When a company or an individual is unable to repay a loan, the individual or the company is considered to be bankrupt. Sometimes companies incur heavy financial losses. For example, a printing firm gets 80 percent of its total income from a single publisher. If the publisher diverts its order to a different company, the printer loses a large portion of its total income. The printing firm becomes bankrupt. Bankruptcy involves two parties: the debtor and the creditor. The debtor is the party in debt, who owes money to the creditor. A debtor can be a company or an individual. The creditor is an organization or individual to whom the debtor owes money. Most bankruptcy cases involve several creditors. There are basically three types of bankruptcy. When a company is bankrupt, the trustee, a person appointed by the court, sells all of debtor's non-exempt assets so that the debts can be repaid. This type of bankruptcy is known as liquidating bankruptcy, or Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Individuals, corporations and partnerships file this bankruptcy. Suppose a business or an individual is bankrupt, but continues to function, maintains ownership of all assets, and tries to work out a reorganization plan to pay off creditors. This is known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Usually, businesses and individuals who have unbearable debt file this bankruptcy. An individual owns and controls his assets and works out a repayment plan with his creditors. This is |
