Unemployment has remained elevated, salaries stagnant and debts continue to pile high. The blood and chaos from the current financial environment has brought out the vultures and those vultures come by many names; but today we're going to talk about one of them --- debt settlement companies. Okay, let's clarify, not every debt settlement company [...]
With the rise in unemployment and the accompanying rise in debt defaults, the debt settlement industry has been booming. Unfortunately for consumers, many of the debt settlement companies fail to deliver on their promise of settling debts for pennies on the dollar. This failure has resulted in thousands of complaints against debt settlement companies, crackdowns [...]
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is banning debt settlement firms and other debt-relief companies from charging advance fees for their services. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, said that new ban is part of a larger modified rule that will require these debt settlement and debt-relief companies to disclose to customers an [...]
Debt settlement is becoming very popular now that the recession is stretching into its third year. One of the appealing aspects of the debt settlement pitch is the idea that a debtor can pay only pennies on the dollar for a debt and avoid bankruptcy. But the truth about debt settlement is that it rarely [...]
For self-employed and small business owners considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filing bankruptcy creates anxiety about their ability to continue operating their business and earning an income. Fortunately, the bankruptcy laws allow business owners to file bankruptcy as a "debtor in possession." What that means is that the debtor is allowed to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy [...]
Credit card companies are frantically taking drastic actions in their attempt to "work around" the new credit card legislation that will restrict their ability to randomly raise interest rates and hit credit card consumers with surprise fees added to their credit card debt . Already credit card consumers are beginning to scream foul. An article [...]
Reaffirmation is where you consent to paying back all or part of a debt even though you may not have had to. Before the 1978 Bankruptcy Code put an end to it, creditors used to trick debtors into reaffirming their debts. The process of tricking debtors isn't as complicated as you would think, because all [...]
A study by AOL Health and the Associated Press shows that as debt related stress raises, your health decreases. Debt is a useful tool that nearly everyone uses. Debts can range from credit cards, student loans, mortgages, 401K loans, home equity lines of credit, car payments, etc. Some types of debt have actually proven to [...]
In the bankruptcy case of Miller v. Sallie Mae Inc. (In re Miller) a disabled debtor who owed $20,624 on Parent Plus loans for her children's education was denied a bankruptcy discharge of her student loans because she could not prove that continuing to pay the student loan payment would cause her to fall below [...]
In the bankruptcy case of (Wahl, David W. Jr. and Marlaina A.; In re (Rieser, Trustee, v. Fifth Third Mortgage Corp.)) the bankruptcy court ruled that a mortgage is not effective if the borrower's signature is not acknowledged by the notary. The details of the bankruptcy case: In 2007, the debtors acquired title to land [...]