The headline was compelling: The 5 Dumbest Things You Can Do If You Have Too Much Debt. I even liked the site’s name: How Life Works. That’s the tagline I’d like to use for my work at ConsumerLedger. I could make my own list of dumb ways to tackle debt, but better if someone else […]
Filing Bankruptcy Is All About Your Future
The decision to file bankruptcy is usually driven by threats from creditors to take something from you, now. Do nothing and your creditor can levy your bank account or garnish your wages. More about how lawsuits work It’s all too human to put off a difficult step like filing bankruptcy until those threats seem real and […]
Even The Rich & Famous File Bankruptcy
ESPN tweeted the names of some 60 professional athletes who have filed bankruptcy and asked which names surprised the Twittersphere. Included were Johnny Unitas, Bernie Kosar, Mike Tyson, Dorothy Hamill, Gaylord Perry of my very favorite baseball team, and Roscoe Tanner, from my very favorite university. While titillating reading, none of them surprised me. Bankruptcy is not […]
Miracles Possible in Mortgage Mess
INVOKE THE SECOND DIVINE MIRACLE OF THE VANISHING EQUITY Why Many Homeowners Need to Run, Not Walk, to Bankruptcy Court and File for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. The world has many sacred sites. Places that inspire great faith. Places where people go to express, renew, and sometimes discover their faith. Rome, Mecca, and the Holy Land […]
Changing view of when to file bankruptcy
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Lanning and the application of the infamous “means test” to a client’s changing income picture has changed my advice about when to file bankruptcy. My standard advice to clients newly unemployed who see clearly they won’t be able to pay their existing bills has been to wait. Wait until […]
What happened to encouraging Chapter 13
Used to be, bankruptcy law was organized to encourage debtors to file Chapter 13 and repay some part of their debts. Some part of that encouragement came in the form of the Super Discharge: the ability to discharge debts incurred by bad acts; unfiled tax debt from long past tax years; and unfiled claims in […]
What if you choose an alternative to bankruptcy
I’ve continued to think about my response to David Leibowitz’s discussion of getting out of debt without bankruptcy. My first response focused on the choices inherent in paying off creditors outside of bankruptcy. I forgot to point out the efficacy issue: if you try to pay off your debts via settlement, it takes only one […]
Financial worries can make you fat
I wrote earlier that stress is a real and serious threat to physical health that needs to be factored in to the discussion about bankruptcy and the alternatives. Recent studies suggest that stress may also lead to obesity. Individuals in debt tend to see their debts as a financial problem, when those debts are also […]
Debt Debilitates
The U.S. Armed Services recently disclosed that a significant number of service personnel cannot be deployed overseas because of their personal debts. The military says that excessive debt both distracts from job performance and makes the G.I. vulnerable to corruption. Civilians buried in debt try, to their credit, to soldier on through debt, reluctant to […]
IRS warns of credit counseling fraud
The IRS’s list of its annual “Dirty Dozen” tax frauds includes credit counseling. Credit Counseling Agencies. Taxpayers should be careful with credit counseling organizations that claim they can fix credit ratings, push debt payment plans or impose high set-up fees or monthly service charges that may add to existing debt. The IRS Tax Exempt and […]
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