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Small business owners can benefit from bankruptcy in a number of ways.  Aside from using this powerful financial tool to help eliminate business debt, you can get legal assistance in restructuring or reorganizing your financial obligations.  This may help you gain more control over business finances while remaining in business. There are a few aspects [...]

The Florida Third District Court of Appeals issued its decision in Capital Factors, Inc. v. Alba Rent-a-Car, Inc., et al., 32 Fla.L.Weekly D21070 (Fla. 3rd. DCA 2007) and held that an unconfirmed arbitration award qualifies as a "debt due" by the garnishee subject to garnishment under Section, 77.01, Florida Statutes. The Court held that an arbitration award does not require judicial confirmation to be collectible by garnishment.

The Court noted that Florida looks favorably upon agreements to arbitrate and that ordinarily a decision by arbitrators are as binding and conclusive as a judgment of a court. Am. Renaissance Lines, Inc. v. Saxis Steamship Co., 502 F.2d674,678(C.A.N.Y.1974). The Court also noted that the arbitrator's award represents a liquidated amount due by the garnishee and that the award on its face was final. The contracts in this case did not state that confirmation was necessary for finality and that confirmation is not mandatory to validate an award's finality. It was pointed out that frequently confirmation of an arbitration award is not sought, but is often only sought when the prevailing party fears that the losing party will not honor the award. An unconfirmed award is a contract right that may be used as the basis for a cause of action. The Court further noted that even a disputed debt due is still subject to garnishment. Ala. Hotel Co. v. J.L.Mott Iron Works, 98 So. 825, 827 (Fla.1924).Jordan E. Bublick is a Miami Personal Bankruptcy Lawyer with over 25 years of experience in filing chapter 13 and chapter 7 bankruptcies. Miami Personal Bankruptcy Lawyer Jordan E. Bublick has filed over 8,000 chapter 13 and chapter 7 cases.

When it comes to rebuilding a credit score after filing bankruptcy, the truth is that you have already taken the most important step. After all, the ever more burdensome dead weight on your score, the barrier to you ever obtaining a decent score has now been removed permanently.
If you want to really want to improve your credit score, doing nothing after your bankruptcy discharge and letting time take care of your score is not the way to go.
The first thing is open new lines of credit.  This should be done with great caution, and consumers should resolve to pay off accounts each month in full, rather than carrying the balance through several months, where interest and charges are permitted to accrue.  
Below are nine rules of the road for building credit in the wake of a bankruptcy discharge:

1. Apply for three to five credit cards as soon as your bankruptcy  is complete. If you do not qualify for traditional unsecured credit cards, get secured credit cards instead. A secured credit card requires you to make a deposit that is equal to or greater than the actual limit. You will get a monthly bill and you will pay it off immediately. After six to a year timely payments, you may qualify to have the card converted to unsecured status. If your request is granted, your deposit will then be refunded. Otherwise, the deposit will not be refunded until you close the account and pay the balance in full.
2. Open all the credit card accounts at once. About twenty percent of your credit score is actually determined by the age of your accounts. Thus, every time you open a new credit card, the average age drops, so the quickest way to start ramping up your score is to start all the cards at once. Though you credit score will initially drop (10 percent of your score consists of credit inquiries), it will rebound and then some after a few month of timely payments.
3. Keep the credit cards active while maintaining a low balance or, even better, no balance at all. Moreover, keep the accounts active. Doing so tells the credit bureaus that the bankruptcy created a clean slate for you to begin demonstrating responsible behavior. If you do not use the credit cards, the credit bureaus have no way of knowing whether you can handle debt.
4. Remember you want to keep your balances low. The lower your balances, the better your score will be. Honestly your best strategy for rebuilding is to pay one bill every month with each of your credit cards. Then immediately pay the balance on the credit cards in full. Doing so keeps your balance at $0, and all the accounts active.
5. Get a copy of your credit report four months after your bankruptcy is discharged(not before) and let our offices know if any of the debts that should be reflected as discharged or in bankruptcy are being reflected as past due, charged off or owing. We want to make sure that these are corrected.
6. Contact us via email to get signed up with our credit repair education company for free information on credit score repair.
7. Get an installment loan. If you are in the market for a new car or a household appliance, buy it on installment. Taking out an installment loan, and then paying it off in a timely fashion, informs the credit-scoring bureaus that you can manage different forms of credit successfully. Note:  This is not an excuse to run out and finance a $30,000 car. Instead, visit your local credit union or a friendly bank and take out a $1000 installment loan on your current vehicle.
8. Never miss a payment. The credit bureaus will consider one missed payment a giant red flag, and your credit score will sink.
9. Try not to keep a balance over 30 percent of the limit. If your credit card balance goes past 30 percent of the limit, the credit bureaus will assume you are getting in over your head. If you must carry a balance, make sure it is less than 30 percent.

Follow these nine rules for rebuilding credit after bankruptcy and there is really no reason why your score shouldn’t be 720 in less than two years.,
The original post is titled Steps for Rebuilding Your Credit Score After Bankruptcy , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .

We recently reported that a debtor could strip off a second mortgage in Chapter 7 due to the decision the 11th Circuit reached in McNeal v. GMAC Mortgage, LLC (In re McNeal) (11th Cir. 2012). At the time the Court ruled in the case the Court decided not to publish the opinion, which meant that lower courts in the 11th Circuit were not required to follow the decision.
However, the Court in McNeal, recently published the opinion, which now means that lower courts in the 11th Circuit are required to follow the decision. Now, debtors in Chapter 7 in the 11th Circuit can strip off wholly unsecured mortgages.
Call us today to find out if you qualify.