If you are one of the 7 million Americans late on your car payments and living in fear that your car will be repossessed, consider how Chapter 13 bankruptcy can save your wheels. Losing your car can accelerate a torrent of nasty financial consequences. No car, no way to work. No work, no income. So, […]
How One Family Settled Huge Debt For Pennies
When he started the Chapter 13 trek, he owed $370,000 in personal loans and credit cards. As he completes his plan, he will have settled that debt for three cents on the dollar. No tax is due on the forgiven debt and no listed creditor can legally come back to try to collect the difference. […]
Debt Limits Increase For Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
New debt limits for Chapter 13 become effective on April Fool’s Day, 2019. The new numbers are effective for cases filed April 1, 2019 and will control for the next 3 years. And those limits are: Unsecured debt = $ 419,175 Secured debt = $$1,257,850 The current limits effective through March 31, 2019 are unsecured debt […]
Cut Tax Penalties In Bankruptcy
Get in tax trouble and the penalties often grow huge. What starts as a manageable problem can soon tower over you. Breathe deep; there is a solution. Chapter 13 bankruptcy can cut tax penalties down to size. All tax penalties discharged in 13 Old or new, large or small, Chapter 13 discharges all unsecured tax […]
Bankruptcy Without A Discharge: Why Chapter 20 Works
What does a Chapter 13 bankruptcy get you if it doesn’t get you a discharge? Lots, actually. It’s complicated. Powerful, but complicated. Let’s see how all the parts interact when your Chapter 13 is filed before you’re eligible for a discharge. Law limits discharge The bankruptcy code doesn’t limit when you can file bankruptcy; it […]
4 Keys To Chapter 13 Success
How do I make a Chapter 13 plan that succeeds? That’s important because a successful Chapter 13 lets you keep your assets, keep control of your income, and discharge more debts than any other form of bankruptcy. Yet a distressing number of Chapter 13’s fail before they reach the finish line. Debtor writes the plan […]
3 Real Reasons Chapter 13 Plans Fail
Two out of three confirmed Chapter 13 cases fail. Those are cases that met all the tests and got the judge’s OK. And still they crater. That’s a heap of people, deeply in debt, who don’t make it out of debt by using Chapter 13. Arizona bankruptcy lawyer John Skiba has a theory about […]
Sloppy Mortgage Servicers Prey On Borrowers
Given the way they behave, you’d think mortgage servicers actually flew a pirate flag over their operations. They cash your check for the mortgage payment, then who knows what they do with it and what they credit it to. Outside of bankruptcy, screw ups in handling your payments are a breach of the contract […]
Discharged Debts Don’t Bar Chapter 20 Lien Strip
Underwater liens that linger after an earlier bankruptcy don’t count in Chapter 13. At least, they don’t count against the unsecured debt limit that restricts entry into Chapter 13, says the 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel in Free. Great news for homeowners for whom Chapter 13 was not initially available because they exceeded the debt limits. […]
Social Security Safe In Bankruptcy
The Chapter 13 trustee objected to the debtors’ repayment plan because they did not plan to devote their Social Security income to repaying creditors. And, he complained, they proposed to keep and pay for vehicles that are luxury items. The plan is not proposed in good faith, he claimed, as required by the Bankruptcy Code. The […]
