Pre-Bankruptcy Credit Counseling

16.06.2010 | Author: Kenny Smith | Posted in Finance

Pre-bankruptcy credit counseling – we’ve talked about it here. You’ve got to do it, so just suck it up and get it over with. No use complaining about it.

Then again, we live in New York – one of the things we do is complain, right? At least, that’s what one of my friends in Buffalo once said to me.

But what if you can’t get your credit counseling done before you file for bankruptcy? Section 109(h)(2) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code gives you a way to eliminate the requirement when you file for bankruptcy. If you live in New York, pay attention to this one closely.

11 USC 109(h)(2) says that the credit counseling requirement does not apply with respect to a debtor who resides in a district for which the United States trustee (or the bankruptcy administrator, if any) determines that the approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling agencies for such district are not reasonably able to provide adequate services to the additional individuals who would otherwise seek credit counseling from such agencies.

In other words, if you can’t find bankruptcy credit counseling in a language that you speak you may not have to get it done.

I know there are some New York consumers who are smiling right now.

You know where I’m going with this.

New York is the biggest melting pot in the entire world – we’ve got people living in New York City who speak every possible language under the sun. I’m sure if we looked hard we could find someone who speaks a language from every nation on the entire planet, all living in New York.

And some of those people who speak unfamiliar languages are going to need help filing for bankruptcy. If it’s going to happen anywhere, it’s going to happen in New York.

Hold your horses.

Before you walk down that road, remember a few things:

  • If you speak English and a language for which bankruptcy related credit counseling is unavailable, you won’t be able to use Section 109(h)(2)(A). All of the services speak English.
  • Credit counseling doesn’t need to be provided locally. In fact, the Executive Office of the United States Trustee has a list of approved providers from all around the country. So if you speak only one of the Khoisan languages and can’t find a provider in New York… you may find someone else on the list.

    • Of course, if none of the providers speaks your language and can’t help you then you may qualify for an exemption from the bankruptcy law’s requirements under Section 109(h)(2)(A). Just don’t count on it. After all, this is a big country in which we live.
    Hungry for all the facts about bankruptcy – the good, the bad and the ugly?

    Comments are closed

    Additional Articles From "Finance"