This week, we’re breaking down bankruptcy in the way it should’ve been explained all along: without shame, without legal jargon, and without the “womp womp” energy we’ve all been taught to bring to it.

You’ve probably heard of Chapter 7. Maybe even Chapter 13. But unless you’ve filed for bankruptcy, or know someone who has, you’ve likely never learned what it actually means.

We kick things off with the viral rise of the “debt strike” trend on TikTok and Instagram, where people are publicly declaring they’re done paying back debt and explore what it says about our cultural relationship to money, morality, and relief.

Then we get into:

• What Chapter 7, Chapter 13, and Chapter 11 actually are
• Who qualifies and how
• What a “means test” is and how it works
• What happens to your credit score and your sanity
• The real costs (financial, emotional, and social) of filing
• And why bankruptcy might more of a mental health intervention than we give credit for 

Along the way, we myth-bust the stereotypes and unpack why bankruptcy, like divorce, might just be a legal reset that deserves more empathy and way less side-eye.

Links: 

• Episode 174: A spike in bankruptcy (Topic #2) 

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