WhyNot?

Bankruptcy Reconcilliation

Category: Legal
Responses: 2 (2 in support, 0 neutral, 0 in opposition)
Number of views: 891
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I have never agreed with the finality of Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Filers get to discharge most of their debts with the most detrimental residual downside to the filer being bad credit. The creditors aren’t satisfied and simply pass these costs on to consumers. Everyone looses. I do understand that many Chapter 7 filings are not always a result of poor financial management by an individual but rather unfortunate and often temporary circumstances. What if there was a voluntary way for Chapter 7 filers to rebuild their credit rating by repaying their former debts indirectly while still having relief from their obligations?

If a post filer’s financial situation greatly improves he or she may find himself or herself with discretionary money that they did not have prior to filing but no means to pay back the discharged creditors and rebuild their credit. What if post filers could buy standard credit points from the three major reporting agencies for a flat fee per point? Part of the money could cover the credit reporting agencies administrative costs plus the margin they desire to meet their business goals. The remainder of the money could be given to the court trustee to be divided proportionally amongst the filer’s previous creditors. The bankruptcy will still show up on the individuals credit report for 10 years but the reports will also reflect the point addition and how the points were acquired. This could be a faster path to absolution for the filer plus an opportunity to repay the creditors and relieve the some of the costs that are ordinarily absorbed by society.

eldon, Jul 25 2004

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I like the general idea -- enabling a person to officially repay their debt (and repair their reputation) even after the legal obligation has been eliminated, however, I doubt that it would be used much since it is rather difficult to be released from the legal obligation in the first place.

This would be useful if there simply were no legal obligation for personal debt (or maybe just for the interest charged), then a lot more emphasis would be placed on the system of maintaining reputation and this may be worthwhile.

dumllama, Jul 06 2005