If you’ve retained a good attorney, however, you won’t be alone. I attend this meeting with every one of my clients, and it’s rare for there to be any issues. In fact, most creditors don’t even bother coming. This Meeting of Creditors is held on weekday afternoons at the Federal Center, 380 Westminster Street, 6th Floor, in downtown Providence, and usually lasts for only a few minutes.

• some of the outfits in debt settlement business are disreputable fly-by-nights
• the fees are often quite steep
• assuming that they are able arrange some settlements, by the time these settlements start coming through, you will likely have dealt with many months of creditor harassment, and may be facing lawsuits, wage attachments, and liens on your home
• there will likely be a very material negative impact on your credit score
• generally speaking, unlike the situation with bankruptcy, when debt is discharged in the context of a debt settlement, the amount that the creditor agrees to write off will be reported as income to you to the tax authorities so you will be paying taxes on the amount that is forgiven
• if you become dissatisfied with the way things are going with your debt settlement program (for example if lawsuits start being filed against you) and you want out, it may be difficult to get a meaningful refund.

I should caution that because of the nature of my practice, I rarely see success stories with debt settlement alternatives. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist and the purpose of this post is not to dissuade you from checking into the debt settlement alternative. However, just like everything else, you should proceed cautiously - ask a lot of questions, insist on getting everything in writing, read the fine print, and be comfortable with the refund policy if things get ugly. Most importantly be sure that you are dealing with a reputable company – remember - just because they advertise on the radio or television does not guarantee that they are legitimate.

•    the home where you live
•    one or more vehicles
•    furniture, home electronics, and other household items
•    clothing
•    jewelry
•    office equipment
•    401ks, IRAs and various other types of retirement accounts
•    Cash, bank account balances, and cash equivalent assets

If you are considering filing bankruptcy and own real estate or other significant assets, you owe it to yourself to speak to an attorney who specializes in bankruptcy law before assuming that all of your assets will be exempt. I offer free initial consultations and often can determine during this first meeting if there is a risk of assets being lost as a result of a bankruptcy filing. Please feel free to give me a call to schedule an appointment to discuss your particular situation.

• credit card debt
• electric, gas, water, and other utility bills
• medical, dental, and vision bills
• personal and unsecured bank loans
• automobile loan obligations remaining on a repossessed vehicle
• mortgage loan obligations remaining on a foreclosed home

Any child support obligations, recent taxes, and student loans are generally not eligible for discharge. But in some cases, even student loans can be eliminated in a bankruptcy if it can be shown that these debts create an unreasonable hardship for you.

If your house is valued at less than you own on your first mortgage, you may be able to eliminate most of your second mortgage with a bankruptcy (for owners of rental properties or investment real estate, it’s even better: you can often use a RI bankruptcy filing to modify both the first and second mortgage).  This can be done by filing for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy: you eliminate your second mortgage obligation and instead make a series of monthly payments for a limited period of time (between 36 and 60 months, depending on your income).

Given the magnitude of most second mortgages, this approach can result in significant savings. For example, if you have a $40,000 second mortgage, you could potentially eliminate all but $7,200 of your debt in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Why does this happen? It’s because credit card companies know that you won’t be able to file bankruptcy for a number of years, which makes you a relatively good credit risk.

If a creditor has a secured loan on your vehicle, you can often keep your vehicle through a bankruptcy as well. Debtors can choose to reaffirm an auto loan, and if the car payments continue to be made, the secured creditor would have no reason to repossess the vehicle.

You can actually file for Chapter 13 even before the 4 year limit, but in this case you’ll have to pay back 100% of your debt over time. While this might not sound like an appealing option, it may be a useful approach for people attempting to save their home from foreclosure.