Recently I have heard more complaints from clients about illegal debt collection activities. Last week a client told me that a collection agent called his employer to inform him that his employee is a deadbeat. This type of harassment is illegal. Debt collectors are limited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in how they […]
The Bankruptcy Code states that the first payment under a Chapter 13 plan must be paid to the trustee within thirty days after the date the case is filed. The trustee is responsible for the collection of these payments and in many districts they take this duty very seriously. Chapter 13 plan payments that have […]
Filing bankruptcy creates an estate. The estate consists of everything the debtor owns or is entitled to receive at the time the case is filed. Debtors can apply exemptions to their property to exempt it from the bankruptcy estate. Through the use of exemptions debtors receive the benefit of the automatic stay and the discharge […]
A mortgage is a loan that is protected from default through attachment to real property such as your home. The thing that attaches the mortgage loan to your house is called a lien. The home is security for the mortgage loan and as a result the loan is a secured debt. But not all mortgages […]
One advantage bankruptcy has over debt settlement is that the discharged portion of the debt is not reported to the Internal Revenue Service as income. Creditors that forgive debt in a debt settlement agreement are required to report the forgiven portion to the Internal Revenue Service in an IRS form 1099-C. At the end of […]