Discharge Income Taxes in Bankruptcy?

In the American Bar Association Journal last week, I read about a California attorney who has been accused by the state attorney general of operating a “heartless scheme” that takes retainers from thousands of clients while doing little or nothing to help them. Yes, even lawyers can act like debt settlement companies, many of which take [...]

Charlotte’s in Deep Recession, What’s Your Financial Risk?

Earlier this summer Standard and Poors published an article that included data on Charlotte North Carolina home prices, reporting that home prices slipped 2.8% from last year (May 09 to May 10). The big picture: foreclosures, home prices, personal finance Foreclosures tend to drag down home prices, complicating the housing market’s struggle to recover. The [...]

Plenty of Reasons NOT to Modify Your Mortgage

More news on mortgage modification trends. The WSJ reports that borrowers who receive a permanent mortgage modification still have lots of other debt. The median ratio of total debt payments to pretax income stands at 63.5%.  This means 20% of borrowers  (or more) with permanent modifications are likely to re-default, primarily because of those high debt [...]

Financial Strategies to Employ Until the Economy Improves

The latest report from RealtyTrac concerning foreclosures  says, “The roller coaster pattern of foreclosure activity over the past 12 months demonstrates that while the foreclosure problem is being managed on the surface, a massive number of distressed properties and underwater loans continues to sit just below the surface, threatening the fragile stability of the housing [...]

Personal Loan Guarantees for Business

After forty years of helping small business owners with their financial difficulties, I wish more of them understood how the personal guarantee can send them into bankruptcy. It’s difficult for self-employed people and small business owners to get capital, and the lack of capital is a big part of the reason business owners file for [...]

Life After Bankruptcy

There are scores of inaccurate beliefs about what happens to someone after they’ve received bankruptcy protection.  What people read on the Internet, hear from friends and family, see in advertisements from “tax repair” services, “credit repair” services, “debt consolidation” services and the like is often (at best) misleading or misinformed, and (at worst) downright criminal. [...]

The Do Not Call Registry: Can It Stop Creditor Calls?

Last week I wrote about creditors that text collections messages to debtors’ cell phones.  We had a question from a reader about the legality of creditors using cell phones in light of the federal Do Not Call Registry. Specifically, if you place your cell phone on the Registry, are creditors prohibited from calling you? The [...]

Student Loans and Bankruptcy

On April 15 of this year The Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2010 was introduced to the House of Representatives calling for certain student loans to be eligible for discharge under bankruptcy. Time will tell whether the Act becomes law; if it does, it is likely to undergo substantial revisions prior to passage. [...]

A Roof Over Your Head or Your Credit Score?

Q:  I’m unemployed and will soon have to choose between paying the mortgage and paying my other debts. If the unemployment continues I’ll have to choose between feeding my family and paying any bills at all, including the mortgage. What can I do to preserve my credit score while I look for a job and [...]

Settle Debts or File For Bankruptcy Protection?

Sometimes I think people read our blog and wonder if everything we say is designed to get people to stop trying to pay their debts and just file for bankruptcy protection.  Then I come across a story like this about the downside of trying to settle debts either with or without involving a “debt settlement” [...]

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