Weekly Posts

Linda Pays through Beyond Finance and Gets Garnished

06/25/22

Linda Pays Mariner $6113 through Beyond Finance. Then She Gets Garnished Linda Cash (not her real name) wanted to clear her debts without filing bankruptcy. As an alternative to bankruptcy, she signed up for Beyond Finance. Linda needed Beyond Finance to help her with Mariner. (She originally borrowed $5383, got behind, and now owed Mariner […]

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Alternatives to Bankruptcy–Disappear

06/20/22

Alternatives to bankruptcy–disappear One alternative to bankruptcy is to just disappear.  Why am I bringing this up, now? This week somebody asked Quora (a website I follow) how to legally disappear.  The answer, sign up for a Caribbean cruise. Get off at the Virgin Islands. Don’t get back on. For most people, bankruptcy works. But when […]

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One Way to Get Ready for Recession: Bankruptcy

06/17/22

Get Ready for a Recession Michelle Singletary in Wednesday’s Washington Post writes about getting ready for a recession.  Two pieces of her advice: clear your credit card debt; and start saving. Suppose the recession hits hard ten months from now–April 2023.  Will your credit cards be paid off?  If there’s a lot of slack in […]

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Are Changes on the Way for Bankruptcy and Student Loans?

06/11/22

Are Changes on the Way for Bankruptcy and Student Loans? There’s one big change Joe Biden can make (without Congress) so people who can’t afford to pay their student loans can clear them in bankruptcy. During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised to help people who can’t pay their student loans.  So far, he’s helped […]

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Bankruptcy and Depression

05/14/22

Bankruptcy and Depression: No, I’m Not a Doctor This post is about bankruptcy and depression. No, I’m not a doctor. (Actually my law school degree says I’m a JD– a juris doctor). But I see depressed people a lot. And because I see it a lot, I’ve read up on it. The VA says that […]

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Solving Your Debt Problems By Doing Nothing.

05/04/22

For some people on Social Security, Doing Nothing About Debt Problems Works Fine I tell a couple people a month there’s no reason to file bankruptcy. Most often older people who have no income except for social security. For them, there’s often no reason to file bankruptcy. Here’s why. People File Bankruptcy for Three Reasons […]

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Colorado Bankruptcy Homestead Just Increased to $250,000

05/01/22

In Bankruptcy, Can I Protect the Equity in My House? Bankruptcy is set up by the Federal government, but each state sets its own rules on how much equity you can protect if you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  That protection is called your homestead exemption.  In April 2022, Colorado raised their homestead exemption from $75,000 […]

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Penalties for Bankruptcy Fraud

04/30/22

April 2022 saw courts dish out two big penalties for Bankruptcy Fraud. In April 2022, over in the UK, former tennis great Boris Becker was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for bankruptcy fraud: hiding $3 million in assets during his case. Becker had landed bankruptcy in the UK back in 2017, because of a […]

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After Paying for Ten Years, Nina Got Public Service Student Loan Debt Forgiveness

01/30/22

After Paying for Ten Years, Nina Got Public Service Student Loan Debt Forgiveness There’s very little bankruptcy law can do to help people with student loans. But as a bankruptcy lawyer, I can at least give people good advice.   Since 2017, I started steering people who seemed eligible to Public Service Student Loan Debt […]

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Alternatives to Bankruptcy: Credit Counselling Debt Management

01/10/22

Alternatives to Bankruptcy: Money Management Credit Counselling For high income people who can’t quite handle their debt, “credit counselling” can be an alternative to bankruptcy. Credit counselling services–the kind I’m talking about anyway–have agreements with the major credit cards on what payments they will accept through their program.  Professional and ethical standards for credit counselling […]

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