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On August 22, 2013, David Shaev will be presenting at the Consumer Bankruptcy Informational Workshop, a presentation of City Bar Justice Center of the New York City Bar and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York.
The event will be held at the New York City Bar, 42 West 44th Street, New York, New York from 6:00pm – 8:30pm.
Joining David will be fellow New York City bankruptcy attorneys Sheldon Barasch and Rachel Blumenfeld.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Topics to be covered are:
- Types of Bankruptcies available;
- Requirements and costs for filing bankruptcy;
- Advantages and Disadvantages to filing bankruptcy;
- Alternatives to filing bankruptcy; and
- Information about the long-term effects of a bankruptcy Discharge.
For more information or to register, contact the Pro Se Office at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York at (347)394-1738.
I hope you can make it for this informative and free session.
Free New York Bankruptcy Information Event – All Are Welcome was originally published on Consumer Help Central. If you're seeing this message on another site, it has been stolen and is being used without permission. That's illegal, a violation of copyright, and just plain awful.
Up until recently Oregon car owners who wished to file bankruptcy had cause for concern. Under the Oregon exemptions, single filers could protect only $3000 in car equity and married filers could protect only $3000 each or $6000 for one vehicle.
Oregon car owners who wished to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy with more car equity than allowed under the miserly Oregon exemptions faced the prospect of having their cars sold off during the pendency of their bankruptcy case. With Oregon’s recent adoption of the federal exemptions, car owners can now breathe a sigh of relief.
Under the federal exemptions, an Oregon bankruptcy filer can now use the federal car exemption to protect up to $3450 in car equity and this amount can be doubled for married filers. In addition to these protections, a single Oregon bankruptcy filer can stack wildcard and home equity exemptions to protect an additional $11,225 and married filers can stack these exemptions to protect an additional $22450 in car equity.
Unless you are a single bankruptcy filer and you have more than $15,000 in car equity or you are married and have more than $30,000, you are safe. Losing cars in Chapter 7 used to be commonplace. It is now difficult to imagine anyone losing their car in bankruptcy ever again.
The original post is titled Good News for Oregon Consumers and Their Cars in Bankruptcy , and it came from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa .
A defaulted federal student loan isn’t the end of the world.
Let’s say you fell behind on your student loans. Way behind.
So far behind that you went into default on your federal loans. But times got better, and you were able to rehabilitate those loans and resume payments.
Later on, you find yourself in a financial crunch again. One thing leads to another, and you default again.
What’s to be done?
Rehabilitation – A One Shot Deal
In the world of consumer finance and debt, you can fall behind on a loan and then catch up again. Fall behind again and you catch up again.
For all their faults, private creditors and collectors are forgiving in that way. They want their money, and are content to get it when you’ve got it.
In the world of federal student loans, however, the landscape is different. If you default once and rehabilitate your federal student loans, you can’t do it again.
Consider Consolidation
You can’t rehabilitate the federal student loan, but you may be able to consolidate the loan if you agree to repay the loan under either the Income Contingent or Income Based Repayment Plan.
There is, however, a catch. You can’t consolidate a defaulted federal student loan under these circumstances:
- If a judgment has been issued against a defaulted loan (unless the judgment order has been vacated); and
- If you are trying to consolidate defaulted Direct Consolidation Loans and do not include at least one additional eligible loan in the consolidation.
If your defaulted student loan is a FFEL Loan or Direct Loan, you may be liable for collection costs as well as any collection costs of up to 18.5% of the principal and interest outstanding on the defaulted loan.
Federal Loans Eligible For Consolidation
Not all federal student loans are eligible for consolidation, however.
You must have at least one Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan in order to consolidate under the Direct Loans program.
Even if you have a number of loans, you can consolidate under the Direct Loans program if at least one of them is a Direct Loan or FFEL Loan.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy As An Option
If your loan is in default and you can’t consolidate under the Direct Loans program, maybe Chapter 13 bankruptcy can help you.
Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, all of your debts (not just student loans – all of them) are put under the control of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Each month you pay an agreed-upon amount of money to the Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee appointed in your case, and that trustee distributes the money to your creditors – including your federal student loan lender. At the end of the case, which last 3-5 years depending on your household income and a few other factors, most of your debts are wiped out.
Your federal student loans, however, will not be wiped out at the end of your Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. In that way, you can look at Chapter 13 as a way of forcing a temporary repayment plan on your federal student loan servicer.
In order to qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you must have regular income as well as the ability to make payments of some sort. It doesn’t need to be a huge number each month, but if you’re running the in negative each month then Chapter 13 isn’t going to work for you.
The Downside Of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Using Chapter 13 bankruptcy as a way to handle your defaulted federal student loans isn’t a perfect solution. In fact, here are some of the downsides you need to know about:
- the case runs for 3-5 years depending on your household income;
- during the time that you’re in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will need to turn over a portion or all of your tax refunds each year to the trustee for distribution to your creditors;
- interest on your federal student loans continues to accrue during your Chapter 13 case, so your balance may not go down by a significant amount of money by the end of the case; and
- you will not be able to use new credit or borrow money while you’re in Chapter 13 unless you get permission from the court to do so.
The Benefits Of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
There are, however, lots of benefits to filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. They are:
- force a repayment plan of your federal student loans based on what you can afford;
- stop collection activities against you for the period of time that you’re in Chapter 13;
- prevent wage garnishments, bank account freezes and judgments from going forward against you;
- maintain the ability to keep a roof over your head and food on your plate without continuing to slide further behind in your federal student loan obligations;
- wipe out many of your other debts at the end of the Chapter 13 case, which may make it easier to catch up on your student loans over time; and
- if your financial situation doesn’t improve by the end of the case, you can file another Chapter 13 to handle your remaining student loan debt.
Legal Fees For Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
This is a big question for most people – Chapter 13 sounds great, but how am I going to pay for it?
Fair question.
In some places, our Chapter 13 legal fees are set by the court (in Los Angeles Chapter 13 cases, for example, we are limited to charging $4,000 for the basic work involved).
In New York, our fees are based on your situation and what we reasonably expect to do in order to get your the help you need. That usually runs about $6,500.
On top of those fees, there are court filing fees that come to $281. There’s also a credit counseling certification process as well as a financial management certification that you’ll need to do, and they usually come to about $50 combined.
How Legal Fees Get Paid
Your goal is to get this handled as quickly as possible, and we want to help. That’s why we allow you to pay most of your fees through the Chapter 13 Plan.
That means we will stand in line with your other creditors and get paid a little bit each month our of your monthly payments.
It makes sense for you because you get into court more quickly, and you have the peace of mind knowing that we don’t get paid if the case isn’t successful.
Consider Your Options
As you can see, a defaulted student loan isn’t the end of the world. Whether it’s consolidation or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, there are ways to avoid the government’s collection efforts.
I’m happy to help either way, and when we talk it will largely be about mapping out these options and seeing which one works best for you.
What To Do If You Default On Your Federal Student Loans After Rehabilitation was originally published on Consumer Help Central. If you're seeing this message on another site, it has been stolen and is being used without permission. That's illegal, a violation of copyright, and just plain awful.
I wish we could file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy case immediately – but we can’t. Here’s why.
If you owe us money when your case is filed, we’re considered creditors.
Creditors aren’t allowed to contact you or ask you for money once your case is filed.
If they do, it’s against the law.
At the end of the Chapter 7 case, your obligation to repay most of your debts is wiped out. That would include any outstanding legal fees for your Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
Here’s what we do instead.
Three Simple Reasons Why We Need To Be Paid Before The Case Is Filed
- Pre-petition Chapter 7 legal fees are wiped out at the end of the case. If I’m doing work for you and the legal fee gets wiped out, that’s not fair to me or my staff.
- I can’t post-dated checks pre-petition and cash them after filing the bankruptcy. If I do, then the bankruptcy judge may force me to give back the money to your bankruptcy trustee – who will give it to your creditors, not to you.
- If you owe me money when we file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy case then I’m your creditor. A lawyer who is a creditor of his bankruptcy client has an ethical conflict of interest, and would not be able to represent the client.
Two Easy Ways You Can Pay Your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Legal Fees
If you had the full balance of the legal fees in your bank account, you probably wouldn’t need to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Fear not – you’re not too broke to work with me. In fact, most of my clients pay in one of these three ways:
- Can get the money from a friend or relative (we should talk before you do that, though); and
- Pay in pre-filing installments by check, money order, or automatic debit from your checking account.
Payment Plans For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Fees
Just about every Chapter 7 bankruptcy client I have worked with in the past decade has paid their legal fees in installments.
Some people like to time their payments to their paychecks, and have us deduct small installments from their checking account each time.
Others prefer to send in a check or money order.
One thing we don’t do, however, is accept credit cards – for obvious reasons.
How Long You Can Take To Pay Your Legal Fees
Some clients take up to 4-5 months to pay their legal fees. That’s fine by me – the goal is to get you filed as quickly as you can manage.
Starting now is better than starting later, though. Once you make the decision that filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is right for you, there’s no reason to wait.
Image credit: aka_lusi
Legal Fees In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Must Be Paid Before Filing The Case was originally published on Consumer Help Central. If you're seeing this message on another site, it has been stolen and is being used without permission. That's illegal, a violation of copyright, and just plain awful.
You can refinance your mortgage during an active Chapter 13 bankruptcy case – but only if you follow the rules.
When you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, part of the deal is that you are not allowed to take on more debt until the case is over.
If you want to take on new debt while your case is active, you need court permission.
Some places relax the rules a bit. For example, for cases filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, you’re allowed to take on new debt up to $1,500 without asking the court.
When you refinance your mortgage, you’re taking on new debt.
Though you’re just swapping a new loan for an old one, it’s a new account and lender. That means it’s new debt.
You will need to follow the rules to make sure you don’t get into trouble.
Information And Documents We Need
You are going to need to get us some documents from your mortgage broker or lender.
You will also need to take the time to talk with someone in the office about the situation and circumstances surrounding the refinance.
The information required differs based on where you are – the court rules in Los Angeles differ, for example, from those in Brooklyn cases. And the requirements in Brooklyn cases are different from those in Manhattan.
That’s why you need to get in touch with us. No sense in getting the wrong information, only to have to go on a hunt for the right documents and lose valuable time later on.
Once We Have The Information In Hand
From there, we will need to file a motion with the bankruptcy court to allow you to refinance your mortgage.
This is called a Motion To Incur Debt in New York bankruptcy cases, and Debtor’s Motion For Authority To Refinance Real Property for Los Angeles bankruptcy cases (you can click here for the official form we need to use in Los Angeles). Either way, it’s largely the same thing.
It takes a few days to put the papers together. Once filed, it will take about 3-4 weeks for the motion to be heard by the bankruptcy judge.
Once the judge hears the motion, and assuming nobody opposes it, we should receive an Order allowing you to refinance within a week or so. It could take longer depending on how busy the court is.
You are allowed to close on your refinance only after the judge has approved the motion.
When To Get In Touch With Us
Plan on dropping us a line when you get serious about refinancing. You don’t need to have a firm commitment from a lender, but give a call when you know for sure that you’re looking to refinance.
We’ll go through some basics, including the amount you’re borrowing, whether you’re looking to cash out some equity, and what we’ll need for your Motion To Incur New Debt.
Don’t wait until you’ve got a commitment because then you’re under a time crush to get to the closing table. Look at the timeframe for a motion to be heard and approved – do you really want to lose the refinance just because you sat on the sidelines?
Image credit: RambergMediaImages
Refinancing Your Mortgage While In Chapter 13 was originally published on Consumer Help Central. If you're seeing this message on another site, it has been stolen and is being used without permission. That's illegal, a violation of copyright, and just plain awful.
A California business man and an attorney were recently convicted in a multimillion dollar bankruptcy fraud and money laundering scheme that carried on for a number of years. Steven Zinnel, 49, of Gold River and attorney Derian Eidson, 49, of Yorba Linda, will both be sentenced later this year their roles in the scheme that [...]
We’re packing the boxes and moving the New York office over the next few days.
Expect to see us back on Tuesday, July 30, 2013.
Phone numbers and email addresses remain the same.
Our new address is:
1430 Broadway Ste 1802
New York NY 10018-3354
Click here for a Google Map of the new office location.
In case you’re interested, the picture is of David’s office. What you don’t see is the dozens of full boxes sitting just out of camera range.
Our New York Office Is Moving was originally published on Consumer Help Central. If you're seeing this message on another site, it has been stolen and is being used without permission. That's illegal, a violation of copyright, and just plain awful.
Bringing you the most up-to-date news, tips and blogs throughout the web. Here’s your Bankruptcy Update for July 25, 2013 The Wages of Bankruptcy: Stockton’s Cautionary Tale for Detroit American Roads, Detroit Tunnel Operator, Files Bankruptcy How Bankruptcy Impacts Your Taxes
Debtors who are struggling to make payments may find Chapter 13 bankruptcy helpful for a number of reasons. For some, it helps them make their money stretch further while still being in good standing with their creditors. For others it helps them keep their property due to falling behind on payments. You get legal protection [...]
By C. J. HUGHES To understand how the current office market for technology companies can resemble a Russian nesting doll, with layer upon layer of increasingly smaller subleases, it might help to consider the upper stories of 568 Broadway in SoHo.
In the cast-iron former sewing factory, Scholastic, the publisher, is subletting two floors of space to Foursquare, a social media company. In turn, Foursquare is subletting one of those floors to a handful of other tech firms, including Fueled, which designs apps for phones.
And Fueled has divided its column-lined room as a co-working space, where $650 a month gets a renter a seat and unlimited snacks from jars along a wall.
One of those seats belongs to David Spiro, a self-employed entrepreneur, who sat alone at the corner of a long table on a recent afternoon, a bag of popcorn by his laptop. “I’ve raised some funding,” Mr. Spiro said, “but not nearly enough to afford a typical lease in Manhattan, so this place is great.” The sentiment could also apply to the daisy chain of tenants in his building, and more broadly to the surrounding neighborhoods.
In the last few months, the area of Manhattan south of Midtown has been awash in deals where early-stage tech companies have opted to take over office space belonging to another tenant, rather than enter into a direct lease with a landlord.
These sublet deals are often preferred, tenants and brokers say, because the rents are usually slightly cheaper than conventional leases. They can also be for shorter lengths of time than the typical 10 years and require a far smaller security deposit up front.
As important, they say, is that the spaces usually come built out, which means essentials like high-speed Internet lines, air-conditioning and conference rooms are already in place. Getting up and running quickly is critical for companies or self-starters that often measure growth in months, not years, analysts explain.
Of course, the office within an office within an office can carry risks. If the first, second or third tenant goes bankrupt, a subletter could find itself without a home. But because their own leases are so brief, these low-rung tenants can also easily wind down operations quickly if, say, their app never catches fire.
“They don’t know about the future, so flexibility is key,” said Heidi Learner, the chief economist at Studley, the commercial real estate firm, who is the co-author of a report on the tech sublet trend. “You don’t know about what head count will be, whether you will get any venture capital funding, or whether you will be acquired.”
In general, subletting is becoming more popular. In the Midtown South area, or from Canal Street to 30th Street, sublets accounted for 19 percent of major leasing activity this year, up from 11 percent in 2010, Studley said.
And between January and April of this year, 33 percent of all the leases signed in Manhattan by tech companies — a major driver of the current economy — were sublets, the report said. Sublet tenants among other industries within the same period were less than half that.
The report also states that the average length of tech subleases is about four years.
Not just any space will do; tech firms almost exclusively want prewar buildings with lofty ceilings and open floors, said Sean Black, a broker with Jones Lang LaSalle. Since that type of converted industrial space is clustered mainly around the Broadway corridor, supply is limited, he added, and demand is robust.
“They like the ‘old world meets new world’ look,” said Mr. Black, whose many tech clients include Foursquare. A lack of walls and cubicles, with eclectic art on the walls, embodies a certain attitude. “The last thing they want to do is conform with corporate America.”
Technology firms have been subletting a bit more space than they personally need, reflecting awareness of heightened demand from a flourishing industry that allows them to rent out extra room to similar companies. Besides, locking in the space at today’s asking rents, which for sublets is about $45 a square foot in Midtown South, according to Studley, is considered wise, because rents are expected to climb, companies say.
“It’s a great way to hedge the lease,” said Derek Stewart, who handled leasing for Foursquare before leaving the company this summer.
Foursquare, which has 120 employees in New York, paid about $45 a square foot in 2011 in a seven-year deal, Mr. Stewart said. But he estimated that with companies like ZocDoc, a physician app service, and Thrillist, a lifestyle site for men, under the same roof, the building had gained a bit of buzz as a popular tech address. That means the space could command $55 a foot today, he said. But so far there has been little urge to profit off the subtenants, he added, saying that Fueled and the other subtenants also pay about $45 a foot for their space. “We felt kind of badly making money off it,” Mr. Stewart said. “We didn’t want to have a bad name in this tight community.”
Mr. Stewart, who now works for David Tisch, a tech investor, also pointed out that subleases were essential for the survival of the tech community.
In San Francisco, where Mr. Stewart leased two spaces on behalf of tech companies, start-ups can afford direct leases, which often require just three months of rent for a security deposit. But in New York, 12 months of rent is common. “Landlords here are just so risk-averse,” he said.
In a business where a company’s start-up phase can be hypercompressed — Instagram was founded in 2010 and bought by Facebook for $1 billion two year later — short sublets are not unusual.
The news site BuzzFeed, for example, has signed a two-year sublease for space in the new headquarters of Tiffany & Company at 200 Fifth Avenue, across from Madison Square Park. BuzzFeed, which had been based on West 21st Street in a 20,000-square-foot space, will take an entire 58,000-square-foot floor, which is one of seven floors Tiffany has there.
The rent was not disclosed, but Greg B. Taubin, the Studley broker who represented Tiffany, said that comparable sublet space in the area went for $65 a square foot.
“Companies like this don’t sign long-term leases because they don’t have a crystal ball,” Mr. Taubin said. But for Tiffany, which doesn’t need the space immediately, there’s an upside in cost reduction, too, he added.
Other advantages include having lights on and more people in the elevators, said Bonnie Shapiro, the director of leasing for Allied Partners, an owner of 568 Broadway. “You don’t want tenants touring the building and seeing dark, unused spaces,” she said.
For tenants that may be consolidating or downsizing, the new demand for sublet space may come at a fortunate time. Credit Suisse, the investment bank, which has undergone several rounds of layoffs in recent months, has managed to sublet all its former office space at 315 Park Avenue South, one of three locations it has in Manhattan.
Tech subletters in the 20-story Beaux-Arts tower, which is at East 23rd Street, include VaynerMedia, X+1 and Responsys, as well as Adap. TV, which this month took the entire seventh floor measuring 16,000 square feet. The new space features a red wall decorated with words like energy, creativity and passion, and executive offices around the perimeter have been turned into shared conference rooms. The space is a far cry from its cramped, plain-jane 4,000-square-foot space at 915 Broadway, said Gerry Manolatos, the communications director for Adap. TV.
Mr. Manolatos would not disclose the terms of his lease, only that it is for less than a decade. But in the merry-go-round of the tech sublet market, Adap. TV is cashing in itself; its former space on Broadway is also being sublet to a tech firm, he said.
“It’s like one deal leads to the next,” Mr. Manolatos said. “Everybody’s thinking, ‘Who knows where we will end up next?’ ”
Copyright 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
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