Contact Us Now!

Credit Counseling

Disclaimer: The information contained in this FAQ is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to be a legal opinion, legal advice or a complete discussion of the issues related to the area of consumer bankruptcy. Every individual's factual situation is different and you should seek independent legal advice from an attorney familiar with the laws of your state or locality regarding specific information.

Before your case is filed, you are required to obtain a certificate of completion of a credit counseling course offered by a U.S. Trustee-approved credit counselor. While in the vast majority of cases, good credit management skills have absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances requiring the filing of bankruptcy, Congress has nevertheless required the completion of the counseling before a bankruptcy can be filed, and a second class before a discharge can be entered.

The counseling normally takes 15–90 minutes, and can be conducted either by telephone or over the internet. The cost is usually  about $50.00. We recommend that you not complete the counseling course until after you have spoken with an attorney.

For telephone counseling, we recommend contacting the Institute for Financial Literacy at (866) 662-4932. IFL’s website is http://www.freshstartonline.org/ If you are unable to contact IFL, call Greenpath Credit Counseling at (800) 550–1961.

For internet counseling (which requires a very brief telephone discussion at the end), we recommend contacting Hummingbird Credit Counseling and Education. Its website is http://www.hummingbirdcreditcounseling.org.

Please be sure to tell the counselor that you have hired a bankruptcy attorney, that all paperwork has been completed for you to file, and that you just need to complete the course so that you can file.

Bankruptcy is a complex and confusing area of the law. You need legal advice you can count on to guide you through the process. We are experienced in helping you through your financial difficulties. If you have any questions, please call us at (706) 724-4000 or e-mail us at info@leeringler.com to set up an appointment. We are required to inform you under BAPCPA that we are a federally-designated debt relief agency, proudly helping people file for bankruptcy since 1979.