Filing for bankruptcy can feel incredibly depressing. You might feel as though you’ve failed. You know that it’s going to be a waiting game from here: waiting for your credit to recover; waiting to be eligible for several basic types of financial transactions again; waiting to rebuild your savings accounts. If the whole process has you down in the dumps, remember that bankruptcy can happen to anyone. Celebrities have done it. Executives have done it. All it takes is a couple of bad decisions, unexpected expenses, or an unanticipated layoff, and suddenly, you simply can’t pay those bills that have piled up. You’re not alone in your bankruptcy journey–and now that you’ve made the decision, there are plenty of positives to this process.
You get to start over. Most of your debts are gone. You no longer have that mountain of debt hanging over your head every where you go. Every financial choice, from buying a cup of coffee from your favorite chain to stopping to eat out when you’re too busy to cook dinner, doesn’t have to be weighed against the debt that you’re trying to pay down. You can start to rebuild your savings instead of constantly paying against a number that seems to be growing rather than shrinking.
There are no more collections calls. No more creditors calling your home at all hours, demanding that you find a way to come up with money that you simply don’t have. You will have taken care of important things like your car and your home. It will all be over, one way or the other, and the only way to go is forward–no more stressing over past bad decisions every time the phone rings. You might even learn to stop cringing every time you hear your phone’s notification sound.
You can make better choices in the future and build the financial portfolio you really want. Thanks to your bankruptcy, it’s going to be a while before you can get a good rate on a credit card or a personal loan, assuming that you can find anyone to give you one at all–and that’s a good thing. You now have the opportunity to build wise financial habits: to invest in yourself and your future through savings, to buy things with money you really have instead of buying on credit, and to choose to do without, rather than taking out a loan for something that’s a want rather than a need. Bankruptcy counseling is an important part of the bankruptcy process–and that’s a good thing! The Credit Counseling and Debtor Education course will give you the foundation you need to better understand how to manage your money in the future.
Your paycheck will be your own again. While there are some types of debts that don’t disappear following bankruptcy–child support and criminal charges, for example–most of your other debts will disappear, and your wages won’t be garnished anymore. That means that your paycheck is yours to decide what to do with again, significantly decreasing your stress levels because it means that you can now manage your money, rather than allowing your creditors to do it for you.
Bankruptcy isn’t easy. Everyone ends up in that position for different reasons, and the journey is usually filled with stories of how they found themselves in that situation. Your story is unique, and the process of rebuilding will be unique, too. Looking forward and knowing that you have a brighter financial future in front of you, however, is a great way to help stave off those feelings of depression associated with bankruptcy. The simple fact is that when it comes to bankruptcy, you’re not alone–it can happen to anyone.