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[quote=Anonymous]Looking for insight from anyone who has had a close friend or family member go through bankruptcy.  My in-laws are in the process of filing Chapter 7 after years of poor decision making and living beyond their means.   DH has tried to talk with them on various occasions to encourage them to change their ways but every time we visit, we are shocked by the new car, tv, tablet, etc that they’ve bought despite having tens of thousands of credit card debt and a 1st and 2nd mortgage for a house that’s underwater.  Example of their thinking: “We wanted to get the new tv and wii for the basement so the grandkids would have something to do while they’re here.”  Our visit was for 3 days and I doubt the IL’s will venture down to the basement the other 362 days of the year.

Anyway, my question about post-bankruptcy experience came up because when DH found out about the filing, he was so happy and had an attitude that this would solve all their problems and life would be hunky dory.  While I agree it’s a necessary step to take and will help tremendously, I know that old habits die hard.  I realize they’ll have limited (or no?) access to credit for several years and will have to take a financial education course, but I worry that the same problems will present themselves in other ways, or in a few years when they can get a credit card, they’ll immediately max it out, only make minimum payments and here we go again.  MIL has already said that they’ll need to find at least a 2-3br rental (house will go back to the bank) because they have too much furniture for one.

So if you’ve been through bankruptcy or know someone who has, did that person really step it up and learn to live within their means? Maybe they were forced to since they had to pay cash for everything? Did they find other ways to get back into financial trouble - maybe payday loans or some similar way to get credit not through an official bank?  IL’s both work and while they don’t make a ton of money, they should be able to pay rent on a modest apartment, afford groceries, gas, the basics.  But they’ve never been the type to settle for just the basics.
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