When the foreclosure notice arrives, the instinctive reaction of the homeowner is to fight back. Stop the foreclosure! Make them negotiate to modify the mortgage! While the situation is fraught with emotion, it pays to give some thought as to whether it makes sense to keep this house. At base, a house is housing. It’s [...]
March 2009
“Its easier to steal $1 from a million people than $1,000,000 from one person.” So says Edgar Dworsky, a former staff counsel in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office about a new credit card scam that has been spreading throughout the country. Here’s how it works: fraudsters obtain credit card numbers but instead of running up [...]
Today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution contained an interesting article entitled “Complaints Pile Up Against Debt Collectors.” Apparently the Georgia Governors’ Office of Consumer Affairs has received multiple complaints about collection tactics used by Hanna & Associates, a Marietta, Georgia collection firm. The Governor’s office launched an investigation but Fred Hanna has no intention of cooperating. “We [...]
Clients always ask how much their Chapter 13 Plan payment will be, and how much they will have to pay the Chapter 13 Trustee each month. This isn’t an easy question to answer, since there are four different tests used to determine the number: the Means Test, the Chapter 7 Liquidation Test, the Disposable Income [...]
This week’s media has been filled with stories about the Dow’s 9% increase, GM’s refusal of the next installment of its bailout money, Citibank’s report of being in the black so far this year, and banks’ requests to return TARP money. So with all this good news, does it mean that the recession has “bottomed [...]
The 1st Circuit B.A.P. recently reviewed the case of In re Flynn, Case No. 07-15470-WCH, in which Massachusetts Bankruptcy Judge Hillman denied confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan containing a balloon payment provision. Judge Hillman denied confirmation of the plan even though the affected mortgage creditor had not objected to it. Acting sua sponte, the [...]
