Here are seven easy steps to pay off high interest rate credit cards.  In fact these tips show you how to eliminate high interest accounts entirely and how to perform simple regular maintenance adjustments to keep your credit accounts within reasonable limits.

1.  Fingerprint your credit cards.  On a simple word document or piece of paper list each card by name, redacted account number [last 4 digits], credit limit, balance and interest rate.  On the next line list the telephone number of the customer service department so you can obtain account balance information and discuss account terms.  On the third line list the minimum balance due and the due date.  This information becomes your handy dandy credit card fingerprint.  It gives you a mugshot of your available credit, your total debt, the interest rate charged to each account and your next payment due information. Read the rest

“I’ll just give my car to my niece.”  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that or something similar from a client about to file bankruptcy.

Sometimes the client has the best of intentions: “she’s about to graduate college and I always promised her a car for a graduation present.”  Or, the client is just re-paying an old debt: “she lent me money a couple of years ago and I want to re-pay it.”

If the property has not been transferred, at least I can counsel my clients not to do so at the present time.  And if the gift or repayment has already occurred it may be that the property can be returned before the bankruptcy filing.

If the transfer of property cannot be undone or the client forgets to mention it until after the bankruptcy is filed, there can be grave consequences. Read the rest

So what happens to your security clearance if you file for bankruptcy protection?  Is it revoked? Will you be terminated from your job?  Will you be demoted?  Does your salary decrease?

While there are bankruptcy code provisions that regulate the public and private sector over discriminations in employment when one files for bankruptcy protection, most employers also have policies and procedures they abide by when when is comes to determining future security clearances after bankruptcy.

To start, the Bankruptcy Code provides at 11 USC 525 that employment discriminations are prohibited by public and private employers against individuals that file for bankruptcy protection: Read the rest

All my bags are packed.  I’m ready to go.  Got my code in hand and I’m leavin on a jet plane.  Don’t know when I’m coming back.

Tomorrow I leave for Tuscon and the start of another National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Convention.  You can always tell the NACBA Lawyer when they are heading to the convention.  They are wide eyed and ready learn new things to help thier clients, meet others laweys and of course have a good time.

You can always spot them leaving.  They are worn out but have a glow. These lawyers are ready to return to their towns all fired up and ready to help debtors. Read the rest

Any reader of the Massachusetts Homestead Act must conclude that it only protects homes from contracts incurred after the declaration is recorded. This is not true in the bankruptcy context.

This reading was first confirmed by the Van Rye Massachusetts bankruptcy court decision in 1995. A different bankruptcy judge then ruled otherwise in the 1996 Boucher decision, declaring that only Congress could define which debts were discharged and which were not, and nothing from Congress went to the timing of the homestead declaration’s filing. I was one of the 20,000 or so attorneys who fell out of our chairs over the shock of this ruling.

Two other Massachusetts judges ruled in favor of the 1996 Boucher decision. The Van Rye judge stood firm in his 1997 decision (Fracasso). A number of the cases went up on appeal and the First Circuit held in 1998 in favor of that 1996 Boucher decision (Patriot Portfolio, LLC v. Weinstein). The U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept a further appeal.

So it’s fine to record a homestead declaration after a contracted debt and protect your home in bankruptcy, but be absolutely certain that the declaration is recorded before the bankruptcy filing. Read the rest

Clients who fail the bankruptcy “Means Test” and have to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case look at me as though they have been given a death sentence.  I  reassure them that Chapter 13 bankruptcy is not the end of the world.

The fact of the matter is that they are almost always usually much better off in Chapter 13 then they ever would have been without filing bankruptcy at all.  If you fail the means test, you may not be able to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  While the thought of filing Chapter 7 and walking away from all unsecured debts is tempting, Chapter 13 can reduce payments to a very low percentage of what is owe.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy plans consolidate all payments into one payment, so many people find that it is easier not having to worry about juggling payments.  There are many advantages to  Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  Read the rest

Bankruptcy Law Network member and author, Craig Andresen of Bloomington, Minnesota, has been named Member of the Month for October 2009 by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

He is the tenth member of Bankruptcy Law Network to be recognized as member of the month for service to NACBA and the field of consumer bankruptcy law.  Others named are Kurt O’Keefe, Susanne Robicsek and Brett Weiss in 2008, Cathy Moran, Peter Orville and Wendell Sherk in 2007, and Karen Oakes, Jill Michaux and Gene Melchionne in 2006.

According to the NACBA newsletter, ‘Craig especially enjoys cases that might not be easy or that might involve challenges from adverse parties.  And he offers the following perspective on the origins of bankruptcy protection:  ‘I’m fond of remembering that the idea of periodic debt forgiveness came to Western civilization by means of the Old Testament. It’s so ingrained in our culture that even non-attorneys seem to know there’s something immutable about Chapter 7 and the need to forgive debt when it’s necessary.’ ” Read the rest

If you have received a dismissal in your Chapter13 you should immediately be in touch with your bankruptcy lawyer to go over your options.

The dismissal mean you have not completed your Chapter 13 and the court has dismissed your case. You are almost back in the same situation as you were before you filed bankruptcy. You may actually be in a worse scenario.

There are also sorts of things that can happen as soon as you are dismissed so it is important to contact your lawyer immediately. Read the rest

A change in the Median Family Income used to determine eligibility to file a bankruptcy changes on November 1, 2009.

The Median Family Income for Louisiana beginning November 1, 2009 is as follows:

One Person:       $37,464.00

Two Persons:     $48,287.00

Three Persons:  $53,461.00

Four Persons:    $66,256.00

For each additional person in the household and additional $6,900.00 is allowed.