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Bankruptcy in Hawaii

While there’s no simple equation that would allow borrowers in Hawaii to figure out whether or not bankruptcy protection would be a proper fit for their own family, any consumer who finds him or herself struggling to afford the minimum monthly payments from their credit cards should at the least see what other options are available. For that matter, Hawaiian debtors who have looked at their assembled bills with a realistic and clear eyed appraisal only to discover that their household capacity for gross income in the next few years put against the family cost of living expenses and utility obligations would not allow for the elimination of the total debt load must seek out the professional services now available throughout the islands. While your authors appreciate that many of the hard working men and women of Hawaii will do everything possible to pay back the loans that they have lawfully taken out in good times and bad, waiting until the last moment in the vain hopes of some mystical deliverance from crushing financial burdens will only end in heart ache and household economic instability. Like it or not, consumer credit is a fact of life in Hawaii and most everywhere across the United States, and that is why America first initiated bankruptcy protection: to offer borrowers a fresh start. Unfortunately, Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Hawaii no longer provides the same guarantees following the congressional legislation and subsequent alterations of the bankruptcy code that occurred in the fall of 2005, and many of the borrowers that fought until their last breath to right their household budget without employing high priced debt professionals only to inevitably decide upon bankruptcy protection as what they believed to be their final alternative came to find out far too late in the debt relief game that there were far more effective programs at hand. Within this article, we will explain a bit more about what personal bankruptcy protection now means to the Hawaiian borrower and what options may provide a less disastrous solution to spiraling financial obligations. As most Hawaiian residents already know, a good portion of the average citizen’s debts would not be able to be affected by governmental bankruptcy protection. Alimony and child support and other familial debts are – and, we would agree, should be – essentially removed from all bankruptcy actions, and the same could be said for tax liens and penalties that came about as the consequence of criminal proceedings. Cash advances above eight hundred dollars that were taken out less than three months from the moment that the borrower files his or her papers run the risk of being considered fraudulent by the Hawaiian courts. Purchases of luxury goods above five hundred dollars that were taken out less than ten weeks before the time of filing face similar risks, but, obviously, there’s a good deal more leniency given the right bankruptcy attorney. Student loans, though they would seem superficially to be the same as medical bills or credit card accounts or any other unsecured debt burdens, are similarly rendered immune to bankruptcy protection after a congressional dictum from the mid 1990 (at a time when, according to some studies, a majority of the United States representatives had defaulted upon at least some portion of their own educational loans), but they tend to feature the lowest interest rates and easiest tax deductions this side of home mortgages upon primary residences. Those mortgage loans – as well as vehicle loans or any other secured debt – must be formally reaffirmed before a Chapter 7 bankruptcy could proceed (the reaffirmation meetings are generally held over the phone and should largely be considered a formality), and, in the event of a Chapter 13 debt restructure program, they may be forcibly refinanced to indulge easier payments and preclude foreclosure and forbearance which, given the sad state of Hawaii real estate during our national economic crisis, has become an all too real threat for citizens throughout our state. Chapter 7 debt relief bankruptcy is the oldest of all of the American bankruptcy protections, and it is still the only sort of bankruptcy that a surprisingly large portion of Hawaiians genuinely recognize. By this point in modern society, with the proliferation of credit so wide spread, there are a number of different programs meant to specifically protect everyone from family fishermen to actual cities and municipally controlled utilities, but the Chapter 7 system remains the emblem of what most people think of to be bankruptcy. Within the Chapter 7 debt liquidation program, individual consumers or married couples ask a trustee randomly selected by the Hawaiian courts to discharge all of their unsecured debts after a period of analysis that generally lasts about six months: with the recent boom in personal bankruptcies following the down turn of the Hawaiian and greater American economy, the time period may take a bit longer. Of course, nothing comes for free, and the consequences of Chapter 7 debt elimination could actually put the filer’s household in a worse situation than was previously felt. The negative repercussions of bankruptcy shall remain on the borrowers’ credit reports for up to ten years and – despite the sudden eradication of their unsecured burdens – could actively prevent the parties who are declaring Chapter 7 from home mortgages, vehicle loans, and even employment opportunities and security clearances. Much as the Chapter 7 bankruptcy alternative could erase past mistakes and forgive those debts helplessly drawn after familial tragedy, one should not necessarily think of the program as the fresh start our grandparents may have enjoyed. Credit reports are simply too important for ordinary Hawaiian consumers to disregard, and the FICO scores issued by the three primary credit bureaus (Equifax, TRW, and TransUnion) have a disproportionate effect upon Hawaiian families that some times barely understand the calculations involved. To be sure, for some borrowers in Hawaii who have weathered lingering bouts of unemployment and have few to none assets worth preserving, Chapter 7 bankruptcies do still serve a purpose. Unfortunately, after recent legislation, the perennial guarantee of Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and the eternal promise of household rebirth following bankruptcy no longer applies to every resident of Hawaii. As of October 17, 2005, several changes were made to the United States bankruptcy code under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. This bill – propelled by creditor funded political action groups and sped through the U. S. Congress during a period of economic expansion with a shameful absence of media news coverage and analysis – utterly changed the parameters and liberties formerly to be considered the birthright of every Hawaiian. After the passage of BAPCA, the amount of documentation required for filing increased greatly along side the potential penalties should interested borrowers simply forget to record an essentially worthless asset or trifling bit of income. The exponentially larger penalties for fraud (or, at least, what the new federal bankruptcy code defines as fraud) were set into law just as the amount of latitude granted the Hawaii court trustee who would actually look over the debtor’s individual case was severely weakened. This heightened threat from the court system and the greater complexity of the paperwork involved with each sort of bankruptcy protection virtually demands the aid of reputable bankruptcy attorneys who have had a good deal of familiarity with both Hawaiian statutes and the national bankruptcy code. Tragically, as the country’s economy continues to falter and more and more Hawaiian consumers beset by out of control debt feel (for right or wrong) that they have no recourse left but bankruptcy protection, the services of experienced law firms have grown harder for every Hawaiian borrower to employ and the fees that such firms feel acceptable to request have developed accordingly. Along with the administrative charges that each Hawaiian consumer will have to pay through money orders when filing their bankruptcy petition with their local county clerk, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act now necessitates that every borrower who intends to take advantage of Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy programs will be forced to take a course on debt management before declaration and again before balance discharge. Not only do these costs – above and beyond the sweat equity uselessly demanded of consumers likely already strapped for time; this is particularly true for Hawaiian residents who do not live within a reasonable distance from one of the handful of course counselors certified by the federal government – may already preclude many of Hawaii’s most disadvantaged citizens from employing the bankruptcy protection they so sorely need. More troubling, following the 2005 passage of BAPCA, Chapter 7 protection became far more difficult for ordinary borrowers with a solid work history to enter and considerably more threatening for those Hawaiian consumers that successfully argue for Chapter 7 eligibility to endure. The United States bankruptcy code currently insists that any borrower formally residing in Hawaii must earn less than the median income of every head of household in the state as determined by the most recent census figures. This means that single wage earners who have a demonstrable gross income above forty seven thousand (sixty thousand for a Hawaiian household with two members; seventy thousand for a household with three members; eighty five thousand for a household with four members) in the year prior to filing for bankruptcy will find it very difficult to eliminate their collected debts through Chapter 7 protection no matter how great their burdens. If the borrower does find

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