Finally, Bill got very animated discussing how his friends recent bankruptcy filing enabled her to walk away from her debts: It was hard for me to believe what she was telling me. She had similar debts to me, including credit card, federal student loans and a car loan, and they all got wiped out. Just like that! She gets to keep driving her car and doesnt have to make any more payments. The crazy thing is that a week later, she got a credit card offer in the mail too, so she will be able to start borrowing again. Oh, and it didnt cost her anything to accomplish all this. Amazing! This seems like a great route to go, too. Am I missing something?

Answer this: 10. What should Juanita tell Bill that he is missing? With only ten minutes left in their session, Bill wondered aloud about his best option to get out of his debt dungeon: Well, Juanita, we have talked about a lot of different options in the last fifty minutes: debt consolidation, consumer credit counseling and bankruptcy. I appreciate you helping me sort out my budget as well as the debt payments that I need to make on a monthly basis too. All very helpful stuff but I am still having trouble sorting all this out. It seems that I could go in a lot of different directions, and all the options seem like good ones. What would you recommend?

Answer this: 11. Using all of the information provided in this case, as well as your previous knowledge, develop a plan for Bill to tackle his debt demons. Be sure that your plan is very specific and includes the following: Recommended changes to his budget and how they will impact his ability to pay down his debt (i.e. how much more money will you free up to make his monthly payments) Total monthly payments currently required to service his debt Discussion of pros/cons of the three alternatives (a chart would be useful) Reason that a particular course of action was selected