It starts out as just a fun night on the town with friends.
You decide to go to the casino for something different than just going to eat at a local restaurant. The lights and the sounds are exciting. It may not be Las Vegas, but it’ll do. Sitting down at the table, you feel a rush of adrenaline. Within 30 minutes, you’ve doubled your money. You could get used to this. Another hour of playing and you lost all of the money you won and the money that you started with. No worries, you’ll win it back next time. Yes, you’ve already decided that there will be a next time, and it will be very soon.
Before you know it, the cash you saved from your last paycheck or Social Security check isn’t enough. You soon start to hit up the credit card ATM machine. They make it so easy. You just put your credit card in and out comes a cash advance to keep the good times rolling. The monthly minimum payment on the credit card is pretty small and, besides, the next time you get a big win, you’ll have more than enough money to pay off the credit card in full.
Unfortunately, the next big win never comes, but the credit card bill comes like clockwork every month. You haven’t been to the casino in a few months, but the cash advances you took have ballooned the balance and the monthly minimum payments aren’t so minimal anymore. You know you have to take action to get your debt under control and you’d like to consider a bankruptcy, but can bankruptcy help you with gambling debt? Luckily, the answer is yes.
Whether you can get relief from your debts in a bankruptcy is not dependent on whether your debt was incurred for a good reason. A judge doesn’t ask you what you used the credit card for and then make a decision as to whether, in retrospect, you made a smart decision. You look back at the debt you incurred at the casino and you know you made a really stupid mistake, but that doesn’t mean that bankruptcy can’t help you.
In a Chapter 7, you can eliminate a variety of debts, including credit card debts from gambling, in only a five to six month period. A Chapter 13 allows you to repay what you can afford on your debt over a period of three to five years. After the three to five years, the remainder of your credit card debt, including debt from gambling, is eliminated.
If you’ve had a gambling problem in the past that has left you with debt, you are not alone and not without options. Steidl & Steinberg has many people over the years get their gambling debt under control by filing for bankruptcy. Call us for a free consultation and we’ll review your options that will put you on the path to being rid of your gambling debt.