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While having the ability to make payments on debt obligations is enough of a struggle alone, some debtors have to deal with an ex-spouse who has yet to start paying their share of the debt. You may have a divorce agreement that details that is responsible for making payments on certain debts, but it may [...]
We spend an awful lot of time with our mobile phones in our hand. At the same time, we don’t do much to keep our spending in line.
Thankfully, there are a host of free mobile apps to help you get your finances in order, save money, and do it all without putting down your phone.
Here’s a roundup of some of the best I’ve found for the Android platform, which is my operating system of choice.
Coupons And Deal Finders
Groupon. Groupon is the grand-daddy of deal sites, and the mobile app will help you get daily deals on activities, venues and restaurants in more than 500 cities. I’m a big fan of using Groupon when I travel, and have gotten lots of great deals while on vacation.
LivingSocial. LivingSocial is another deal-of-the-day service that seems to have a wider variety of discounts available.
Google Offers. If everyone else is doing it, so is Google. They’ve got a lot of nationwide offers that help when it comes time to shop for gifts.
RetailMeNot. I’ve been a user of this app since it came out. RetailMeNot gives you coupons and discounts from real, live retailers. If there’s a promotion in your area, you’ll get a handy alert. Very useful for when you’re out at the mall.
The Coupons App. This app gives you coupon savings and shopping deals at your favorite stores, restaurants and gas stations. Compare prices using a barcode scanner, get alerts, and more. This is a very cool app.
GasBuddy. Live in your car? Why pay more for gas than necessary? This app will help you track down the best deals no matter where you are.
ShopSavvy. Go to a store, scan the barcode with this app, and it will tell you if you can get a better deal online. Just like that.
Price Check by Amazon. Similar to ShopSavvy, you can scan a barcode and find out if Amazon has a better price. You can also pull up product descriptions and customer reviews.
Travel Apps
HotelTonight. You’re in a new place and need a hotel room the same night. Use HotelTonight to get a last-minute discount on unfilled rooms.
Priceline. Bid on a hotel room or a car and get up to 60% off list prices with this app. Why anyone pays retail for a rental car or hotel room is beyond my comprehension.
Kayak. Compare travel sites for a great deal on flights, hotels and car rentals. There are competitors, but I’ve been a Kayak fan for as long as I can remember.
Personal Finance Apps
Mint. This budgeting app, owned by Intuit (the folks behind Quicken and QuickBooks), helps you track income and expenses while staying in sync with your bank and credit card accounts.
Expensify. If you’re a business traveler, Expensify is for you. This app will help you track expenses, scan and save receipts, import bank and credit card data, and even enter mileage traveled and the other time-based expenses.
Manilla. Manilla allows you to manage your daily finances, household bills, travel rewards, magazine subscriptions and healthcare accounts all in one place. You can store your bills and statements, set up alerts to avoid late fees, and more.
Pick Your Tool Freely
The great thing about these apps are that they’re all free. Download them, use what you like, and jettison the rest.
The important part, of course, is to use something to make your life easier. These apps should help.
I was the third lawyer Lisa saw for a Virginia Bankruptcy Consultation Lisa had a Virginia Bankruptcy consultation with two well known bankruptcy lawyers. Then she came to see me. Both of those lawyers told her that her income was too high. She could not file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. She would need to file […]The post Virginia Bankruptcy Consultation: Preparation Makes a Difference appeared first on Robert Weed.
When you file for bankruptcy, you’re at the mercy of the court and your lawyer. Why not make it easier to get up-to-the-moment information?
Bankruptcy is a court proceeding, and it’s a public one.
Court documents are filed electronically, and the public has access to those records.
That’s good news for you because it means you can get information without having to go through your lawyer.
Public Access to Court Electronic Records
PACER, an acronym for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, is the electronic public access service of United States federal court documents.
Behind a simple username and password login, you can get case and docket information from the United States Bankruptcy Court.
Information You Can Find On PACER
When you log into the PACER system you can get pretty much everything in the court’s database. That includes:
- your bankruptcy case number, filing date, and discharge or dismissal date;
- copies of all bankruptcy documents, including the Notice of Commencement and Discharge of Debtor;
- name of the judge and trustee;
- names and addresses of creditor attorneys who have filed appearances;
- copies of Proofs of Claims filed in your case;
- court date (time, date and location) information; and
- motions filed in your case.
PACER Costs And Sign Up Procedures
It doesn’t cost anything to sign up for PACER, but there’s a cost of $0.08 per page you retrieve. It’s not a large charge, but if you check the docket daily it can add up fast.
To sign up for a free PACER account, register by clicking here.
Why Sign Up For PACER?
If you filed for bankruptcy without a lawyer, you need to have a way to get information and data about your case. PACER is the only reputable and complete way of doing so.
Even if you have a lawyer, you may decide to sign up for PACER as a way of getting information more quickly. Once your bankruptcy case is closed, your lawyer may archive your file; getting copies of your paperwork may take some time.
Given the fact that it’s free to register and costs only a few cents per page, it makes sense to keep a PACER account in handy – just in case.
Here’s what happened when Jennifer reaffirmed her car loan with Apple Federal Credit Union. Jennifer filed bankruptcy with another bankruptcy lawyer here in Northern Virginia. She had a car loan with Apple Federal Credit Union, and she wanted to keep the car. So she reaffirmed the car loan. When you “reaffirm” a loan you take […]The post Don’t reaffirm your car loan with Apple FCU appeared first on Robert Weed.
If you’re married, you can file for bankruptcy without your spouse.
I could make this into a longer article, telling you a story or painting a broad picture.
But it’s not necessary.
There’s no law that requires you to file for bankruptcy with your spouse.
You don’t need your spouse’s permission to file for bankruptcy.
Your spouse’s social security number isn’t going to go onto your bankruptcy petition.
Your spouse doesn’t need to appear in court with you, and your bankruptcy won’t negatively impact your spouse’s credit score.
If you become my client, you can ask me this question again and again. I’ll tell you the same thing – again and again.
Of course, that doesn’t answer the question of whether you should file for bankruptcy without your spouse. For that answer, you’ll need to go through a laundry list of questions.
I can do that for $600.00!!!
About twice a day I get a call that starts the same way: How much do you charge for a Chapter 7? The question is simple, but the answer is complicated. What most individuals don’t understand is that a Chapter 7 isn’t a product that you pull down off the shelf and hand to a client. Attorney’s offer a service. In the case of a Chapter 7 that service involves filling out paperwork, attending court, and helping guide you through the process of getting a Chapter 7 discharge. This service is very different from client to client. For this reason I never quote a fee over the phone.
Once clients come to my office for a free initial consultation we sit down and go over the specifics of their case. We go over their assets, their debts and any potential issues that may come up in the case. The free initial consultation is meant to determine how complicated the case is meant to be and thus what services my firm will provide. Until this is done no attorney can give you a realistic quote.
Once my quote is given to the client I often hear one of the following statements: “another firm quoted me $500.00 over the phone” or “I met with an attorney yesterday that quoted me $600.00″. The first question that I have is “why didn’t you hire them?” The answer is usually either “I didn’t trust them” or “it didn’t feel right”. These are powerful feelings that one should generally listen to. The second question that I ask is “did they go over all the questions that we just covered?” The answer is generally “no”.
The bottom line is that the fees that an attorney charges are representative in part on his experience and the amount of work he intends to put into your case. Most attorneys charge between $150 and $250.00 an hour. If an attorney is quoting you $600.00 that means he is assuming that he will put approximately three to four hours worth of work into your case. For a Chapter 7 this just is not reasonable. The average Chapter 7 involves preparing and filing approximately 50 pages worth of documents with the court. It involves providing to the trustee 6 months worth of bank statements, 60 days worth of bank statements, recorded mortgages, recorded deeds, car titles, 401k statements, divorce judgments and other documentation. All of these documents should be reviewed by the attorney prior to filing the case to determine if their are any issues that could come up when the bankruptcy trustee reviews them. Simply preparing and reviewing all the documents that must be prepared, filed and or provided should take an attorney 3-4 hours. That does not include the time it takes to meet with the client or the time it takes to attend the 341 Meeting of Creditors with the client.
So what does this all mean? It means that an attorney who is quoting you $600.00 for a Chapter 7 filing is planning on cutting corners. They have to make up the time and money somewhere. That is why they don’t take the time to ask you all the questions necessary for a proper intake. They probably also don’t review the documents you provide them prior to sending them to the Trustee. They also probably have a paralegal prepare all the documents rather than an attorney.
Cutting corners means the same thing in every profession….mistakes. Mistakes in some professions are no big deal. In bankruptcy they can be catastrophic. Mistakes can cause a client to lose their home or car. Mistakes can lead to a client’s mother being sued for a preferential payment, or their grandmother’s bank account being drained because the client’s name was on her account. Mistakes can cost the client thousands of dollars all because they hired an attorney who told them they would “do it on the cheap” and save the client a couple hundred dollars off the cost of a qualified attorney.
Second Chance Legal Services is a bankruptcy law firm located in Madison Heights, MI. While we are located in Oakland County, we service Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County residents. As Detroit Bankruptcy Attorneys we specialize in helping individuals escape their burden of debt in order to get a fresh start on their bright future.
Because of our small size our clients get individual attention. You will have the same bankruptcy attorney throughout your case whether you are in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Your attorney will help guide you through the bankruptcy process in order to help you get a successful discharge of your debt.
It is important to note that Macomb County Bankruptcy Attorneys, Oakland County Bankruptcy Attorneys and Wayne County Bankruptcy Attorneys all deal with the same judges and trustees. This is because all Michigan Bankruptcies are filed with the federal bankruptcy court in Detroit, MI. For this reason, it is important that you choose an attorney not by location but rather by how comfortable you feel with them when you meet. If you don’t feel comfortable with their knowledge, their experience or their demeanor you should seek out an attorney that you do feel comfortable with.
If you are interested in speaking with a Detroit bankruptcy attorney from Second Chance Legal Services, please contact our office at 248-629-6367 for a free initial consultation.
Bankruptcy schedules are an overview of your financial situation but in more detail. This information includes commonly disclosed details about a debtor’s financial background that is presented in your bankruptcy case. This includes income earnings, expenses, debts and assets. The schedules help the court assess your situation. They should be filed out accurately and to [...]
Marriage binds us to one another. In sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, to honor and to cherish.
Married couples in community property states such as California find that one spouse’s bankruptcy protects the other.
How can it be?
Why Community Property In Action
California is one of a handful of states that follow the rules of community property, which means that all the assets and all of the debts incurred after the marriage are owned and owed by both spouses equally.
What’s yours is yours, and what’s mine is yours – or so the saying goes.
If you fall into debt once you’re married, your creditor can usually attach your spouse’s wages and bank account. Marital property – including the house, the car, and the household goods – can all be taken to repay a judgment.
The Community Discharge In Bankruptcy Gets Your Spouse Off The Hook – Even If They Don’t File
One spouse can file for bankruptcy without the other. In most states, the won’t impact the non-filing spouse’s liability for repayment of the debt.
Not so in community property states such as California. In community property states, the non-filing spouse no longer is held responsible for those debts either.
If you decide to do this, I highly recommend that you consider it an anniversary gift to your spouse.
Understand The Community Claim
The U.S. Bankruptcy Code, understanding the unique world of community property – and the fact that California, with over 12% of the U.S. population, is a community property state – defines a community claim as any debt that is owed by a married person. And the term creditor is defined by the bankruptcy laws as an entity that has a community claim.
This is a major point because the law specifically provides someone who is not filing for bankruptcy with the protection of the law.
All the benefit, none of the burden. And when the end of the bankruptcy case comes around, the true power is revealed.
The Non-Filing Spouse And The Community Discharge
The end of a bankruptcy case usually results in a discharge of debt – that is, a legal release from personal liability for repayment of most kinds of debts.
That discharge means creditors can no longer try to collect on any debt – including community claims “in a case concerning the debtor’s spouse commenced on the date of the filing of the petition in the case concerning the debtor, whether or not discharge of the debt based on such community claim is waived.”
You file for bankruptcy and your spouse is protected from collection.
End The Marriage, End The Community Discharge
The protection of the community property discharge lasts only as long as the marriage does.
Remember, “until death do you part.” One spouse dies, the marriage is over.
So, too, with divorce.
Either of these events will expose the nonfiling spouse to collection action.
File Separately, Or Together?
Married people in community property states should look carefully at a laundry list of factors when thinking about filing for bankruptcy.
For some, filing separately makes a lot of sense. And for others, it’s a better idea to file together.
It’s no simple decision to make, but one that has a long-lasting impact on your finances.
I sued you, you didn’t file an answer,
and you didn’t come to court.
What more do I need to prove?
--Remark made by an attorney for a junk-debt buyer.*
Junk debt is a debt that is sold by creditors at a deep discount with very little or no documentation of the original contract, no record of the payments and finance charges, and no records of the debt assignments. In many cases the consumer owes no debt at all, and in most cases the consumer does not owe the interest, late fees, and legal fees demanded.
The shocking truth of credit card lawsuits is that it is nearly impossible for the plaintiff to provide a complete copy of the credit card agreement. This is contrary to almost every other type of loan agreement. Gosh, banks always keep a copy of the loan agreement, but when it comes to credit cards the banks make so many different offers to so many different people at so many different times that . . . well . . . it is hard to keep track of all those agreements.
As a result of all the promotional offers and interest rate pricing, determining the actual agreement between the bank and its customer requires an examination of multiple documents. And therein lies the problem for debt-buyer plaintiffs. It is almost impossible for the bank, let alone a debt buyer, to produce a complete and coherent set of contract documents necessary to prove what the customer actually owes.
In an effort to avoid this legal hurdle, debt-buyers increasingly sue under the legal theory of “Account Stated.” In short, you were mailed the credit card statements, and you didn’t object to the statements, so you must owe the amount stated.
May a credit card company sue on the legal theory of Account Stated when an express written contract exists? And what’s more, even if a suit can be sustained under this legal theory, isn’t proof of the terms of the written contract necessary to prove that the account is accurately stated? If my credit card agreement provides for a fixed interest rate of 9.9% and I overlook the fact that I was charged 19.9% on the billing statement, am I obligated to pay 19.9% because I failed to object to the billing statement?
According to Texas attorney Jessica Lesser, author of How to Defend a Credit Card Case, courts should not extend the Account Stated cause of action to a credit card lawsuit since “modern credit card arrangements are invariably creatures of express contract in which the rights and responsibilities of the parties are specified in great detail.” To the contrary, Lesser argues that there is a great danger in allowing creditors who have not kept good records to substitute their frequently inaccurate billing records for their contracts.
Is it really asking too much for a bank to keep a copy of their contracts? Does that really impose too much of a burden on credit card companies or their debt buyers? And if we deny debtors the right to inspect the terms of their contract when sued in court, haven’t we taken away their basic contract rights?
There is no ruling in Nebraska on whether credit card companies or junk-debt buyers may avoid producing a copy of their contract when litigating under the Account Stated doctrine, but I suspect it is only time before this issue reaches the appellate courts. It would seem strange and unjust to allow sloppiness in record keeping to work to the advantage of the credit card industry.
*Defending Junk-Debt-Buyer Lawsuits by Professor Peter A. Holland, Maryland School of Law
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