You may live in Chicago and are experiencing high rental price increases due to inflation and wonder if there is emergency debt relief in Illinois. For example, with a minimum wage of $12.00 per hour, Illinois can be a challenging place to live for many individuals.
When pursuing the internet, next you could run into a social media ad such as the one below, promising emergency debt relief in Illinois.
Next, you may visit a website that promises “Emergency” debt relief for US residents or Illinois residents that helps you fundamentally reduce what you own on your unsecured. One company, TurboDebt, has an ad that says you aren’t going to have to pay the money back and that it won’t take a huge hit on your credit.
That sounds promising, but is it legitimate?
So, what is emergency debt relief?
The purpose of this article is to explore the legitimacy of emergency debt relief in Illinois, explain how debt relief works, the cost, and the alternatives to help you make the most informed decision. Also, just for reference, companies pitching emergency debt relief are generally different than Illinois Debt Relief org.
Unfortunately, while the marketing may be effective, many of these companies are marketing firms that are pointing you to a debt relief company.
What is the emergency debt relief that some companies are pitching?
As we know these companies are pitching a debt relief company, what is it and how does it work?
Debt relief is also known as debt settlement and debt consolidation programs. It is where a company will negotiate and settle your debts on your behalf and charge a fee for its services.
Why would creditors settle your debt? Your debt often has to be behind and past due for the creditors to settle the debt, so you would often stop paying your creditors, add funds each month (known as a monthly draft) to an escrow bank account. Once you have enough funds, the company would settle each account one by one.
There are many companies that provide this service, but you may want to be aware of the fees that the company charges. We are very selective of who we work with as some companies charge exorbitant fees and have bad customer reviews.
Debt relief can save you money and can get you on a payment plan. It can also help you get out of debt much faster than paying minimums on credit cards.
That said, here’s a couple of things to be aware of:
If you are struggling with debt, one of the most important things to understand is how much each debt relief option would cost. For example, will a debt relief program cost less than what your current monthly obligations cost? As such, we built the below Illinois debt relief options and cost calculator. It’s a free resource, and no email address is required as we want you to be as informed as possible.
Here’s an example of the results for someone in Illinois who was considering different debt relief options.
Let’s say that you are facing a wage garnishment in Illinois and the Illinois garnishment laws allows the creditor to extract the following from your paycheck.
"The amount of wages that may be deducted is limited by federal and Illinois law. (1) Under Illinois law, the amount of wages that may be deducted is limited to the lesser of (i) 15% of gross weekly wages or (ii) the amount by which disposable earnings for a week exceed the total of 45 times the federal minimum hourly wage or, under a wage deduction summons served on or after January 1, 2006, the minimum hourly wage prescribed by Section 4 of the Minimum Wage Law, whichever is greater. (2) Under federal law, the amount of wages that may be deducted is limited to the lesser of (i) 25% of disposable earnings for a week or (ii) the amount by which disposable earnings for a week exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage."
In this situation, you may not want to do emergency debt relief in Illinois, and may want something that can stop garnishment immediately. What are your other debt relief and non-debt relief options?
Filing bankruptcy in Illinois is a common alternative to emergency debt relief, but there are pros and cons to consider.
For example, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is often the least expensive debt relief option, but you have to qualify for it.
Please note that the Chapter 7 qualification is based on the bankruptcy means test in Illinois. Please note that the means test table below shows the income levels below can help you estimate whether you qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for cases filed on or after April 1, 2024.
| # of People | Annual Income |
|---|---|
| 1 | $67,617 |
| 2 | $86,279 |
| 3 | $105,384 |
| 4 | $128,739 |
| 5 | $138,639 |
| 6 | $148,539 |
| 7 | $158,439 |
| 8 | $168,339 |
| 9 | $178,239 |
The calculator above provides an estimate of the cost of bankruptcy in Illinois (both Chapter 7 in Illinois and Chapter 13 in Illinois).
The Illinois attorney fees can be different based on such things as where you live and the chapter you file. For example, Chicago may have an average Chapter 7 attorney fee of $1,170 while Aurora may have an attorney fee of $1,170.
Here’s the estimated Illinois attorney fee range:
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: $800 - $1788
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: $3500 - $3800
For those in extreme need of some financial assistance, you can also look into Illinois legal aid options to avoid emergency debt relief altogether. You can Google options, but here are some options:
This may not stop a garnishment in Illinois, but it may help with getting out of debt and not affecting your credit score. You can get yourself out of debt without resorting to the other two mentioned options, or bankruptcy. But this method is only feasible if you are not far behind and you can afford to make some minimum payments on your debts.
This is the initial step to getting out of debt. This can be for anyone in Illinois, and you can get a free government issued copy of your credit report. By ignoring your debts, they won’t just disappear, so you have to tally up your entire debts. After this, you calculate your debt-to-income ratio.
The debt-to-income ratio can be termed as the total debts-minus mortgages-as a percentage of your gross annual earnings. This will tell you how much in debt you are, and what it is going to take to get you out.
If you have a side hustle, you can increase income to pay off the debt faster. This means that you may not have to pursue emergency debt relief. You just need to move from a situation where you are spending more money than you make, into one where you earn more than what you spend. This means that the quicker you want to get away from debt, the more you have to make lots of money above your spending. Remember, you have to earn enough to live on and pay off your debts, so it can be a tall order, but with the right mindset, it is possible.
One way to avoid emergency debt relief in Illinois may be figuring out a better way to track income and decrease spending. If you want to win the debt battle, you have to keep track of your money. By crafting a budget and sticking to it, you ensure that you can track where each dollar is going.
Whether you live in Aurora or Naperville, many individuals in Illinois are needing some sort of emergency debt relief to help them deal with increasing expenses.
While you may not look for an “emergency debt relief” company that promises the world, you can still find other options and compare those options to make the most informed decision for your debt relief situation.
Use the calculator below to help you estimate your options and costs or give us a call/text at 833-272-3631.
