Filing for bankruptcy often comes with a negative connotation attached. Many people believe that filing for bankruptcy means that they are "deadbeats", abusers of the credit system, "low lives", or simply too poor to meet their obligations. Unfortunately, these are characteristics that the filers place on themselves and not how other people necessarily see them at all.
The bottom line is, that the United States Constitution provides for bankruptcy protection and if you meet the qualifications and need to file for bankruptcy, there is nothing wrong with doing just that. It is a legal issue not necessarily a moral issue unless, of course, you make it that way. The federal bankruptcy laws enacted by Congress give debtors a fresh start from overwhelming debts and provide for fair treatment to creditors. Nonetheless, there are rules to filing for bankruptcy. Everyone won't qualify and with the new rules that are now in effect, total elimination of debt is harder to achieve.
The new Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 stipulates that you must meet a "means" test to see if you qualify to file for bankruptcy. If you make too much money and/or your debt ratio is not high enough, you will not be allowed to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. You will instead be forced to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy. There are four other bankruptcy filings - Chapters 9, 11, 12, 15 - however, 7 and 13 are generally the filings that individuals are referring to when they talk about filing for bankruptcy. There are major differences between the two.
