By STACY COWLEY and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG

Raid your 401(k). Ask your boss for a loan, load up on your credit cards, or put up
your house as collateral by taking out a second mortgage.

Those are some of the financially risky strategies that Pioneer Credit Recovery
suggested to people struggling to pay overdue federal tax debt. The company is one
of four debt collection agencies hired by the Internal Revenue Service to chase down
late payments on 140,000 accounts with balances of up to $50,000.

By STACY COWLEY

About 12 million people will get a lift in their credit scores next month as the
national credit reporting agencies wipe from their records two major sources of
negative information about borrowers: tax liens and civil judgments.

Study finds domestic violence, ‘coerced debt’ often go together
The following is an excerpt from a post by GreenPath regarding an study about the tie between physical abuse and financial abuse, by Susan Ladika/CreditCards.comm 26 September 2012

Supreme Court Knocks a Hole in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act On June 12, 2017, the Supreme Court knocked a hole in consumers’ rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Starting now, debt buyers, like Midland, Portfolio Recovery, and Cavalry are free of the regulations under the FDCPA.

Supreme Court Knocks a Hole in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act On June 12, 2017, the Supreme Court knocked a hole in consumers’ rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Starting now, debt buyers, like Midland, Portfolio Recovery, and Cavalry are free of the regulations under the FDCPA.  Here’s my list of the […]

Supreme Court Knocks a Hole in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act On June 12, 2017, the Supreme Court knocked a hole in consumers’ rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Starting now, debt buyers, like Midland, Portfolio Recovery, and Cavalry are free of the regulations under the FDCPA.  Here’s my list of the […]

According to an article in USA Today “Wells Fargo faces new accusations that it tried to capitalize financially on its customers without their permission — this time by allegedly modifying mortgage terms for people who had filed for bankruptcy protection.

Deciding to file bankruptcy is a really personal decision. But there are a few red flags which probably mean it's a really good option. So if you're considering going into your retirement account and borrowing money to pay off unsecured debts like credit card debts and medical debts, that's a pretty good sign that it might be time to file bankruptcy. Look your retirement funds are earmarked for your retirement. They are 100 percent exempt in bankruptcy. So if we file a bankruptcy for you nobody can touch your retirement account.

By Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Michael Corkery

More than a decade after Yvette Harris’s 1997 Mitsubishi was repossessed, she is still
paying off her car loan.

She has no choice. Her auto lender took her to court and won the right to seize a
portion of her income to cover her debt. The lender has so far been able to garnish
$4,133 from her paychecks — a drain that at one point forced Ms. Harris, a single
mother who lives in the Bronx, to go on public assistance to support her two sons.

“How am I still paying for a car I don’t have?” she asked.

What types of bankruptcy are available?