The two consumer chapters
Wipes most unsecured debt (cards, medical, personal loans) in months. Income-tested via the means test; certain property is protected by exemptions that vary by state.
A 3-5 year court-supervised repayment plan sized to your income, used to save homes from foreclosure and to manage non-dischargeable debts on a schedule.
Generally: most student loans (hard, not impossible), recent taxes, child support, alimony. Which is why the debt MIX decides whether filing helps.
Bankruptcy exists on purpose. When five realistic years can't clear the debt, information beats endurance.
Honest costs and honest relief
A Chapter 7 stays on reports up to 10 years, but people rebuild to workable credit within a few years, and the debt pressure ends immediately (the 'automatic stay' stops collections and garnishments at filing).
Filing and attorney fees are real; many attorneys offer free consultations and payment plans. Required credit counseling is cheap and quick.
A free consultation tells you whether your situation clears in 7, restructures in 13, or resolves without filing. Information, not commitment.
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What's a realistic credit-rebuilding timeline afterward?
Faster than the folklore. The filing reports for up to ten years, but its scoring weight decays steadily, and people typically start from a HIGHER score than their pre-filing collections chaos produced. The pattern that rebuilds: every post-filing bill perfect (autopay everything), a secured card used lightly and paid in full from month one, utilization near zero, patience. Car loans reappear quickly at honest-if-higher rates; conventional mortgage eligibility commonly returns in 2-4 years depending on chapter and program. The discharge is the floor, not the ceiling; behavior after it writes the new record.
What do I lose, and what's protected?
Less than the fear suggests, usually. Exemptions (state or federal menus) protect categories of property through a Chapter 7: typically some home equity, a vehicle up to a value, household goods, retirement accounts: 401(k)s and most IRAs are broadly untouchable, which surprises people who nearly drained them first (often the single costliest pre-bankruptcy mistake). Most consumer filers keep everything they own. What genuinely survives the discharge: most student loans, recent taxes, support obligations. This is exactly the terrain of the free consult; exemptions are state-specific and the mix decides everything.
Fuentes: US Courts: Bankruptcy basics (official) · LSC: Find legal aid