focusedlaw.com

Our website is staging-focusedlaw.kinsta.cloud

Thank you for your time. Whether you need foreclosure defense or to stop a sheriff sale, we can help. Don’t fall for a Debt relief program that is not geared to help you.
[formidable id=50 title=true description=true]