Pre-bankrupcy credit counseling

[mountanddo]

So yesterday I had my required pre-bankrupcy credit counseling. I don't know why they make you go through it because honestly it was a joke. The woman put me on hold twice because she had other phone calls. She went over my income and expenses and said that one option I may want to look at is going to my bank and getting a loan to pay off my debt rather than file bankrupcy. My DMI is pretty low at $150/month. I asked her what the possibility of me getting a loan would be with a previous Chapter 7 and with me not paying my CC for the last year. She just kinda laughed and said "well, you could always try". Seriously? If I can't afford to pay for my CC what good is getting ANOTHER loan that I would probably have to default on anyway and would leave just one more bad mark on my credit?

She rattled on about how I should be using coupons when I am grocery shopping and how I may want to look into turning a hobby of mine into making money. While these are not BAD ideas they aren't really helpful. I do use coupons but at $100/month for groceries I think I'm doing pretty good and that includes stuff like toilet paper, shampoo etc. She seemed quite bored during the whole time we were on the phone and it obviously was very scripted.

It just seems like a waste of money for people that already struggling and it seems like they are just going through the motions because it's required. I actually was looking forward to it because I thought I might get some useful information which didn't happen.

I am hoping that the post bankrupcy required course is more helpful than this was.

[AngelinaCat]

That is a shame that you had such a bad experience. Were you there in person with her, or was the whole thing via the telephone?

Our pre-counseling session was very helpful. We had an hour time-slot and we were with this lady in her office. We had our worksheets with us, and she went over things with a 'fine toothed comb'. This lady is the one who helped us realize that with our income and outgo, that we were better suited to a Ch7, rather than the Ch13 we were aiming for. When I lost my FT job, that became inevitable. She also pointed out things to us that were missing in our proposed budgeting, such as 'Personal Grooming'--"Who cuts your hair? How much does that cost?" And Entertainment. "You ARE allowed to have a life", she said, and had us put in a line for that.

This was over-all, very helpful to us with our planning.

[lotsahats]

"You ARE allowed to have a life", she said

I've actually wondered about that one, myself.

[IamOld]

God this just reminds me that I'll need to do this...again...I've done it once with my spouse for the 13 that turned out to be not joint, and will need to do this for the 7 - we did this all online, and then had to listen to a very nice woman on the phone for 5 minutes telling us what we already knew...but it was - forgive me - an hour of wasted time on a website that crashed a few times...

[BKAttyMI]

This confirms some of my worries about these courses. I have done the online portions of the pre-bankruptcy course while searching for courses for my clients, but have not done the second one. I am concerned that these "counselors" are ill-trained, not qualified and may give advice that will lead astray clients that have received advice from an attorney.

Any feedback on the second course? I have not taken that one.

[Freddy03]

I took mine online and only had to speak to a live person to confirm my address. I'm taking the post bk course online tonight. Friday night Fun! LOL

[AngelinaCat]

Any feedback on the second course? I have not taken that one.

Ours was with an online course, and took about an hour. Both 'Hub and I took it together--it was set up that 'they'--the mythical 'they' knew there were two of us. It consisted of a series of video presentations of about 10 minutes each, and then we each had a questionnaire to answer. This was set up so that you could pause the session if one needed to step to the necessary facilities. I do not remember if you could pause on one day and resume the next. I don't think it allowed that.

As to the questionnaire, if you missed a question you got to go back and review that section. At the end you called a telephone number and discussed the results with a liver person.

Overall, it was okay, but mainly it was a review of commonsense budgeting tips and things like that.

I do have to say that we preferred the live session with the lady over this.

Does that help? If you like, I will go through my paperwork and see if I can find the name of the firm. If I find it I will PM you with it.

[discouraged]

Mine-the first one-was very good except she did advise going to a lawyer that I, in the end, didn't use - basically because of their attitude. But, hadn't really thought of bk until I saw the counselor and she laid out my reality for me (which has saved me many, many dollars), which led me to the bk.

The second was very helpful also and I printed out the different questionnaires for future review and to help me in the future.

[lillymarlene]

Both of my courses were online and were included in my attorney's fees. The first was mostly just common sense. The second was a little more involved, and did have some helpful information. I think that both of the courses could have been paused or broken down into two or more sessions, but I completed them each in a single sitting. The second one took me about 4 hours mostly because I'm on an old dial up connection. I kept having to wait for screen redraws.

[disconapper]

Both my courses were online as well, I never spoke with anyone and my certificates were emailed to both me and my attorney. I'm sure when you call the number, it's to a large call center and I guarantee they are reading scripts, it's a shame really. My first course was silly, but the second course was not to bad, very informative and easy.

[BKAttyMI]

It seems the second course is much more useful than the first. I would definitely prefer that some of my clients go to an in-person course, but the reality is, I don't think many would unless it was required. Clients are already frustrated trying to come up with the paperwork required to file, I can't imagine the grumbling if they were then told they had to show up at a physical location to take a course. Oh well...

We currently give two options, either an online course or over the phone (in-person if client is unable to do either). Over the phone course does not get good reviews from clients.

[sunshinepa]

I took both online, very inexpensive for both (18.95 total). Never had to speak to a live person, got the certificates just fine. Bottom line is, it has to be done to file and I don't think either one taught me anything I shouldn't have already been doing. Personally, I prefer the online, much cheaper and can be done at your own pace.

[TBA]

I took them online as well. Both pre and post filing. The pre filing required me to talk to a person on the phone - who helped me fill in the numbers i missed online. We were a bit different though because we were filing non consumer ch7 so a lot of it didnt apply to us, including the means test.

[angles]

We took them both on line. Both were very basic, common sense…really did not learn much since we were already pretty good with saving money. The intent of these courses is to make a person think about and improve their finances with the thought that most filers are not very good with money. I agree with the requirement to take the courses, at least some filers will benefit from it and that is better then none of us benefiting from it.