Bankruptcy & the XBox

Bankruptcy is the opportunity to get a “Fresh Start”.  The Supreme Court defines the fresh start as:  “[I]t gives to the honest but unfortunate debtor…a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt.”  With this in mind when considering bankruptcy you must change your way of thinking.  You must analyze what truly is important and what should be a priority in your life.Recently a young family filed bankruptcy and one of the issues reviewed are whether or not they had any leases.  We already discussed their budget and the lease was not mentioned.  This is not uncommon because this is something that people often pay but do not think of it as a debt.  When we specifically talked about leases the subject of their gaming system came up.  They were leasing a gaming system from Rent-A-Center.  Now was the time to decide if they were going to keep the costly obligation to pay the debt or get rid of the debt by rejecting the lease.

Bankruptcy is a tough enough choice to make.  Couple this with being a young family starting out and it takes enormous courage to step up to the plate and make a change.  It was impressive to watch this young father make the decision to choose his family’s financial well being by rejecting the lease over keeping the gaming system.  There are many adults who are older who would not have made that decision.  This does not mean that this young father has to stop gaming or that he cannot save up for a system in the future but for now he placed his family’s interest ahead of his own.

A bankruptcy filing often becomes a battle of the wills.  The will of the attorney to try and obtain the best for the client vs. the will of the client to not change their mindset.  Sometimes you have to be be willing to let go of your old ideas to obtain a financial fresh start.

When you feel boxed in by your gaming system or any other type of lease that may be holding you as a financial hostage, bankruptcy can break those chains that bind you.

Remember knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have about bankruptcy the more power you have to escape from being boxed in by a lease.