Someone going by the moniker “Good Nelly”, on a debt consolidation site, writes about 6 reasons not to file bankruptcy. Well, let me go through them. 1. Your credit is badly hit. Why are you contemplating bankruptcy if you have good credit? Now, sometimes foresighted people call me right when they get laid off, or…
“We can settle your debt for pennies on the dollar!” You don’t hear those ads as much as we used to, because the federal government finally clamped down with FTC regulations 7 months ago. “Settle your debts for 60, 70 as much as 85% off!” What these debt settlement companies left off their spiel was…
(image from Dr. Mark Goulston web site) They are scams! Almost every debt settlement company is out to take advantage of people desperate to avoid bankruptcy. They make verbal promises that are NOT backed up in their written contracts, which always refuse to guarantee results. They take money out of your bank account every month,…
(image from Wall Street Journal) Jessica Silver-Greenberg wrote about debt buyers at the end of last year, but the information is still timely. Companies like Portfolio Recovery Associates, which used many affidavits, like the one pictured, from a person who died before the date on the affidavit. Bad debts are sold in bundles of thousands…
OK, not exactly a Christmas season image, but we continue our discussion of zombie debt, a/k/a junk debt. How to fight back? Have your credit report. The zombies have used a tactic called: re-aging. Yeah, I know, aging is bad enough, why do it again? Because, debt has to be taken off your credit report…
How does a company you never even heard of, sue you? It might say, somewhere in the court papers, an old debt you may have owed was assigned to the company suing you. Or, to some other company you never heard of, and then to the one suing you. A buyer of junk debt. Here…
You are sued by a company you never heard of. Somewhere in the papers, it says some debt you may have owed was assigned to the company suing you. A junk debt buyer. A Michigan resident called me last week. He had made a deal with a collection agency to settle a debt on a…
Unfortunately, if you are behind on your bills, your credit is already be bad. Bankruptcy will probably not make things any worse. A bankruptcy can appear on your credit record for ten years from the date your case was filed. Bankruptcy discharges out your old debts, you will be in a better position to pay…
This is one of the truths in the Money Myths chapter of Dave Ramsey‘s Total Money Makeover. And born out in the experience of my clients, though they often think that debt collectors are our friends. Recently, a client, sat across from me and said she liked the guy at the debt scam company. That…
There is no clear answer to this question. unfortunately, if you are behind on your bills, your credit may already be bad. Bankruptcy will probably not make things any worse. The fact that you’ve filed a bankruptcy can appear on your credit record for ten years from the date your case was filed. But because…
