On Groundhog Day, it is fitting to consider whether you are living in a financial ‘Groundhog Day.’ Remember the Bill Murray movie? A self-absorbed weatherman is doomed to repeat the same day over and over, until self- awareness is achieved. David Pitt of Today points out the financial corollary: Is there a shadow cast over [...]
Dana Wilkinson, Attorney at Law
Foreclosures have been getting a lot of media attention lately, but credit card debt probably accounts for more bankruptcies than foreclosures. And a lot of people who fall behind on mortgage payments and end up in foreclosure do so trying to juggle credit card debt as well, so it’s probably responsible for a fair number [...]
Student loan debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. That’s not news–it’s pretty much common knowledge. But student loan debt for newly-minted lawyers is a growing problem, since the job market for lawyers is, well, abysmal would be an optimistic assessment. [A] generation of J.D.’s face the grimmest job market in decades. Since 2008, some 15,000 [...]
No one wants to file bankruptcy. No one does it for fun. It’s like going to the dentist (or proctologist, or urologist–take your pick). You do it only because you need to, and it will improve your life in the long run. So how do you know when the time has come? Here are some [...]
It isn’t easy for consumers to protect themselves these days, from robo-signers, foreclosure-rescue scams, and all manner of abusive collection tactics, but the Unicredit scam may take the prize for sheer audacity. It seems that Erie, Pennsylvania debt collection agency Unicredit not only set up a fake courtroom, complete with phony judge, with which to [...]
You’re considering bankruptcy, or just suffering through financial problems due to job loss, divorce, illness, other problems, or a combination of all of those things, and you want to avoid costly mistakes. Continuing my list of things NOT to do, here is part two. Call them pitfalls, call them dumb ideas, call them mistakes, but [...]
