Payday Loans and Bankruptcy

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If  I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times: “The payday loan place said I can’t file bankruptcy on them!”

Well, like many other “truths” told by collectors to people considering bankruptcy, that’s just not true. You can discharge payday loans in bankruptcy.

I consider payday loan places an evil scourge, but that’s just my opinion. 🙂

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about payday lenders.

If you take out a payday loan and you aren’t able to pay it back, don’t be afraid to file bankruptcy.

If you owe money to a payday lender, then that debt is treated like any other unsecured debt – a debt not backed by collateral – in your bankruptcy. It can be included in a Chapter 7 for complete discharge without making payments on it.

Your payday loan lender may challenge your decision to file for bankruptcy (at least verbally), but these challenges are usually unsuccessful. The courts generally look down on payday loan lenders – as do I.

I’ve found over the last 15 or so years of bankruptcy practice that many people try to use payday lenders as a stopgap to filing bankruptcy. That is to say that they feel bankruptcy is such a bad thing that they deal with the sharks in order to avoid bankruptcy. Almost always what happens is that the cause of the person’s financial bind is not addressed, and the person winds up filing bankruptcy anyway.

And, interestingly, they discover that filing bankruptcy isn’t that bad, and that they should have filed sooner!

If you’re having to use the “services” of a payday lender, give us a call today to see if that’s your best move. I think you’ll find that it’s not.

How Bakersfield and Temecula Bankruptcy Lawyer Scott Bell can help

If you have found yourself in unmanageable debt, but are still hesitant to file for bankruptcy, come discuss it with us with a free consultation. You can reach us at (661) 243-1737 or (951) 296-6775. You can also speak with us directly through the Live Chat feature of our website.

Don’t let your debt ruin your life. There is a way out. Let us help.