Bankruptcy credit counseling is required by the BAPCPA (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act). Each individual debtor must take a bankruptcy credit counseling course at some time within 180 days prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition. Additionally, the debtor is also required to take a debtor education course also referred to as a financial management course prior to discharge and usually within 45 days after the creditor’s meeting.
The bankruptcy credit counseling course is not a pass-or-fail test. It’s not something that determines whether you qualify to file for bankruptcy or not. It’s just another hurdle that you have to jump through as a result of the Bankruptcy law changes enacted by Congress in 2005. Usually, it is done online and completed within 45 minutes. You are asked for your income and expenses, and a counselor at the end will advise you where you are spending too much and how you can reduce your expenses. The key for Chapter 7 is that your expenses are more than your income.
In our office, we usually set our clients up for the service and after signup, they will receive an email from our office that includes all instructions on how to begin and complete the course, along with their income and expense figures that they can use in completing the credit counseling course. Usually, the client completes the credit counseling course within 45 minutes and is required to call in or chat at the end of the course to confirm they are the ones who completed the course.
There are many service providers that provide credit counseling courses, We have an automated system that we can use to track the progress of our clients and get a copy of the certificates both for the credit counseling course and the debtor education course sometimes referred to as the financial management course. We use services that have good customer support to resolve any technical issues that the client or our office on behalf of the client can contact and resolve.
We are a Los Angeles bankruptcy attorney and can help you with your bankruptcy needs should you require our services. Good luck and best regards.
