They've made it so hard to go into bankruptcy! My best friend had two credit cards
maxed out by thieves whikle she was living overseas, and though it got straightened out,
it caused a cascade of unpaid bills because her bank card was locked.
That created a bad credit report for her, and though her credit cards were
restored, it was at a higher rate of interest, because she didn't get
'everything' paid on time -- because of THEM! The 800 calls did not work overseas,
and they had got into her online banking and changed the password. By the time she
returned to the states, her credit was ruined even though the bogus charges were removed.
She then went to 'financial counseling' onlne, as the new law insists, and they actually
decided she should file for bankruptcy, as a repayment plan under Chapter 13
was impossible (she was retired). But the fees for lawyers had gone up so tremendously
(thanks to the Bush admin) that she was unable to afford to file, and had to live with
phone harrassment. She solved that problem by purchasing a new SIM card for her cell
phone and using pay-as-you go phone cards.