The long awaited on again, off again, multi-state settlement between the Attorneys General of our various states and the mortgage company rapists, uh, crooks, is apparently on again. Unless this is your first trip to this blog, let me end the suspense: the proposed settlement is: image credit: dreamstime Sorry to ruin the ending. What…
Tag Archive: personal finance
Mystery: Credit Card Offer After Bankruptcy?
(image credit: dreamstime) You have your bankruptcy discharge, and now, you get an offer in the mail for: another credit card! It feels great! You thought it would take years to “build up” your credit again! You just wiped out thousands of dollars of credit card debt. Why would the bank send you an offer…
Credit Cards Are NOT The Problem
Credit cards are neither good nor bad; they have no intrinsic moral quality. Just like a baseball bat; depends how you use it. Hit a home run? Cool. Break someone’s head? Not so much. Yes, that one is subjective. It is possible to use credit cards without going overboard, pay the balance every month, get…
Forgiveness Of Debt Income, What Everyone Ought To Know
DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IN THIS POST IS MEANT AS TAX ADVICE, CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL Some of my clients were about to pay income tax because of 1099-C forms received on rental properties they had abandoned. I was stunned. These people were bankruptcy clients, who had already filed Chapter 7 and received discharges. So they no longer…
Mortgage Balance Not Reaffirmed?
Had a different question last week, from someone who did not reaffirm her mortgage in her Chapter 7 case, kept current on the payments, but wanted to pay off the balance for less than what was owed on the mortgage balance. REAFFIRMATION Just to review, reaffirmation is the process for you to obligate yourself…
Michigan Bankruptcy Mortgage Options (Part Two)
This is the conclusion of a two part series, part one on bankruptcy mortgage options can be found here. Now, you cannot force the mortgage company to foreclose, or take your house back. They might agree to a short sale, but, as with a modification, you cannot force it on them. They might accept a…
Michigan Bankruptcy Mortgage Options
MICHIGAN BANKRUPTCY MORTGAGE OPTIONS Part One You owe more on your mortgage than your house is worth, you want to leave, what are your options? You Cannot Afford The Payments If you cannot afford the payments, you will not be able to keep your house, unless you get a modification from the mortgage company. You…
Cities Can File Bankruptcy Too
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,…
If I File Bankruptcy In Michigan, What Happens To My House?
The first question is: What do you want to happen to your house in bankruptcy? What do you do about mortgage payments? There is nothing automatic; you are not required to keep or leave your house in Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Let’s start with Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Assuming you have no equity in…
