if you are filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to save your home from a sheriff sale, the bankrupty needs to be filed before the sale date. Once the sale has happened, it is usually too late to save the home.

Filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stop a foreclosure on your house.

The filing or for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is $313.

The filing fee for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is currently $338. See https://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/fee-schedule

The bankruptcy discharge will wipe out certain debts. To see what kinds of debts will be wiped out, see this link: https://www.uscourts.gov/court-programs/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-basics/discharge-bankruptcy-bankruptcy-basics

Are you behind on your mortgage payments? You can call your mortgage company and see if they have any loan modification programs available.

Certain debts will not go away in a bankruptcy. Child support is one of these.

Here is the link to the bankruptcy court for most of the Chicagoland area: https://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/

Bankruptcy can be a way to prevent a car repossession, as long as you still have the car.

Your payment history is a big part of your credit score.  It counts for more than a third of your credit score.  If you are late on payments for credit cards, department store credit cards, car loans and mortgages, this will bring down your credit score.