Pre-Petition Credit Counseling
The first course established by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Prevention Act of 2005 is the pre-petition credit counseling. The purpose of this course is to explain to you, the debtor, the various bankruptcy options available in Oklahoma and to provide insight into the cause of your current financial problems. If you are married, both you and your spouse must take the course, at which point you will both receive a certificate to be mailed to the bankruptcy attorney. The attorney will then file the certificates with the original Oklahoma bankruptcy petition.
Post-Petition Debtor Education
The second portion of the credit counseling required for filing bankruptcy in Oklahoma is the post-petition debtor education. This course is taken after you have filed either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Oklahoma, and typically follows your 341 meeting of creditors. One of the most important things about this debtor education course is that it must be taken within a certain period of time, or else your bankruptcy case will be dismissed. This second credit counseling course usually takes a little bit longer than the first and is designed to make you a better consumer. Once you’ve finished the course, your bankruptcy attorney will again, file your certificate with your bankruptcy case.
Legal Help for Filing Oklahoma Bankruptcy and Credit Counseling
Enlisting the help of a qualified Oklahoma bankruptcy attorney is essential to ensuring that you complete the required credit counseling courses and successfully file for bankruptcy in Oklahoma. If you don’t have extensive experience in bankruptcy filing or navigating the new Oklahoma bankruptcy laws, seeking advice from an experienced OK bankruptcy lawyer can mean the difference between relieving your overwhelming debt and becoming trapped in a bankruptcy scam. Too often, debtors fall victim to unapproved credit counseling services that prey on their desperation and funnel consumers into dead-end payment plans that offer them little relief from debt. In fact, 40% of the industry has been targeted by the IRS to remove their “non-profit” status, a strategy the companies use for advertising on television to attract the attention of debtors. By hiring a knowledgeable Oklahoma bankruptcy attorney to represent your case, you can improve your chances of successfully discharging your debt and freeing yourself from your financial difficulties.