Everyone that files bankruptcy is required to take a court mandated credit counseling course prior to filing. This can be done either online or by telephone, and usually takes between 30-60 minutes to complete. At Kain and Scott, P.A., we would provide you the website or phone number to use, and the fee for such a course as part of our services.

We love to help people! It is why every one of our attorneys and team members come to work every day! We love to lend a hand to our fellow Minnesotans who are struggling with overwhelming debt. It excites us when we hear that guests have utilized all the information we have on our website and that it has helped them to understand their situation and weigh their options. When clients leave their initial consultations with the resources and advice we provide and they feel the weight lifted off our shoulders –we couldn’t feel more rewarded.   It makes our hard work worthwhile when we hear that our resources and services have made some’s life easier, or give them hope when they are in a dark place. 

What our guests want to know is how is bankruptcy A) going to look at my credit report and B) what is bankruptcy going to do to my credit score? These are common and worrying questions for our guests. Often times this can be the barrier that holds debtor’s back from seeking relief. Don’t let it!

If you live in Minnesota and you are suffering from overwhelming debt, you get the stress of debt. Debt is suffocating and can make a good day really bad. Most of us cannot tolerate having our wages garnished or bank account levied. If you are struggling to pay your bills before being collected against, try paying your bills when your wages are being garnished and your accounts levied. Not good.

You probably are well aware of the courage it takes to reach out for help regarding an overwhelming debt problem. And then to make the decision to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on top of it is even more awe-inspiring. At Kain & Scott, we celebrate the client’s courage to reach out to us all the time. We celebrate that courage by going above and beyond the normal level of service and treating clients exceptionally well.

Right before his son went off to the big city in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius told Laertes “Neither a borrower nor lender be/For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” In other words, be careful about borrowing and lending money to friends. If you lend, they won’t pay it back; if you borrow, you’ll fall out of favor. But loaning and borrowing is not bad. In fact, sometimes both are very good.

His advice is still valid in today’s Minneapolis. People haven’t really changed much since the sixteenth century. So, mixing money and friendship still ends badly most of the time. But sometimes, you need to borrow money. In fact, over two-thirds of the nation’s $13.2 trillion in household debt is mortgage debt. Most of the time, mortgage debt is “good debt.”

You have had a good paying job and also using your credit cards for purchases like any other person would when the unthinkable happens: you either lose your job or for some reason your income decreases.  The dam is about to break and there is no relief in sight because you now have these credit card bills that you previously had been able to pay and had every intent to pay back.  Bankruptcy seems like the best option to get your life back, but you have heard that your creditors will cry “FRAUD!” because you have been using your credit cards recently and you fear you need to wait 90 days before you can file bankruptcy.  Your worry is that you simply cannot wait any longer.  You do not want to be accused of fraud, but you also do not think you can wait 90 days before filing for bankruptcy.  You need relief sooner rather than later.  What can you do?  What SHOULD you do?

As part of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), Congress made consumer credit counseling mandatory as part of the bankruptcy filing process. A debtor must file a certification that states the debtor completed consumer credit counseling within 180 days of the filing of the bankruptcy case unless the debtor is exempt from the requirement to take the course. Exemptions are extremely limited and only apply in a very small percentage of cases.

As part of the bankruptcy reform in 2005, Congress enacted a provision in the Bankruptcy Code that requires debtors to complete a credit counseling course, also known as a pre-bankruptcy course, prior to filing bankruptcy. Regardless of the reason why a person may need to file for bankruptcy relief, each person must choose a consumer debt counselor to complete the credit counseling course.