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Alicia Adamczyk Millennials are putting off marriage, have you heard? And while some talking heads would have you believe smart phones and video games are largely to blame, I’d posit it’s more likely a consequence of the combination of crushing student loan debt and low-paying jobs that has defined life for many people in Generation Y. Who wants to shell out for a wedding when you can barely afford your monthly student loan payments?

But if you do get married, you definitely need to consider how your and/or your spouse’s loans will affect the other. Take this question, from Kathryn:

If you’re on an income driven plan as part of loan forgiveness, does your partner’s income become considered your own income if you get married?

Here’s what you need to know.
TaxesEssentially, the answer to your question, Kathryn, is yes. If you or your spouse have student loans and you’re enrolled in the Revised Pay As You Earn plan, your monthly loan payment will increase, because the plan bases your payment off of your combined adjusted gross income.

For the other three income-driven repayment plans, you can avoid this if you file your taxes separately. But you’ll miss out on the other tax benefits of filing jointly. You’ll want to ask your tax preparer which is better for your individual situation, but it’s likely filing jointly and accepting the higher monthly payment.

That’s having an impact on when and if people get married, according to Travis Hornsby, founder of Student Loan Planner. “There’s a lot of people who are getting spiritually but not legally married because of this,” he says. “People are having ceremonies but not turning in their certificates for tax purposes.”

Additionally, you may lose the student loan interest deduction, which allows student loan borrowers to deduct up to $2,500 of the interest paid on their loans from their taxable income. You don’t qualify for it if you and your spouse earn more than $160,000 combined (you do not qualify for the deduction if you file separately).

Other Factors
But there are a lot of other things to take into consideration, finance-wise, when you have loans and get married.

“Everyone getting married these days needs to have a money conversation about loans, and it needs to happen before your engagement,” says Hornsby. “Be honest, say how much debt you have and your plans to pay it off.”

One example: credit. While your spouse’s loans do not affect your credit unless you’re a co-signer, according to NerdWallet, “if your spouse takes out a student loan during your marriage and then defaults, creditors in some states can go after both of your wages and assets—or, if you file jointly, your tax refund.”

And if you’re in the market for a new house, the biggest factors to take into account are your debt-to-income ratio, down payment, salary, credit history, assets, etc., the biggest being your DTI, says Mike Brown, managing director of Comet, a company that offers student loan refinancing advice. If your only debt is student loans and you make a decent income, you’ll probably be ok. If one of you has a ton of debt, though, the spouse with the lesser amount should apply for the mortgage, says Brown.

One rule that makes paying your mortgage more manageable: “Your house should be no more than two times your joint income if you have debt,” says Hornsby. “You don’t want tons and tons of debt.”

Divorce
If you get divorced, things get, well, complicated. You may have to split the debt with your spouse, regardless of whose it is, depending on when it was acquired, says Kathleen Campbell, a Registered Investment Advisor based in Fort Meyers, Florida.

If you incurred the debt before the marriage, that’s your responsibility to pay off (and the same goes for your spouse). “So even if a couple was together for years before marriage, with the expectation that future spouse A’s income would cover spouse B’s loan payments, if spouse B incurred the loans prior to marriage, then they are spouse B’s responsibility forever,” says Campbell.

But if the debt was acquired post-marriage, things “get murkier.” “That becomes more of a legal question, depending on state laws, how the money was used, earning power of both parties, how long the degree was used during the marriage, and other factors,” she says. “So it’s a case-by-case situation when it was incurred after marriage and is still in just one spouse’s name.”

If you’re a co-signer, you’re likely on the hook, unless your spouse refinances. “The co-signed obligation is a contract between the signer and the lender, not between spouses, so that’s a firm contract,” says Campbell. “It definitely could be possible to refinance the loan in only one spouse’s name, assuming that spouse has the income and credit history to entice the lender to refinance. That could all be part of divorce settlement discussions.”

If you’re really worried, create a prenup that stipulates what happens to the debt. Then you’ll have one less thing to worry about.

© 2018 Gizmodo Media Group.  All rights reserved.
 

Market segments are key to implementing a successful marketing strategy. The process of identifying and constructing usable segments and potential target markets is reasonably straightforward. The integrated approach that considers the relationships between segmentation, target market and position is commonly referred to as the STP model.
It is however important to periodically consider the approach, processes and results used to build their target market segments.
Indeed, some market and marketing researchers have established some basic guidelines for segmentation in recent decades. Here are some basic things to consider when evaluating the approach to segmentation.
Market Segment Assessment Guidelines
The effective market segments of target are associated with some particular attributes, each of which is described below. The key attributes to look for when building or evaluating target market segments are:
Homogeneity
Heterogeneity
Measurability
Sostanzionalità
Accessibility
Action and/or practicality
Responsiveness
Homogeneous-the segmentation of the target market is to establish consumer groups that are similar in terms of their individual characteristics or the needs of products and services. For this reason, all consumers assigned to a segment are assigned according to their similarities.
Heterogeneous-Each of the segments in a target market should demonstrate a certain relatively unique attribute compared to other segments built in the target market.
Homogeneity is the sweet spot in the segmentation of the target market, while heterogeneity is the constellation of distinct groups that can be found in the market universe.
Measurable-to have the ability to determine market share and other growth or change measures, it is essential to have certain types of data that can be used to measure the size of different segments in the target market.
One of the most fundamental measures a marketer or researcher will employ is the general attractiveness of consumers in each segment within the target market.
Sostanzionalità-market segments will, of course, be of different sizes, but each segment must be a standalone size sufficient to ensure the allocation of resources needed to measure the effectiveness of marketing and monitor Segment-related changes. Usually, customers ponder how much the return on investment is sufficient for the marketing of a particular segment. It can be expected that the return on investment (ROI) may differ substantially for the various market segments of the target market. Independently, the minimum requirements for ROI are normally established before segmentation begins.
Accessible-Customers will only be interested in knowing the target market segments that are accessible. This means that every market segment has to be efficient and can be achieved in effective ways of communicating. Accessibility also applies to considerations regarding the possible distribution of products and/or services intended to attract segments.
Operable and/or practical-the primary action that is adopted in response to target market segments designed is the implementation of a distinct and particular marketing mix for each segment.
This is what customers look for when engaging market researchers in the process of creating target market segments for their companies. For the marketing of particular segments to be practical, the marketing and advertising activities proposed must be within the scope of the resources available and the basic capabilities of the customer’s company. This means that specialized or niche segments, although intellectually attractive to a customer, may not be practical from the perspective of marketing spending.
Responsive-the creation of a target market segmentation structure may require a considerable and dedicated amount of resources. For this reason, each of the segments should demonstrate a robust response to the distinct marketing mix that was designed for them. This response should be significantly lower than any generic marketing mix offered, for example, by competitors.
The main goal of integrated segmentation, marketing and positioning (STP) processes is to create a unique marketing mix for a particular target market. If a market segment does not show the response to a distinct offer of the marketing mix, it is very likely that the segment can be consolidated into another relatively similar market segment.

The most common reason for filing bankruptcy is that a person has too much high interest credit card balances or medical bills that they cannot afford to repay both from their own perspective and in the eyes of the court.  Occasionally, a person may have such a high income, or own assets of such high value, that the court does not allow them to eliminate their debt and get a fresh start.  But what if that person is under financial stress and needs help.  That is where the 100% Plan for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.  A 100% plan refers to a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in which you repay all of your debt under a court-supervised repayment plan.  You pay back all secured debt (which is required in all Chapter 13 cases) and 100% of all unsecured debt.
 
When Courts Do Not Allow You to Eliminate Debt
In order to file a bankruptcy in which you can eliminate debt (whether some or all of it), your income and your assets cannot exceed a certain threshold.  In order words, you cannot make too much and you cannot own too much.  If your income is too high, or your assets have too high of a value, the court will determine, through a complex formula that your lawyer will review with you beforehand, just how much of your debt you are capable of repaying.  You will need to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and repay some, or possibly all, of the total debt that you owe through a court-monitored Chapter 13 plan.  If your income is significantly above the median family income threshold, or your assets are significantly in excess of your allowable exemptions, then you will likely be forced into a 100% plan.
 
Useful to Stop Accrual of High Interest Credit Card Debt
So why would one file a bankruptcy if they are going to be paying back all of their debt.  Well, one important reason is to stop the accrual of interest on high interest credit card debt.  If you are making minimum payments on high interest credit cards, then you are not paying down your balances in any meaningful way and 10 years from now you are still going to have similar balances.   If you were to file a Chapter 13 100% plan, you would stop the accrual of interest.  You would put a cap on the total amount of debt, divide it by 60 months, and pay it back at 0% interest.
 
There is an exception to the 0% interest rule.  Depending on how high your income is, or how high the value of your assets is, the court could require you to pay the prime rate plus 1% interest to your credit cards.  This generally adds only a few dollars per month to your Chapter 13 plan payment and is much better than the alternative of paying the excessively high interest rates you are currently paying on your outstanding balances.
 
Prior Bankruptcy Discharge
Another situation in which you may need to file a 100 percent Chapter 13 plan is if you have had a prior bankruptcy discharge.  Depending on how long ago you received the bankruptcy discharge, you may not currently qualify for another discharge of any debt.  In that case, your attorney will advise you that a 100% Chapter 13 plan will be your only option.
Let’s say, for example, that you filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy 2 years ago and received a discharge.  Since that time, you fell behind on your mortgage payments and are facing foreclosure.  You cannot obtain a discharge due to your recent bankruptcy so you cannot eliminate any debt.  But you still have the option of stopping the foreclosure by filing a 100% Chapter 13 plan and paying back all mortgage arrears and all unsecured debt, if any, that you incurred since your prior Chapter 7 discharge.
A 100% plan is a legal remedy suitable to high income earners or debtors that own assets of very high value.  It is a less commonly used but potentially very useful tool that a bankruptcy attorney can use to help a high income earner, or a debtor with lots of assets, get back on track so they can more effectively manage their finances.
Schedule a Free Consultation with Your Portland Bankruptcy Attorney
When it comes time to file for bankruptcy, you need a compassionate and skilled attorney who will be able to guide you through the process as cleanly as possible. Northwest Debt Relief Law Firm, we can help you with filing for Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Portland, Oregon.  We will be there every step of the way to help navigate you through the often-complex and difficult bankruptcy process.
Give us a call at (503) 912-8809 to schedule a free consultation with one of our bankruptcy attorneys. If you have any other questions about bankruptcy, one of our attorneys will be more than happy to offer advice on your particular situation.
 
The post 100% Plan for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Legal Remedy for High Income Earners appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.

Chances are that you have heard many of the myths  of filing for Bankruptcy and half-truths floating around concerning the bankruptcy process in Oregon. One of the misconceptions we encounter most frequently concerns eligibility for the Chapter 13 process. Here at Northwest Debt Relief Law Firm, we believe that there is a best-case debt relief option available for every situation. For you, even if you are representing a business, that option could potentially include Chapter 13.
You’ll lose everything
You may think filing for bankruptcy means giving up your house, car and any other assets you may have. In fact, you’re likely to keep a lot of your possessions.
The vast majority of Chapter 7 cases are no-asset cases, meaning the debtor gives up no possessions. There are two reasons for this. First, you can carve out some basic assets, called exemptions, that are necessary for day-to-day life. What you can exempt varies from state to state, so be sure to discuss exemptions with your bankruptcy lawyer. And for your possessions that aren’t covered under exemptions? Well, the creditors likely don’t want them.
Under Chapter 13, you keep all of your assets, but the value of them figures into your repayment plan.
 
All of your debts will be relieved
Both Chapter 7 and 13 will provide you relief from most forms of debt, but there are some exceptions. As a general rule of thumb, in bankruptcy cases you cannot discharge, or have forgiven, debts that you are deemed personally responsible for.
Student loans are another type of debt that is unlikely to be forgiven.
Generally, you can discharge debts from personal loans, credit cards and medical bills, among others. Your bankruptcy attorney will help you understand which debts will be affected.
 
Paying off your debts is a better option
Filing for bankruptcy is one of the most serious financial decisions you can make, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. In fact, filing for bankruptcy may be the best option for you.
If your debts are more than 50% of your annual income and you see no way to pay them off within five years, bankruptcy is likely your best path toward living debt-free.
 
Filing for bankruptcy is a personal failing
Given that roughly 57% of bankruptcies in 2009 were a result of medical bills and that over the past decade the cost of medical deductibles has grown seven times faster than wages have risen, many bankruptcies are likely the result of stagnant wages rather than poor financial management.
Whatever your reason for pursuing this form of debt relief, think of bankruptcy as a tool that can help you take control of your finances.
 
Bankruptcy will ruin your financial future
There’s no way around it: You can expect to have limited access to credit and to pay higher interest rates for the seven to 10 years that a bankruptcy remains on your credit report. But your credit score is actually likely to rebound shortly after you file for bankruptcy.
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, using data from credit bureau Equifax, showed that those who filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010 had an average credit score of 538.2 on Equifax’s scale of 280 to 850. But the average score jumped to 620 by the time those bankruptcies were finalized, about six to eight months later.
Further, there are a lot of ways to restore your credit after bankruptcy, such as getting a secured credit card. You will face some limitations, but taking advantage of the right financial products can go a long way toward helping you get on the right path for your financial future.
 
Schedule a Free Consultation with Your Portland Bankruptcy Attorney
When it comes time to file for bankruptcy, you need a compassionate and skilled attorney who will be able to guide you through the process as cleanly as possible. Northwest Debt Relief Law Firm, we can help you with filing for Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Portland, Oregon.  We will be there every step of the way to help navigate you through the often-complex and difficult bankruptcy process.
Give us a call at (503) 912-8809 to schedule a free consultation with one of our bankruptcy attorneys. If you have any other questions about bankruptcy, one of our attorneys will be more than happy to offer advice on your particular situation.
 
The post Myths of Filing for Bankruptcy in Portland Oregon appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.