As a Tennessee resident looking to give yourself a clean financial slate through filing for bankruptcy, you may be studying up on the process, and some of the information about what bankruptcy can do and what it entails may surprise you. You may, for example, not have realized that you will need to undergo credit counseling before you can move forward with your bankruptcy filing, and you may have questions about how to do so. At McElroy & Associates, we recognize that all bankruptcy filers must complete credit counseling before they can discharge any debts, and we have helped many people facing similar circumstances get their ducks in a row ahead of filing.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, while obtaining credit counseling is necessary for anyone looking to file for bankruptcy, so, too, is doing so through an organization approved by the U.S. Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program. So, once you select a program through which to undergo credit counseling, what can you expect next?
In most cases, a pre-bankruptcy credit counseling session will cost roughly $50 and last somewhere between about 60 and 90 minutes. Your counselor must be upfront with you about the cost of your credit counseling session before it begins, and he or she will likely discuss a broad range of bankruptcy-related matters with you during the call.
For example, he or she will likely try to get a better sense of your financial situation to determine whether bankruptcy is, in fact, your wisest option. If not, he or she may recommend possible alternative methods of regaining your financial footing. You can find out more about filing for bankruptcy on our webpage.