It’s no secret that if you need to file bankruptcy, you are under stress. Financial problems are horrible, and they are real. But don’t let financial problems consume your life. Concentrate on what’s truly important: your health and your family. I keep a box of Kleenex on my desk for my clients. By the time [...]
July 2009
Latest on the list: Lenny “Nails” Dykstra. What happens to cause a small business to file Chapter 11? Evil partner, bookkeeper, employee leaves with the money. Happens a lot. For most of my clients, not starting with enough money. I always say, you want to be the boss, start your own business? Have enough to [...]
It’s been over 100 years since the Cubs won the World Series. And now, we hear they may be going bankrupt! Why? The parent company, Tribune Corporation, like many other newspapers all over the United States, is in bankruptcy. Owner Sam Zell acquired Tribune Corporation a few years ago in a very expensive deal and [...]
There are basically four choices for a homeowner who is behind in his house payments. 1.   You can get caught up by paying the arrearage. Most mortgage companies want you to do this all at once, but if you can’t afford to come up with that much in cash, you can seek bankruptcy protection (typically [...]
Three red flags signaling possible reverse mortgage fraud are 1) pressuring a homeowner to take out a reverse mortgage for financial products, a vacation or home repairs; 2) claims that a reverse mortgage is a government grant that does not have to be repaid; and 3) Claims that a borrower cannot outlive the reverse mortgage [...]
Joe Nocera’s article in Saturday’s New York Times demonstrates the futility of the Obama Mortgage Modification program, Home Affordable Modification Plan. It simply has no teeth. It dangles a pitiful carrot at the lenders – a measly $1000 per loan modification – and no stick if the banks don’t take it. Without court ordered modifications of [...]
