Bankruptcy might be looked upon as a quick fix answer to financial issues. But the effects of bankruptcy are long term and can greatly impair your ability to obtain employment, a place of residence, and any type of credit. It is crucial to weigh the pros and the cons of bankruptcy before making a major choice.

Admittedly, bankruptcy comes with a number of benefits. First and foremost it annihilates most of your debt. It can aid you with missed debt payments, defaults, repossessions and lawsuits. If you have horrible credit, it can get you started on rehabilitation.

Bankruptcy will put an end to phone calls from creditors, collections letters, repossessions, declined charge authorizations, cancelled credit cards, and lawsuits. Additionally, you are permitted to hold on to your car your car if you keep up on the payment; bankruptcy will also allow you to keep your home if you remain current on the payments.

Bankruptcy permits you to exit foreclosure and make monthly payments on amounts in the past. Finally, it halts creditors from making a claim after it is filed, even if your financial situation changes.

On the other hand, bankruptcy law offers a “fresh start” but only every six years in most instances. Bankruptcy will remain on your credit report for ten years and severely hurts your credit rating. Also, filing bankruptcy may require a wait of two years before it is possible to buy a home. Some lenders allow for home loans after one year however.

Bankruptcy does not clear away most tax debt. It does not annihilate student loan debt. It requires that you hand over your credit cards. Unfortunately, bankruptcy comes with a stigma that can be embarrassing, and it may cause you to lose some of your things.

If you are not positive whether you should file for bankruptcy or not, get in touch with your creditors to see what type of repayment plan they can come up for you. While bankruptcy is an option, in most cases it should be seen as a last resort.

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During the real estate boom, a lot of homebuyers extended themselves financially to purchase a house that might have been beyond their means. With the market on fire, people were apt to buy with low introductory interest rates and interest-only loans. They believed that their income would increase to meet their payments and predicted that real estate prices would never fall. Unfortunately, adjustable-rate mortgages have adjusted and monthly mortgage payments have gone up. Couple that with the fact that income hasn’t increased, and you will see why more people have fallen behind with their mortgage payments.

As house prices decrease and with interest-only mortgages diminishing, more homeowners in reality owe more on their mortgages than what their house is truly worth. It obviously has occurred to many homeowners that this makes sense, as many are defaulting on mortgage payments as we speak.

Here is a quick breakdown to explain the situation: you buy a house for $400,000 that is now worth only $300,000. Because of an interest-only mortgage, you still owe $400,000. If you were to remove this off of your balance sheet, your net worth will increase by $100,000. Granted, you would still need a place to live, but from this point you could purchase a more affordable house or rent for a bit of time.

One huge drawback to abandoning your house. If you do, you will kill your credit rating, making it difficult or even impossible to rent an apartment, get a new mortgage, and even a job. There is a major drawback to abandoning your responsibilities. If you walk away, you will trash your credit rating, making it more difficult or impossible to rent an apartment, qualify for a new mortgage, and perhaps get a job.

Fortunately, new laws are out now to assist families facing foreclosure; this will encourage people to pick alternative options other than abandonment.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. Also she composes stories on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

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What do you do if your income diminishes? You have less money, but the amount of debt you owe remains the same. What’s the best way to prioritize payments? If you have credit cards chances are you might also have personal loans and a mortgage.

Over the past few years, more consumers in a bind due to dwindling income have decided that credit cards should be higher than their mortgage payments on the prioritization list. As 2009 ended it was determined that twice as many consumers were delinquent with their mortgage payments while paying credit card payments than the other way around.

Despite the fact that some of this might be due to the credit crunch and lower balances on cards in general, this may be due to the typical tendency for people to lose faith in the value of their homes as they see the real estate market dwindle. A lot of homeowners are giving up and simply walking away from their homes with mortgages that they cannot afford. They figure that if the only punishment is a bad credit score, there isn’t much incentive for them to keep paying money if they are not building equity.

For families suffering from financial trouble, the basic necessities are still needed: food, water and shelter. Credit cards are the usual financing tactic in times of need. There is an understandable set of reasoning for prioritizing these bills. If a credit card is taken away, someone will lose the chance to pay for the bare necessities.

But a mortgage should be a higher priority than credit cards because the mortgage is secured debt. The bank that holds your mortgage can take your house away if you don’t pay because your house is collateral. While some people have no problem abandoning a house whose value has decreased, it’s not considered a very wise choice. There is a good chance real estate value eventually will come around, so sitting tight might pay off.

Mallory McGuinness works for a debt collection agency. Also, she composes articles on the credit industry, business and finance, and debt collection Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service