Irony by Perjury Adds Insult to Injury: from Lender Robo-signing to Foreclosed Homeowners Begging for Scraps from the National Mortgage Fraud Settlement
Homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure may need to commit perjury to get restitution payments through the settlement. That would be the deepest kind of insult on injury.
Who Is the “Bankruptcy Trustee” and How Can He or She Help or Hurt Me?
The three kinds of trustees in consumer bankruptcy have tremendous power over you. So it’s important to know what they do, and how to stay in their good graces. I’ll introduce them in this blog—the Chapter 7 trustee, the Chapter 13 trustee, and the United States Trustee. Then in upcoming blogs I’ll tell you more […]
Update on the Cash Distribution to Foreclosed Homeowners from the National Mortgage Fraud Settlement
What qualifies you to receive the $1,500 to $2,000 restitution payment for losing your home to foreclosure? More clues have just become available.
Dealing with Accusations of Business Fraud through Bankruptcy
When a small business fails, its owner or employee is sometimes accused of causing or hastening that failure through fraud or other intentional bad behavior. If that person is already considering filing a bankruptcy to deal with the financial fallout of the closing of the business, how are those accusations going to be handled in that bankruptcy case?
The Huge Advantages of Dealing with “Priority” Debts in Chapter 13
Chapter 13 is usually a much better tool than Chapter 7 for tackling priority debts. In my blog on Tuesday, April 17, I showed how Chapter 7 CAN be a good tool to pay off or pay down your priority debts—which are mostly back child/spousal support payments and taxes. BUT it takes an unusual situation […]
Protecting Yourself When Your Business Has to Throw in the Towel
If you’re seriously considering closing down a struggling business, you are likely very concerned about personal damage control: how do you end the business without being pulled down with it?
Do I Have Any “Priority” Debts and Why Are They Such a Big Deal?
As you likely know, all your debts are not treated equally in bankruptcy. Most debts can be discharged (legally written-off), but some can’t, or can only be under certain circumstances. Some debts are unsecured while others are secured by collateral. How the secured debts are treated depends on the collateral’s value, and whether you are […]
Your Sole Proprietorship Business Rescued by Chapter 13
Do you have a small business in your own name that would be successful if it only got a break from its debts? A Chapter 13 case would likely greatly reduce both your business and personal monthly debt service while you continued to run your business.
Is the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) 2.0 New and Improved Enough to Help YOU?
Under new rules coming on line, HARP is now available for refinances no matter how far your home is underwater. The 125% loan-to-value cap is no more.
Does availability of credit increase or decrease bankruptcy filings? Both!
Do more people file bankruptcy when credit is available, or rather when credit gets squeezed? Law Professor Robert Lawless argues: “The long-term growth in U.S. consumer bankruptcies closely tracks the long-term growth in U.S. consumer debt. When the financial crisis hit, consumer credit dried up, and outstanding consumer debt experienced unprecedented declines. There are fewer […]