How does a city go bankrupt? Same way you or I do, spending more than it takes in, over-estimating revenue, under-estimating expenses, or just ignoring reality. Like the federal government, local governments spend OPM, other people’s money. Its just that only the Federal government can print money. We used to be a federation of states,…
What do the statistics tell us about the big picture for our economy now? That there will be more bankruptcies in Detroit, and everywhere else in Michigan, and the U.S. The foreclosure crisis continues, if you want chapter and verse, read “Reckless Endangerment.” Foreclosure sales are declining, but in judicial foreclosure states, which Michigan is…
“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…
Fallout from the Michigan Court of Appeals decision tossing out two foreclosures by MERS is sweeping the state of Michigan. Had a call yesterday from someone whose closing was canceled at the last minute, because, MERS had done the foreclosure and quit claimed the property to the bank, which had agreed to sell the home…
DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IN THIS POST IS MEANT AS TAX ADVICE, CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL I was shocked to hear that some of my clients were about to pay income tax because of 1099-C forms received on rental properties they had abandoned. Being my clients, they had already filed Chapter 7 and received discharges. Which means, no…
An essential part of the real estate bubble was mortgage securitization, the process by which mortgage loans were sold into investment trusts from which bonds were sold. It was mortgage fraud from A to Z, from the selling of mortgage backed securities trusts, before the trusts were full of mortgages. From the ratings agencies, assuming…
You may run a small business, that is, or is not, incorporated. If it is a corporation, the corporation has to file for Chapter 11 to get bankruptcy relief. But, you do not have to be a corporation to file for Chapter 11. You may run a store, own and rent a bunch of houses,…
(image from hikojune.xanga.com website) The means test was made law in 2005, at the behest of the creditor lobby to stop abusive bankruptcy filings, which were supposedly costing the average American family $400 per year.. An obtuse formula is used to weed out those who supposedly can afford to pay something to their…
(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,…
I love reading the Christian Finance blog, but have to vociferously disagree with part of a recent post there, the Home Financing part of which reads as follows: Enough can be determined by what the bank will loan us. Thus, we buy as much house as the bank is willing to lend us. According to…
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