Bankruptcy America website revamps consumer information for the BAPCPA age
Bankruptcy America is a national website aiming to educate individuals facing financial difficulties, and when necessary providing them with access to appropriate professionals. They have recently made interesting changes to their site to give consumers clearer navigation through their options. Reflecting the ongoing market changes of which BAPCPA is a part, the site has added debt consolidation services and credit counseling agencies, where it once provided access only to bankruptcy attorneys.
Navigation takes the consumer by the hand through a three-step qualification process, to provide an initial assessment of what the consumer's situation might be. Essentially, it's "Do you qualify for (1) debt consolidation, or (2) credit counseling and a debt management plan, or (3) chapter 13 vs. chapter 7 bankruptcy?". Simple calculators are provided for the first two stages and an outline of the means test criteria for the third stage, allowing the consumer to reach his tentative conclusion quickly and easily. At every point, there is ample supporting information for people who may want to dig a little deeper.
Each of the three stages also features a blog where users can ask anonymous questions and get professional answers to help develop comfort with taking their next step.
For more overall guidance, Bankruptcy America offers users a Financial Health Check – ten questions giving an indication of how serious or urgent a user's money problems are, based on typical symptoms such as using cash advances from one card to make payments on another. Seriousness ranges from "healthy" to "very serious trouble now", with suggestions for action to take in each case. Depending on urgency or other special factors, additional notes may be added to the basic advice. The only number collected is the user's number of credit cards, yet the advice is generally appropriate and should be useful to start the user in the right direction.
BankruptcyAmerica
Navigation takes the consumer by the hand through a three-step qualification process, to provide an initial assessment of what the consumer's situation might be. Essentially, it's "Do you qualify for (1) debt consolidation, or (2) credit counseling and a debt management plan, or (3) chapter 13 vs. chapter 7 bankruptcy?". Simple calculators are provided for the first two stages and an outline of the means test criteria for the third stage, allowing the consumer to reach his tentative conclusion quickly and easily. At every point, there is ample supporting information for people who may want to dig a little deeper.
Each of the three stages also features a blog where users can ask anonymous questions and get professional answers to help develop comfort with taking their next step.
For more overall guidance, Bankruptcy America offers users a Financial Health Check – ten questions giving an indication of how serious or urgent a user's money problems are, based on typical symptoms such as using cash advances from one card to make payments on another. Seriousness ranges from "healthy" to "very serious trouble now", with suggestions for action to take in each case. Depending on urgency or other special factors, additional notes may be added to the basic advice. The only number collected is the user's number of credit cards, yet the advice is generally appropriate and should be useful to start the user in the right direction.
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