To file Chapter 13 bankruptcy, your noncontingent, liquidated unsecured debts must be below $526,700 and your noncontingent, liquidated secured debts must be below $1,580,125.1United States Courts. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Basics Both ceilings are measured on the date you file your petition, and if either figure is at or above its limit, Chapter 13 is closed to you. These are the Chapter 13 debt limits in effect right now, and the rules for how each dollar of debt gets sorted into one bucket or the other decide whether you make it under them.
The Current Ceilings and When They Change
The Bankruptcy Code sets two separate caps rather than one combined number. Unsecured debt and secured debt each have their own ceiling, and you have to clear both.
The dollar amounts adjust every three years based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 104 – Adjustment of Dollar Amounts The current figures took effect April 1, 2025. The next scheduled adjustment is April 1, 2028.
One wrinkle worth knowing if you’re reading older guidance: from 2022 through June 21, 2024, Congress temporarily replaced the two caps with a single combined limit of roughly $2.75 million. That provision expired, and the law reverted to the two-ceiling structure before the April 2025 CPI adjustment produced today’s numbers.3United States Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Missouri. Subchapter V and Chapter 13 Debt Thresholds Sunset on June 21, 2024 Articles written during that window describe a different system than the one you now file under.
How Secured Debt Is Counted
A secured debt is one backed by collateral, like a mortgage or a car loan. For eligibility, the amount that counts as secured is capped at the current value of the collateral, not the full balance you owe.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 506 – Determination of Secured Status
Say you owe $320,000 on a home worth $280,000. Only $280,000 counts as secured debt against the $1,580,125 ceiling. The remaining $40,000 is reclassified as unsecured and counted against the $526,700 ceiling instead. The same split happens with any underwater loan.
Two Chapter 13 tools work off this same valuation rule and can shift larger pieces of debt from secured to unsecured. A cramdown reduces a secured claim to the collateral’s actual value, so the plan repays what the property is worth rather than the full loan. A restriction applies to vehicles: if you bought a car with a purchase-money loan within 910 days (about two and a half years) before filing, you cannot cram down the loan and must pay the full balance.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1325 – Confirmation of Plan Loans on vehicles you already owned before taking out the loan are not subject to the 910-day rule.
Lien stripping handles junior mortgages the same way. If your home is worth less than the first mortgage balance, a second mortgage or home equity line of credit has no equity to support it and the entire balance is unsecured. Even one dollar of equity above the first mortgage balance prevents stripping. The lien is not formally removed until you complete the three-to-five-year plan.
Both tools move debt from the secured column into the unsecured column, which can bring you under the secured ceiling but push you closer to the unsecured one. The arithmetic has to work on both sides.
How Unsecured Debt Is Counted
Unsecured debt is anything without collateral: credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans, and the like. The full balance of every noncontingent, liquidated unsecured debt counts against the $526,700 ceiling.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
Then add the undersecured portion of any secured loan. A filer with $470,000 in credit card debt and $40,000 of undersecured mortgage debt carries $510,000 in unsecured debt for eligibility purposes. That is under the limit, but barely. Creditors can challenge your valuations, and if a court finds the collateral worth less than you estimated, more debt moves into the unsecured column and the margin tightens or disappears.
Debts That Don’t Count Against Either Limit
Two kinds of debt are excluded from the eligibility calculation: contingent debts and unliquidated debts.1United States Courts. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Basics
A contingent debt depends on a triggering event that hasn’t happened. A personal guarantee on someone else’s loan is the classic example. You owe nothing unless the primary borrower defaults, and until that happens the guarantee is not counted against either ceiling.
An unliquidated debt is one whose dollar amount hasn’t been fixed. A pending personal injury suit against you has no definite figure until it settles or goes to judgment. These debts still have to be listed on your bankruptcy schedules, but they do not disqualify you. Where a dollar figure is needed for plan purposes, the court can make a reasonable estimation used only for eligibility and plan treatment, not to set what you ultimately owe.
Joint Filers Don’t Get Double Limits
Married couples can file a joint Chapter 13 petition, but the ceilings do not double. A joint filing aggregates both spouses’ debts and measures the totals against the same $526,700 and $1,580,125 caps that apply to a single filer.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor The statute treats joint debtors’ unsecured debts in the aggregate, not as separate debts measured against separate limits.
If the combined numbers run over, one option is for only the spouse whose individual debts fit within the ceilings to file alone. The non-filing spouse’s separate debts drop out of the calculation, though jointly held debts still count.
If Your Debts Are Over the Limit
Exceeding either ceiling closes the door on Chapter 13, but it does not close the door on bankruptcy. The alternatives are more expensive and more procedurally involved.
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 is the primary alternative for individuals whose debts exceed the Chapter 13 ceilings. It has no debt limit, and like Chapter 13 it lets you propose a reorganization plan.7United States Courts. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Basics The IRS specifically identifies Chapter 11 as the route for individuals who exceed Chapter 13 limits.8Internal Revenue Service. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy – Reorganization
The costs are substantially higher. The court filing fee is $1,738, compared with $313 for Chapter 13. Chapter 11 debtors also owe quarterly fees to the U.S. Trustee based on disbursements during each quarter, with a minimum of $250 per quarter even if nothing was distributed, and those fees keep accruing until the case closes, converts, or is dismissed.9U.S. Department of Justice. Chapter 11 Quarterly Fees Attorney fees are higher as well, driven by the greater number of filings and procedural steps.
Subchapter V of Chapter 11
If total debts are below $3,024,725, you may qualify for Subchapter V of Chapter 11, a streamlined process built for small business debtors.10U.S. Department of Justice. Subchapter V It is faster and cheaper than standard Chapter 11, and it does not carry the quarterly U.S. Trustee fees. For someone over the Chapter 13 ceilings but well under $3 million in total debt, Subchapter V is the middle path worth asking an attorney about.
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 eliminates most unsecured debts without a repayment plan, but it works on different terms. You must pass an income-based means test, and non-exempt property can be sold to pay creditors.11U.S. Department of Justice. Means Testing Chapter 7 also lacks the tools that make Chapter 13 valuable for people trying to keep property: no curing of mortgage arrears to stop a foreclosure, no cramdowns on car loans, no stripping of junior liens. If holding on to specific property is the point, Chapter 7 usually is not the answer.