Bankruptcy: costs of filing bankruptcy with attorney, versus cost of filing using Bankruptcy Petition Preparer. Under the current U.S. Bankruptcy Code or law, the system provides essentially TWO basic categories of outside assistance that a debtor filing for bankruptcy may use – assistance provided by an attorney, and assistance provided by a non-lawyer. And both of these parties come under what is called „Debt Relief Agents or Agencies.“ Basically, the non-attorney assistance provider, who also goes by a name such as Bankruptcy Petition Preparer (BPP), preparers the documents upon which bankruptcy is filed with the Court for bankruptcy processing, while the attorney (or, more accurately, the help he hires that does such work) prepares the same set of documents, EXCEPT that the lawyer assistance-provider can supposedly give a debtor „legal advice,“ and can appear, on the debtor’s behalf, in the administrative hearing on the bankruptcy case administered by the Court „Trustee“ (who is not a Judge, but a court-appointed administrator) that will oversee the bankruptcy case.

That claim was NOT at all true. Indeed, almost every credible study that had been conducted on the subject, and most experts that testified before Congress, had held otherwise. However, Congress disregarded such evidence. Instead, it promptly responded by passing the BAPCPA law, any way. In consequence, the stated and yet unmistakable purpose of this law was essentially to discourage debtors from filing bankruptcy by making it more stringent and expensive to file. The new law was to do that by forcing people who, it was said, could actually „afford“ (through a determination by a complex „means test“ calculation) to repay some of their debts, into filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 13, instead of under Chapter 7 – that is, the type of bankruptcy (Chapter 13) which requires that the debtor will repay at least some, if not most or all, of their debts.

But lo and behold, today, it is now some 5 years later into the new bankruptcy law. The actual results and effects of the new law are just beginning to emerge. And the question is: has the BAPCPA law actually attained the basic objective for which it had supposedly been originally designed? Actually, on one major goal of the law – the goal of discouraging debtors from filing bankruptcy and drastically curtailing the rise in bankruptcy filings by debtors – the BAPCPA law has, to date, turned out to be a woeful failure. In deed, as we speak today, there is a NEAR RECORD RISE IN BANKRUPTCY FILING. For example, in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2010, bankruptcy filings rose 20 percent, according to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. A total of 1,572,597 bankruptcy cases were filed nationwide in that period, compared to 1,306,315 bankruptcy cases filed in the previous 12-month period ending June 30, 2009, making it the highest number of filings for any period since the BAPCPA law went into effect in October 2005.

To a hard pressed and destitute debtor, the vexing, bothersome issue, is what justification, then, is there for the great disparity that exists in the prices the bankruptcy lawyers charge for bankruptcy work, relative to what the non-attorney bankruptcy document preparers charge for turning up essentially the same work for the debtor? Bankruptcy lawyers would, of course, advance all sorts of convoluted arguments and conceive all kinds of fancy justifications in defense of their extremely higher and disproportionate charges. That aspect, however, is a matter for another place and another day for us.

Indeed, that right is one of a handful of fundamental rights specifically named by the original U.S. Constitution and guaranteed under it. However, contrary to that fundamental American value, the new bankruptcy law of 2005 introduces into the bankruptcy system, perhaps for the first time ever, elements which drastically limit the extent of the exercise and enjoyment of this basic right by the average debtor. It does this by placing an array of new hurdles, financial as well as legal, on the path of the overburdened American debtor who seeks the „fresh start“ protection that bankruptcy has traditionally offered the American debtor.

The second type of credit you must prove that you can handle is an installment loan, such as an auto loan, student loan or mortgage. Loan officers looking over your application for after bankruptcy credit need to see a rock-solid installment payment history. If you still have a student loan, that usually isn’t dischargeable in bankruptcy, you can use it to quickly reconstruct your after bankruptcy credit. Remember, it is absolutely imperative to make your payments on time every single month, with no exceptions. And try to pay more than the monthly minimum even if it is just $50 bucks or so more each month. It will help you regain the trust of your lenders. Paying down your open debt is one of the best ways to prove you’re after bankruptcy credit worthiness. Personal bankruptcy loans, auto bankruptcy loans or mortgage after bankruptcy loans are the other types of installment loans you need to apply for to reconstruct your after bankruptcy credit and improve your poor credit rating. There are a lot of after bankruptcy loan companies available to choose from, however some of them may try to take advantage of your situation and charge you outrageously high interest rates and slip in hidden costs and fees. Beware when you apply, learn all you can about your options before you sign on the dotted line.

Frank Miller has a Debt Consolidation Blog & Finance, these are some of the articles: Approaches To Flourish And Execute Your Loan Consulting Business Entity You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.