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Under the new bankruptcy law, as of October 17, 2005 bankruptcy applicants who wish to file under Chapter 7 must meet certain eligibility requirements under a 'means test.'

Under the 'means test,' if your current monthly income is less than the median income in your state, you can file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7. But if your current monthly income is above the median income in your state, and you can afford to pay $100 per month toward paying off your debt, you cannot file under Chapter 7 and must proceed under Chapter 13 (more on Chapter 13 in the next section). Whether you can afford to pay $100 per month (or $6,000 over a five-year period) is based on a formula that includes your monthly income, your expenses, and the total amount of your debt.

I do like the title 'Sentenced to a life of hard work', when I read that I was thinking why should I do like Paulson says and do the right thing to keep the banks steady. I should file BK just as they would, you know they would not hesitate. They knew what could happen when they allowed thier borrowers to become slaves to 30% CC rates and large penalties for a late payment and house payment resets that were out of this world. You may take this as a gripe session but the banks who are educated in the effects of thier own actions new what could happen and decided to seemingly ignore what was considered the backbone of economic stabillity, conservativeness, not high profits now and worry about the rest later. The politicians have not helped either allowing most of this to keep going by turning away instead of focussing on the stability. Ok off the soap box I go.