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Can You Be Arrested For Not Paying Your Debts?

By Cathy Moran

Despite the story spread all over about federal marshals arresting a man for an unpaid student loan, people aren’t arrested for debt. And Fox News got the story wrong.  The man was not arrested because he owed money he hadn’t paid. He was arrested for blowing off a court order that he appear in court. […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Student loans Tagged With: 2016

Financial Literacy Building Block: Compound Interest

By Cathy Moran

financial literacy building blocks

    Albert Einstein said compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. Those who understand it, earn it.  He who doesn’t, pays it. In other word, it’s a double edged sword. Terrific if you’re earning it.  Debilitating if you’re paying it. And compound interest is a fundamental building block of personal financial literacy. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Managing Money, Student loans Tagged With: 2016

The Killer Rule That Zaps Private Student Loans

By Cathy Moran

private student loan

Got private student loans? I’ve got good news and bad news. Bad news first. Private Student Loans Inflexible Private student loans have no built in mechanisms for deferment and forbearances, like government-backed loans do. There are no income based repayment plans, as there are with federal student loans.’  No “outs” for disability or schools that close […]

Filed Under: Strictly California, Student loans

Congress Considers Making Student Loans Dischargeable in Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

student loan discharge legislation

A newly introduced bill in Congress would make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy, as they were decades ago. The bi-partisan bill is sponsored  by  Democrat John Delaney of Maryland and Republican John Katco of New York. Any change to the law touching discharging student loans is a long way down the pike.  But this is a […]

Filed Under: Featured, Student loans, Uncategorized Tagged With: 2017

Why These Student Loans Got Discharged In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

student loan discharge

Discharging the student loans of a truck driver who lived in his employer’s truck or in a homeless shelter, the bankruptcy court found that repaying $37,000 in student loans from 20 years ago would be an undue hardship. Good call, but why does the decision excite? Student loans do get discharged in bankruptcy, sometimes.  This […]

Filed Under: Featured, Student loans

Get Out From Under Student Loans In Half The Time

By Cathy Moran

Work full time for a governmental agency or non-profit, and you can discharge your federal student loans after 10 years of payments. Regardless of the balance. Tax free. And regardless of the job you hold in a qualifying employer. Rich man, poor man, Beggar man, thief. Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief ! Not sure about these […]

Filed Under: Student loans

Student loans: sinking the parents

By Cathy Moran

The numbers on repayment of a student loan for four years at a private university are brutal. No matter how enriching the education, the loan may be the financial death of the graduate. But what sorrows me is the plight of the parents of those same students who have guaranteed or cosigned those loans. Cosignor equally liable […]

Filed Under: Student loans

Student loans ensnare parents

By Cathy Moran

Should you guarantee a student loan, asks my good friend Doug Jacobs.  His is the cool, reasoned analysis.  I want to jump up and down and say DON”T DO IT. It pains me to say that.  My undergraduate education was funded in part with modest student loans.  I believe education is the key to much […]

Filed Under: Student loans

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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 on how I think law should work for the consumer and small businesses when it comes to debt.

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

How Bankruptcy Works

What You Left Out Of Your Bankruptcy Schedules

One of the first questions a bankruptcy trustee will ask you at the hearing in your bankruptcy case is:  did you read the schedules before you signed them? The obvious, and expected, answer is YES. And if your answer is "yes", then the trustee can conclude that you stand behind the information that the … Read more

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