Seek Credit Counseling after you Hire a Minneapolis Bankruptcy Lawyer

In October 2005, the Bankruptcy Code was modified to include a requirement that any person filing either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy has to attend two credit counseling courses, one before you file and one on financial management after you file. These courses have to be approved by the United States Trustee and can be done over the phone, on the internet, or in person. Hoverson Law Offices was recommending them long before they became mandatory.Any good Minneapolis bankruptcy lawyer will encourage their clients to look into some credit counseling when they first come to them seeking help with a bankruptcy filing. In this economy, it’s even more important to learn to be financially prudent and make the right moves both personally and as a business owner. It’s not always the individual’s fault that finances reached the point where bankruptcy was necessary, but with economic recovery still happening slowly, it’s not a bad idea to learn a better way to manage money.Counseling, much like bankruptcy itself, is one of those things that come with a stigma attached to it. People think of counseling as something you get while lying on a couch and spilling all of your deepest and darkest secrets. Credit counseling is nothing like that. You can tell your counselor secrets if you want, but you’re probably better off just listening and quietly taking notes. Learn something new and you won’t have to repeat the same patterns that brought you into bankruptcy in the first place.Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorneys see the worst instances of financial mismanagement. Many of those who come in seeking Chapter 7 are making below-median level incomes and still spending recklessly. If you’re doing that now, thinking that bankruptcy will bail you out, think again. Most of the obvious cases of abusing the system end up in Chapter 13, not Chapter 7. The difference is a program of debt restructuring instead of debt forgiveness. In other words, you still have to pay; you just get a little more time to do it. Your attorney or credit counselor can explain the difference.