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. […]
Silicon Valley Horror Story: The Business Credit Card That Bit
I’ve long said that there is no credit card for which a real, live human being isn’t liable. (That may be an exaggeration, but not by much.) And I’ve long worried about the prospects for success of business startups financed on credit cards. But I’ve never seen a departing employee of a start up stuck […]
The One Person You Must Tell About Your Bankruptcy
Most people who file bankruptcy don’t want anyone else to know. Some of my clients try to hide their break for financial freedom from friends and neighbors. Others are worried about their boss finding out. Occasionally, someone will try to keep it from their mate. But trying to hide his bankruptcy nearly cost one client […]
The Flat Wrong 1099
When her soon-to-be-ex filed bankruptcy, my client got a 1099-C for the joint credit card. The form claimed that the debt was cancelled. Therefore, she had additional income equal to the card balance. Only, none of the statements on the 1099 were true. The debt wasn’t discharged as to the non filing spouse. One spouse’s […]
The Truth About Tax Liens After Bankruptcy
We have a lien on your name. Not your property, your name. That’s what the county tax collector told my client, years after he got his bankruptcy discharge. And that multi-thousand dollar lien claim threatened to sink the refinance of his house. Eventually, we got the county straightened out without going back to bankruptcy court, […]
Divorce And The Ticking Debt Bomb
Debts of the marriage often outlive the marriage itself. And, those left-over debts are nothing but trouble. But too often, divorcing couples don’t mop up the joint debts they held during the marriage, only to have the situation blows up years later when one ex-spouse hits financial trouble. Here’s a true story that illustrates the danger. […]
Why Your Mortgage Lender Won’t Send Statements After Bankruptcy
Lists of stupid laws are lots of fun, when they don’t really touch your life. But the law that gags mortgage lenders after bankruptcy isn’t funny. Preventing lenders from sending mortgage statements to homeowners after bankruptcy just sets families up for foreclosure and rewards servicers with the fees that follow default. It’s just a stupid […]
Hidden Dangers In Tapping The Reverse Mortgage Piggybank
Actor Fred Thompson used to appear on my Sunday morning news program every week touting the benefits of a “government insured”, safe, reverse mortgage. Get the money you deserve to live the good life, he urged. I’m watching the aftermath of that sales pitch play out for one of my clients, and it’s not “the […]
IRS Shakedown Happening In Bankruptcy Court
The latest IRS scam is happening in bankruptcy, out in the open. Now usually when I write about IRS scams, I’m talking about genuine bad guys either pretending to be the IRS to hijack your money or pretending to be you to the IRS, to hijack your money. But nobody is pretending in the trick […]
How Avoiding Probate Ended Up In Bankruptcy
Do it yourself seems so industrious and self reliant. And we’ve been bombarded with books, speeches and courses on the evils of probate. So, I guess it should be no surprise when people try DIY schemes to both avoid probate and avoid lawyers who create probate-avoiding trusts. Yet they forget an unavoidable truth: the transfer […]
