Bankruptcy and the College Student

My first year of college was exciting and new, a chance to meet new people and broaden my horizons. It was also a chance for me to get into more debt than I could possibly imagine. By the end of my sophomore year of college I owed over $15,000 in credit card debt and had no idea of how I was ever going to pay it all back. At the time I was employed full time, but the money I earned every week was barely enough to keep me fed, in my apartment, and current on my many charge accounts.

Overwhelmed, I went to my father for advice and, after looking at all of my bills, he recommended I file for bankruptcy. When he mentioned the big �B' word to me I felt as though I had fallen into a deep, dark, abyss. To me bankruptcy meant you were a financial failure but when I shared this opinion with my father he laughed at me. As it turned out my father filed for bankruptcy many years earlier when I was to young to understand. This shocked me because my father was, and still is, a very successful businessman.

Once I got comfortable with the idea of filing for bankruptcy my father helped me through the process. The first thing we had to do was find a good attorney. I looked on the Internet and through the yellow pages for local attorney's that specialized in bankruptcy cases. While there were many attorneys that handled a variety of cases my father insisted we find one that specialized in bankruptcy because they would be more up to date on current laws and filing procedures.

After compiling a list I contacted 10 offices to set up consultations. Since I was young (only 19) at the time two law offices didn't take me seriously at all, one receptionist hung up in my face. Three more seemed eager to have me agree to use their offices before even meeting me face to face, they were a bit to desperate for business in my opinion at least. So out of the ten offices contacted I ended up going to meet with five attorneys.