As part of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), Congress required that all persons take a credit counseling course before they are allowed to file a bankruptcy case, and another credit education course after the case is filed. So, everyone filing bankruptcy these days must take two courses and file a Certificate with the bankruptcy court for each course.
Credit Counseling is big business these days. The cost of taking a credit counseling course is usually $50 per debtor for each course. For a married couple, this has increased the cost of bankruptcy by nearly $200.
Not all credit counseling agencies may offer bankruptcy counseling. The agency must be approved by the United States Trustee’s Office, and they have provided a website of the approved agencies.
I recently went through the list of approved agencies, and the good news is that the cost of the pre-bankruptcy course is down to as little as $5. Here is a list of the some of the cheaper credit counseling agencies approved by the U.S. Trustee in Nebraska:
Cost