Bankruptcy is seen as last resort. Bankruptcy is perceived to be only way to escape ever-constant demands for payment by bill collectors and credit companies alike.

Bankruptcy is not something that should be rushed in to. Certainly there are times when it can be very useful, but there are other times when declaring bankruptcy would be a big mistake.

The purpose of bankruptcy is to convert your possessions, and any wages you receive, into lump sum and instalment payments for creditors. A debtors purpose to apply for their own bankruptcy is to form a moratorium (a group of creditors) to agree part repayment of all outstanding debts, and when agreed repayment has been met, to have a ‘clean slate'.

The constraints which are put upon you once you are declared bankrupt make it only a viable option in most extreme of cases. It is more likely that an Individual Voluntary Arrangement will be answer to severe debt problems, since it provides much of relief offered by bankruptcy but without severe constraints which bankruptcy imposes.

Individual creditors cannot take action against you. They must make a claim through ‘trustee' (the name of person who controls a bankruptcy) or write off their debt.

Are you a check fanatic? Don't worry, you aren't alone. Millions of consumers write checks every year. In fact in United States most consumers use checks to handle payment transactions.

Want to convince your friends and family of benefits of check writing? Consider following check writing trivia:

• Deluxe™ checks provide international checking supplies. The company produces more checks than any other international check printer.
• Deluxe™ checks led movement to create picture checks and direct market checks.
• Americans write more than 42.5 billion checks every year.
• Some believe an Ancient Roman first came on idea of check writing, though it didn't become popular until late 1600s.
• Europeans wrote first official checks during 1650s.
• In United States checks are among most popular form of payment, above credit cards.
• People write roughly 450 million "bad checks" or checks that bounce every year.
• Counterfeiting money and checks used to be a treasonous crime. Officials could sentence someone to death for it.
• 1/3 of all money currency circulating during Civil War was fake
• Check writing didn't become popular in United States until after 1800s.
• Deluxe™ uses a proprietary or unique technology to print checks.
• 60 percent of all transactions not paid for with cash are paid by check.
• Consumers are 65 percent more likely to use checks than other forms of electronic payments.
• The number of checks used by Americans is increasing. In recent years check use rose 54 percent alone.
• More than 39 trillion dollars in payments are made every year with checks, compared to just 7 trillion for other forms of payment.

As you can see, writing checks is a favorite past time. No matter what check you prefer, whether cheap personal checks, top stub checks, side tear or cheap checks in general, rest assured check writing is not likely to die out any time soon.