There comes in a time in many lives when bankruptcy seems unavoidable. Oftentimes this happens for reasons that are out of our control. Maybe a breadwinner passed away. Maybe you experienced an injury that took you away from work. Maybe your identity was stolen and it took a whole year to recover, with dire financial consequences. Maybe it’s the result of plain old debt problems of the conventional type.

Whatever the reason for your impending bankruptcy, there are good reasons to avoid it if you can. It doesn’t matter how you got in this situation, because the clarion call of bankruptcy can seem like a tempting answer to your problem, no matter who you are. If you are convinced that avoiding bankruptcy is right for you after you read this guide, check out Creditfix – debt help for people who really need it.

Bankruptcy Kills Your Credit – When you are in debt, you probably already have low credit, so the threat of bankruptcy killing your credit might not seem like much of a threat. How can you kill what’s already dead? The thing is, credit that is poor because of debt is much more recoverable than credit that is the result of bankruptcy. It might seem like they’re both bad, but believe us when we say bankruptcy is worse. Bankruptcy is a last resort, a throwing in of the towel when a consumer simply can’t endure anymore. It’s a way to get back to life without having to constantly fear because of debt, but it’s definitely shooting your credit history in the foot.

Bankruptcy Stays on Your Record for Seven Years – The main reason why bankruptcy is so devastating for your credit is that it stays on your credit report for seven years. On its own, bankruptcy is kind of like a nuclear bomb for your credit. Like a nuclear bomb, all of the damage doesn’t occur at the initial explosion. The fallout takes years to clear. That’s what happens with your credit history following bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy May Prevent You From Achieving Important Goals. It becomes very hard to finance important projects and goals after bankruptcy, like going back to school or buying a house. When your credit is shot because of bankruptcy, nobody wants to lend you money because it looks like you’re probably not going to give it back. There are other big problems with bad credit, because people look at your credit when thinking about giving you a job or letting you rent their house. This is a huge problem for some people, and reason enough by itself to avoid bankruptcy.

If you decide not to file for bankruptcy, you’ll still have to manage your debt. There are many debt reduction programs for people facing bankruptcy, and these should be taken full advantage of. The good thing is that by working hard to kill your debt, you’re also working hard to build your credit. Once your debt is gone, you will have cut away a major cinder block weighing down your credit and you will have avoided the worst side effects of bankruptcy.