There a few feelings worse than being harassed by creditors calling you at your office and at home at all hours of the day. That nasty feeling in your stomach every single time the phone wedding rings and that you are fully aware that it is going to be someone from any of your credit cards or mortgage payments to remind you that you are past due or worse, to threaten you with lawsuits and wage garnishments. There are so many different reasons why you are behind. Perhaps you lost your job or got a big pay cut due to the economy. Perhaps you had to face a medical emergency after you lost your income and fell behind on your payments and now you are in very deep hole and you don’t know what to do and you are considering all the bankruptcy pros and cons.

Firstly, please relax and know that the law affords you the protection of a bankruptcy filing. There are many myths involved when it comes to filing but some of the most common bankruptcy pros and cons are these:

Pros

1. You will put a stop to creditors harassing calls. By law they can’t call you anymore
2. You will get a break and instead of struggling to make minimum payments you will be able to start saving little by little until you are back on your feet
3. Most of your debts will be wiped clean with a court ordered discharge allowing you a clean slate to start anew
4. You will be able to begin rebuilding your credit as soon as a few months after your discharge

Cons

1. The bankruptcy discharge will stay on your credit report up to 7 years
2. You may experience a sense of defeat because you had to file
3. You may not be able to access lower rate credit plans in the near future
4. It may be difficult for you to obtain credit a few months after the discharge

In reality, the pros far outweigh the cons because it will allow you to get back on your feet quicker. Paying the minimum payments will take you many years before you can get rid of that debt. With bankruptcy chapter 7 or chapter 13 you will be debt free far quicker.