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Your Right To Credit Reporting After Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

credit report after bankruptcy

You’ve finished your Chapter 13 and emerged from bankruptcy with your home loan current. But your credit report is a blank page as to your mortgage. The mortgage servicer isn’t reporting your payments to the credit reporting agencies [CRA’s].   Nothing. Nada.  Crickets. So, even though you’re making regular payments, you’re not visibly rebuilding your credit. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Life after bankruptcy Tagged With: 2017, credit reporting

Bankruptcy Schedules Are More Than Just Paperwork

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy papers

Bankruptcy paperwork can make you feel like you are drowning in paper. There’s your paper; there’s the paper your lawyer needs.  And there’s the paper the court insists on. Why bankruptcy schedules worth the work It’s easy to try to skate. To cut corners.  To shut down. But that paper is critical. Nearly every question, […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017

Find The Hidden Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

MORTAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION

Is your Chapter 13 plan  paying back mortgage payments that were delinquent when you filed bankruptcy? If so, a mortgage interest tax deduction lurks, unclaimed, in the trustee’s records. Track down that tax deduction, add it to your tax return, and you reduce your federal income tax burden. But it’s difficult because, for reasons I […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, Taxes Tagged With: 2017, tax deductions

No House, No Discharge When Chapter 13 Goes Off Script

By Cathy Moran

Chapter 13 alarm

Sound the alarm. Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases are getting dismissed right and left when debtors fail to make mortgage payments. What began as a trickle of Chapter 13 cases ending badly has become a torrent. More and more, bankruptcy judges are strictly enforcing the direct pay term of Chapter 13 plans. If your plan says […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017

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, Featured Tagged With: 2017, IRA, retirement, savings

Bankruptcy Busts Taxes If The Timing Is Right

By Cathy Moran

taxes dischargeable

Got unpaid taxes for 2019?  Three tax discharge timing rules control when those taxes can be wiped out in bankruptcy. On April 15, 2023 those taxes reached the end of the line as priority claims in bankruptcy.  Or, the magic date may be October 15, 2023, if you got an extension to file the return. […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: 2017, bankruptcy timing, discharge taxes

Does THIS Violate My Bankruptcy Discharge?

By Cathy Moran

discharge violation

When creditors contact you after your bankruptcy, you need to know what actions violate the discharge, and which are permitted by law. Having been through the financial wringer and having been proactive to get out from under old bills,  you hope for a tranquil and prosperous life after bankruptcy. When creditors violate the discharge, they […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017, collection, discharge

5 Essential Tips To Understand Your Mortgage Loan

By Cathy Moran

mortgage debt

Figuring out what your home loan balance is can be harder than a calculus exam. For most people, their mortgage is their biggest debt.  And their home is their most important asset. Yet, the people accounting for your payments are increasingly incapable of the very basics of their job.  And that makes your job, as […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2017

Can A Trust Protect You In Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

protect assets in bankruptcy

Can a living trust protect your assets in bankruptcy? Or, anywhere else? According to the lawyer advertising and the self-help books, everyone needs a living trust. The asset protection industry loves irrevocable trusts, another much touted trust. An irrevocable trust gets assets out of your name for all time. Unless of course, they are attacked in […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2017

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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

The Biggest Lie About Bankruptcy

Read anything about Chapter 7 and you get, "Your possessions are sold in Chapter 7 bankruptcy." That is, flat out, the biggest lie about bankruptcy. It's a liquidation proceeding and your stuff will be sold to pay creditors, the lie goes on. No wonder people are scared off from getting relief from debts they … Read more

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