Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase finally agree to properly identify debts discharged in bankruptcy.

There is a huge misconception out there that basically states that in order to file for bankruptcy relief you have to be penniless. This misconception stems from the fact that most people are not aware of Illinois personal property and real property exemption laws. The exemption laws are actually independent laws separate from the United+ Read More

Upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition, an automatic stay goes into effect which provides a debtor with immediate protection from collection efforts by creditors. But the automatic stay is not without limitations.

Third-Party Citations One of the ways that a creditor with a judgment against you can attempt to collect a debt is to attach or seize your bank account. This is done by filing a third-party citation to discover assets in the Circuit Court and having it served upon the bank. Once the bank receives notice+ Read More

Ten years after the passage of the “new” bankruptcy law we find a new class of Americans “the permanently insolvent”.    You won’t find reference to this group in any financial magazine.  But, hundreds of thousands of Americans are in a position of being hounded mercilessly by debt collec

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are hounded mercilessly by debt collectors, but unable to afford to file for bankruptcy.

Recently I was invited to join a panel of some of the leading personal finance voices on the Money Mastermind Show.
The show, a weekly roundtable on personal finance issues, centered around student loan options. I was lucky to lend my voice to the show, which also included the following regular panelists:

Two years ago we posted a blog on the implications of Zombie Foreclosures for homeowners.  Recent data shows that while the total number of zombie foreclosures are down, they represent a higher percentage of the foreclosure market.  What is a zombie foreclosure?  It is a home that was actively in a foreclosure proceeding but the bank […]