When Congress passed the ‘new’ bankruptcy law in 2005, it included a provision that Debtors must prepare and file what is called the Means Test.   It looks at all of your income from every source except Social Security benefits.  If your income exceeds a certain amount (less allowed expenses) a presumption arises and you are not [...]

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott took legal action to recover $4.6 million that a bankrupt “debt settlement” company wrongfully withheld from its clients in Texas and other states.  Additionally, the Texas Attorney General is seeking civil penalties of up to $20,000 per violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, as well as attorney fees from [...]

One of the things a bankruptcy attorney needs to know to properly advise a client is whether the client owes money on his or her vehicle(s).   While going through the bankruptcy questionnaire with clients, I am frequently told the vehicle is paid for.  But when I get to the question of whether the client owes a finance company, [...]

While attending a Texas advanced consumer bankruptcy seminar last week, I was surprised and amazed (I know, I should not have been) to learn that mortgage servicers consider the ability for a consumer to make  their mortgage payments by ACH or EFT (electronic funds transfer) as a “Privilege”.   This was in response to me stating that [...]

Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, charged JK Harris & Company, LLC, its owners and two related firms (JKH Financial Recovery Systems LLC and Professional Fee Financing Associates)  today with “materially misrepresenting their ability to help Texans resolve their unpaid tax obligations.”  The state enforcement action alleges JK Harris failed to provide promised services, misrepresented its [...]

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has charged Credit Solutions of America, Inc. (CSA) with conducting an unlawful scheme that defrauded Texans with financial problems.  CSA has allegedly offered Texas consumers a debt settlement service that would elimate the consumer’s unsecured debts such as credit card accounts in approximately a three year time period.  The Texas AG’s [...]

Recently I have had a number of clients coming in who are under the impression that they can file bankruptcy and keep their home – without paying for it.  I don’t know where they are getting this advice – but it is wrong.
If  you can no longer afford to make the payments on your home – [...]

No.  Inquiries for firm offers for credit or insurance are not used in calculating credit scores.  Nor does opting out improve your credit score.  It simply removes your name from lists of prescreened/preapproved credit offers that the credit reporting agencies supply to companies.
A firm offer for credit or insurance is defined as any offer of [...]

My son uses his debit card to pay for most everything and doesn’t write checks.  Yet, he kept getting overdraft notices from the bank.
What we soon discovered was that the bank was letting charges go through even though he didn’t have enough money in his account to cover the purchase.  And, of course, they charged [...]

Are you as sick as I am receiving numerous credit card offers everyday in the mail?  I used to mail back the prepaid envelope to the credit card company just to cost them the postage on the envelope – until they started using barcodes on the envelopes and I was afraid they would track it back to [...]