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Who Needs This Kind Of Help With Debts

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy alternative

Eliminate your unsecured debt sooner than you ever thought possible. That’s the promise of one debt settlement company. It’s in their contract, not just their ads.  It must be so. The pitch preys on people’s profound desire to do the right thing.  Most people want desperately to pay their debts and avoid the “horror” that […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights Tagged With: bankruptcy alternatives

5 Lies About Bankruptcy That Enrich Creditors

By Cathy Moran

lies about bankruptcy

If the truth will make you (debt) free, your creditors are motivated to lie about bankruptcy. After all, if you think there is no palatable alternative to making payments to them forever, you’ll keep filling their pockets each month. So, there’s no upside for a creditor in feeding you good information about bankruptcy. After all, […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights

Stop Making Quarterly Tax Payments & Stay Within The Law

By Cathy Moran

quarterly tax payment

Uncle Sam expects a quarterly tax payment from the self employed.  Since you don’t get a paycheck with regular tax withholding, the burden’s on you. Lighten the burden. Make this the last quarterly tax payment you pay. Seriously.  Don’t make any quarterly payments for this coming year. Think I’m advocating tax resistance?  No way. The tax collectors […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: self employed taxes

Is This Really The Season For Credit Card Debt Forgiveness?

By Cathy Moran

debt forgiveness deception

CBS’s article “How to prepare for credit card debt forgiveness this April” constitutes a serious disservice to its readers. It touts those debt foregivess programs who prey on the desire of most people to pay their debts to the extent they can, offering a supposed path out of debt that’s largely illusory. At bottom, the […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2025, debt management, debt relief, debt settlement

What Is Really Scary About Debt Collectors

By Cathy Moran

Debt collectors as sharks?

When I tell a client to stop paying credit cards, they look at me as though I’d suggested they jump into shark-infested waters. “But they’ll start calling me”, they wail. “I’ll be sent to collection“. In their mind, “collection” is a real place, with manacles dangling, barred windows, and water dripping down moldy dungeon walls. Turns out […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights

What Happens To Your Business in Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

business in bankruptcy

Before you file bankruptcy, you need to know what happens to your business in your bankruptcy. And like so many things, there’s no single, simple answer. Two factors drive the fate of the business. One is whether the business is itself a legal entity, like a corporation or LLC. The second is what chapter you […]

Filed Under: Featured, Small business Tagged With: 2025, business, corporation, llc

Do You Qualify for Chapter 13: The Debt Limits

By Cathy Moran

13 debt limits

Chapter 13 debt limits are one of the eligibility requirements to file for this form of bankruptcy reorganization. The test has two prongs: unsecured debt and secured debt. Come in under each prong and you meet the debt limits test. For cases filed on April 1, 2025 and afterwards, the Chapter 13 debt limits are: […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2025, chapter 13, debt limits

Bankruptcy Alphabet: F is for First

By Cathy Moran

In my Bankruptcy Alphabet, F is for First meeting of creditors. Lots of rumors exist about the that meeting; it produces unwarranted anxiety that is avoidable if you understand what’s up. Let’s check it out. The first meeting of creditors, also called the 341 meeting, is often the only time a debtor has to appear […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 341, first meeting, trustee meeting

Why File Bankruptcy? It’s Your Life Expectancy

By Cathy Moran

paying debts

Increasing life spans and the demise of pension plans is why filing bankruptcy now makes sense. Old debt has a way of sucking the air out of today’s budget. You can’t make repairs to your car or see to needed health care or accumulate an emergency cushion because you’re still paying for stuff you bought […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2017, IRA, retirement, savings

What You Think About Chapter 13 Is Dead Wrong

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy misunderstanding

The difference between bankruptcy’s Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 is often expressed this way:    Chapter 7 is a liquidation proceeding Chapter 13 is a repayment plan And therein lies the biggest misconception about Chapter 13:  13 does not necessarily repay everything you owe. It’s a repayment plan alright, but not necessarily a 100% repayment . […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured Tagged With: 2018, chapter 13, repayment

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Bankruptcy Basics

About The Soapbox

You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

Cheat Sheet For Passing Bankruptcy Means Test

The bankruptcy means test has a fatal weakness in its attempt to keep people out of bankruptcy. Like so much recently, it's health care. It's health care, in the future, to be paid before your creditors get any money in your bankruptcy. It works because, in a logic that only Congress could employ, the means … Read more

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