When you read about the bankruptcy means test, it is easy to get scared. Nobody likes taking tests. But for a lot of people, there’s a secret way to help pass it: Take care of yourself first.
If your income is high enough, there may not be a way to avoid “failing” [...]

Kansas debtors defeated the bankruptcy trustee in a battle over their income tax refund recently.
“It was creative bankruptcy planning by debtors and their counsel to assign their income tax refund pre-petition to pay their attorney’s flat fee retainer,” the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the 10th Circuit ruled last week in In Re Miller, Case [...]

A debtor in bankruptcy should follow some simple rules to protect against predatory home loan servicing.  As I discussed in an earlier article, the bankrupt borrower provides an opportunity for a servicer to harvest a bumper crop of fees and charges.  The debtor must be careful to keep watch on their home loan throughout the [...]

In Part 1, I discussed perfected security interest, such as home mortgages and car titles.
In Part 2, I discussed purchase money security interests (a.k.a. PMSI), such as store credit cards.
Another very common type of secured debt is the Non-PMSI. A non-PMSI is a lien placed on the debtor’s property, as a result of the debtor’s [...]

Payday loans are being made by non-profit groups in an attempt to help people out. If you consider paying only 250% interest as help, you must be one of the people who had previously been paying over 500% interest to traditional payday lenders. In the New York Times article By JOHN [...]

Many people facing foreclosure would simply rather give the property back to the bank or mortgage company rather than having them take the property by operation of law.  It will look better on a credit report, the home-owner won’t have to go through the notices and humiliation of a public auction and there won’t be [...]

NPR really got some facts terribly wrong about bankruptcy and equity mortgage loans. Personal liability on equity lines can be discharged like any other debt, but that isn’t what was said on the call in show “Talk of the Nation” which aired on 8/20/07: The Aftermath of a Tumultuous Week on Wall Street . [...]

Recently I needed to rent a car, and while I usually do so on line, I needed to call the rental car company because a discount coupon I had wasn’t working with the on line reservation page.
After arranging for my car rental, I was asked to hold for a special offer. I was [...]

Despite the current credit crunch, Paul Davis of American Banker reported the sale of credit card-based bonds are still being sold while subprime mortgage bonds are going wanting. In the odd world of consumer securitization, loans like credit cards are apparently seen as safer than home loans.
Credit card debt is packaged and resold [...]

Will it do any good to file a bankruptcy if a a judgment has already been entered against you? Despite the misinformation you may hear, you may absolutely file a bankruptcy after a judgment has been entered.