A client asked me recently whether he should borrow from his 401k plan to settle his credit card debts, or file bankruptcy. Like many such questions, the answer depends on circumstances, but these are some factors to consider:

Everyone’s fear with filing bankruptcy: I will lose my house/car/retirement/bank accounts. (Second only to: I will lose my pride.) There are two lists of what one can protect. The protections are called “exemptions,” and the two lists are the federal exemptions and your home state’s own exemptions (but sometimes its your previous home state; that’s [...]

Sometimes a Chapter 7 bankruptcy becomes a bigger hassle than it was meant to be. The trustee wants to sell nonexempt assets or a creditor wants to file an adversary complaint objecting to the dischargeability of a debt and it just seems like it will never get resolved.
Unfortunately, you can’t just file a notice and [...]

Ever get the feeling it’s getting harder to achieve the American Dream? Sometimes you should go with your hunches.
A study by Isabel Sawhill for the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project this week explores how well men in each generation are doing compared to their fathers at similar ages. The report’s core [...]

The bankruptcy laws have always required a great deal of information and disclosure. The new laws added another level to the paperwork. Many people believe the additional information provides very little extra disclosure, but it certainly adds to the burdens of filing. Lawyers work very hard to get the information to prepare the bankruptcy petition [...]

I analyze things in terms of upside versus downside. Usually, there is no downside if you do not reaffirm on a mortgage in Michigan.
We are a foreclosure by publication state, although there is a judicial foreclosure option, which takes longer, and so costs more money.  In the vast majority of cases, the mortgage company bids [...]

Debt collectors can make your life miserable. Repeated, angry phone calls at home. Inappropriate calls at work. Nasty letters. It’s enough to make you want to disconnect your phone and tell the mailman you’ve gone on an extended trip.
You don’t have to. There are federal and state laws that protect you from debt collection tactics, [...]

Collection agents are usually rude, nasty, abusive and just plain mean. Their anger and apparent interest in you is phony, however; this is “impersonal anger” with a goal. The goal is to get you to pay them.
Today, with debt buyers roving the landscape snapping up old debt (and in some cases *very* old debt—I successfully [...]

Debt collectors can make your life miserable. Repeated, angry phone calls at home. Inappropriate calls at work. Nasty letters. It’s enough to make you want to disconnect your phone and tell the mailman you’ve gone on an extended trip.
You don’t have to. There are federal and state laws that protect you from debt collection tactics, [...]

As of October 17, 2005, each debtor filing a new voluntary bankruptcy case must comply with Section 109 describing who may be a debtor.
Commonly known as the “credit counseling” requirement, this section requires that a debtor must have received a briefing, from an approved agency, that outlined the opportunities for credit counseling and assisted the [...]