Bankruptcy 101-

Before some Attorney accuses me of the unlawful practice of law, let me say this...I am not an attorney and this information is available to anyone who is willing to invest their time to find it. Nothing in this brief outline should be considered legal advice or considered a suggestion on how to resolve your financial situation. If you are considering bankruptcy, by all means see a qualified and experienced attorney.

A Chapter 13 filing is going to let you pay back some or all of your debt over time. But know this going in, part of your paycheck is going to go to a court appointed Trustee who will take care of paying some of your creditors. This is called pre-petition (before filing) debt. Another part of your income will be used to pay your post petition debt (after filing). These "post petition" payments will usually be your responsibility to pay directly to some of your creditors and usually includes your house payment, car installment or other secured debt. Secured debt is a loan or financial agreement where there is something of collateral to secure the debt.

Successfully completing a Chapter 13 can be tough for several reasons. Here is where a  a qualified and experienced bankruptcy attorney will come in handy.

A Chapter 7 filing is usually referred to as a liquidation filing. Years ago, you could file a Chapter 7 and discharge some of your debt entirely without much of a problem. But now you need to qualify for a Chapter 7 fling. This means that if you have too much disposable income or do not meet certain financial criteria, , you may need to filing a Chapter 13. If you are able to fle a Ch 7, you will receive a discharge in a few months which may relieve you of some of your debt...maybe. 

The rule of equity is big in bankruptcy court. This means if you are trying to avoid paying your debt, some creditors may seek to avoid their debt from being discharged. 

Let me guess....there is some head scratching, eyes a little strained and some are reaching for the hard liquor. Do yourself a favor and call a lawyer. There are some good ones and some so-so ones.

President Lincoln once said..."a lawyers advice is his/her stock in trade". Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions and how best you will benefit from filing bankruptcy or perhaps not filing one at all. 

Visit the internet for more information on bankruptcy. The more you know about the types you can file and how they may impact you, the better. It will make meeting with an Attorney a little less stressful.

Feedback to my post about creating a “get real budget”

Some friends called me this weekend about my recent post regarding budgets.

There was a distinct and clear tone in their voice…”Are you nuts? Give up my cable TV??"

OK, so they did not use the words “nuts” and there may have been the threat of physical violence if I did not stop making suggestions about their Smartphone or hanging out at McDonalds to use their WIFI instead of paying for it at home. I must admit that I may have let a couple of glasses of single malt scotch cloud my common sense a bit when i wrote that post but that is no reason to get uber mad at me.

Perhaps where I messed up the most was the fact that I don’t walk in your shoes. Perhaps you do need all these toys and technology. I always joke with my son about the countless hours he spends on his Xbox. I like to tell him that when I was growing up we did not have cell phones, video games (of course I am not counting Frogger or Paddle Tennis…those were the days!), no internet and no big screen TVs.

Somehow my 10 year old boy doesn't seem to believe that there was such a time. “Gee Dad; did ride on a dinosaur too?”- That one hurt a little.

You get my point though. One of my friends said that saving $20 here or $10 there would not make a big difference in creating a budget. Well regardless of where that $20 or $10 bucks come from, it sounds like $30 to me each month and $360.00 that you are saving a year.

One final thought on this topic. Let’s say you need a loan modification to save your house. You call your mortgage company and they ask you to go through your monthly debt…think I am kidding? Do not think for a minute that they will not run a credit report on you.

You start to list your monthly bills for them and they hear about cell phones, gym memberships, cable TV and your Sparkletts bill. Now put yourself in their shoes for a second.

Here is someone who is spending $100, $200 or even $300 per month on some things that might make that house payment a little easier to pay each month. Instead, they are working out at the gym. 

I mean no disrespect to anyone…honest. I just don’t get it, that’s all.

Loan Modification Assistance- Scams, Ripoffs...just plain sleaze!


You get home from work and go through the normal mountain of junk mail. Nothing really catches your eye except the one that claims to have a 99% customer satisfaction guarantee when it comes to helping distressed home owners get a loan modification from their mortgage company. 

A 99% satisfaction guarantee! Wow! Whats the number? I mean this company can get a loan modification from the same mortgage company that turned me down for a mod?

If it were that easy, everyone would own a loan modification company. In short, don't believe a word of it. You don't need to pay someone hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars to do what you can do yourself. These loan mod companies don't have a magic wand, a secret hotline to an internal partner and they most certainly should not be collecting any up front fees if they feel 99% sure that they can help you. 

As I have said in previous post, you can do this! Remember, I don't offer legal advice and I certainly do not guarantee that my ideas will work for you. 

I just want you to fight for what you believe in...your home, your family and in yourself.

Stay away from loan modification company's! Nuff said.