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Archive for February, 2010
How to Rebuild Your Credit Rating After Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy attorney Benjamin Ginter runs the Law Offices of Benjamin J. Ginter in Cranford, New Jersey. Here, he says that it is possible for people who file for bankruptcy to rebuild their credit rating.
You may despair at the thought that you will never get credit again after filing for bankruptcy. But the truth is far from that. Your bankruptcy can be erased from your record after 7 to 10 years? time.
How to Rebuild Your Credit
Your credit report is based on many factors, which include your income and the debt you acquire after the bankruptcy. It is also based on whether or not you are paying your existing debt on time.
If you try to rebuild your credit, you must pay your bills and existing debt on time. When you use a credit card, you must pay the balance in full each month. If you need a car, you can get one. But make sure you make payments on time, as delayed payments will hurt your credit. Just be optimistic. Over time, your credit will improve, as long as you play by the aforementioned rules.
Different Credit
In my opinion, there is good credit and bad credit. Read more…
What is a Single Asset Real Estate Case? (First in a Series of Three)
Clients ask, what is a Single Asset Real Estate bankruptcy case? If you or your company owns a single building or piece of land, cannot pay the lender and decide to file bankruptcy, then your probably have a “Single Asset Real Estate” case. Special rules apply if you are thinking about filing bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Lakelaw knows the rules related to Single Asset Real Estate cases and regularly represents people and businesses facing this situation.
A Single Asset Real Estate case can work for a property owner even in these troubled times. But you have to understand the rules, parameters and guidelines if you want a Single Asset Real Estate case to work for you. Chapter 11 can help you save your property. However, Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code to make it easier for banks to foreclose on your property. They convinced Congress that a company held just to own one parcel of real estate had no real reason to survive. Congress
Indiana Bankruptcy Blog Reader’s Question: Is There Such A Thing As Lookback On Assets In …
Since the main goal of this blog is to provide bankruptcy information in Indiana, whenever a blog reader poses a question I think will be of general interest, I want to be sure I include my answer in a blog post. It’s interesting that this particular reader is asking about “lookback” on assets in bankruptcy.
“Lookback” is a technical term, the type I and the Bloomington, Anderson, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices might use. But even we bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana would use that term only infrequently.
I say that because lookback generally doesn’t apply to bankruptcy, with one very important exception. The court generally bases its rulings on assets the debtor owns as of the date of filing bankruptcy.
The one big exception is this: if assets were transferred within the two years leading up to a bankruptcy in Indiana, that facts need to be disclosed to the court. Put another way, the court can “look back” two years to discover whether there were any fraudulent transfers of assets that might have been used to satisfy creditors. If the sale or tr
Bankruptcy Attorney’s February Indiana Jobs Update
Just hearing about all the jobs coming to our state in the next year or two improves my mood! As I help clients file individual bankruptcy in Indiana and help stop foreclosure on their homes, I feel more optimistic about their being able to take advantage of the fresh financial start available through the new bankruptcy laws in Indiana.
In just the first two weeks of this month of February, 2010, I learned that no fewer than a dozen sizeable corporations plan to hire new workers. (The information I’ll share with my Indiana bankruptcy clients and my blog readers today comes mainly from the Indianapolis Star, Inside Indiana Business, and the Indianapolis Business Journal.)
Because, as an Indiana lawyer for bankruptcy, I know that bankruptcy can spell relief only if my clients can earn income to rebuild their financial lives after emerging from bankruptcy, I’m constantly scanning the pages and surfing the Web to find news about employment in our state.
The Bloomington and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Mark Zuckerberg offices there provide bankruptcy services in Indiana all the way to the southern border of the state, so I paid special attention to news of southern Indiana companies planning to hire.
- First, more than 2100 seasonal positions are being offered at Holiday World. In fact, job fairs are being held this month.
- Mead Johnson is bringing 35 new jobs to Evansville.
- Berry Plastics is creating 250 jobs in Evansville.
In northern Indiana, there is good news as well.
- Morris Manufacturing and Sales, which makes auto components, expects to create 82 jobs near Ft. Wa
Contrary to popular understanding, in most cases credit card debts are still dischargeable in bankruptcy without a repayment plan (in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case). In many cases, tax debts can also be discharged. This is not new information, so why am I writing this? Because not a week goes by that I don’t get a prospective client in my office who tells me they thought that when the bankruptcy laws changed in 2005 (yes, 2005) it eliminated the ability to get rid of credit card debt in a Chapter 7 case (as opposed to a Chapter 13 repayment plan).
This is NOT true. While it was clearly the intent of Congress to appease the credit card lobby and make it more difficult to eliminate credit card debt, the new bankruptcy laws which went into effect in 2005 made filing bankruptcy more complicated, but certainly did not eliminate the ability to do so.
Credit card debts are just as dischargeable as they were for at least 30 years prior to the recent law change. They are not dischargeable if incurred through fraud or other exceptions to discharge (see http://www.bklaw.com/discharge.html for more information on this), but otherwise you can still file a Chapter 7 case (or a chapter 13 or Chapter 11) and eliminate credit card debt.
Income taxes may also me discharged under certain circumstances. The law
For Bankruptcy In Indiana, Is It Better To File Late Or Early In The Game?
Suffering from the worst financial troubles you’ve ever faced? You’re not alone. “There are several million families in situations not too different from your own,” says bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren (I quoted her book The Two-Income Trap earlier this week in my Indiana bankruptcy blog.
Should you end up reading the book yourself, you’ll find lots of valuable information. But, as an Indianapolis bankruptcy attorney and debt consolidation lawyer, I believe there’s one point discussed in Warren and Tyagi’s book that needs clarifying:
If you’re going to file bankruptcy, what is the best timing?
The authors suggest: “If at all possible, wait until the crisis has passed before filing bankruptcy. If you are out of work, wait until you have found a new job. If you have a child who is seriously ill, wait until he is better and the health insurance has paid what it owes.”
The reasoning: “If you wait, you minimize the risk that you will once again find yourself buried in debt after you file for bankruptcy… If you wait to file until the worst of your problems are over, you give yourself the best odds of getting exactly what you need from the bankruptcy judge – a fresh start.”
Along with the Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, I’ve been offering bankruptcy services in Indiana for almost twenty-five years. I can certainly agree that filing bankruptcy is not something anyone is in a hurry to embrace. At the same time, after working with tens of thousands of individuals and families over the years, I see people waiting too long to deal with their financial problems.
Instead of seeking expert hel
It’s Neck-And-Neck With Individual Bankruptcy and Small Business Bankruptcy In Indiana
“Business Bankruptcies Rise More Than Individuals’”, I read in Businessweek the other day.
As an Indiana lawyer for bankruptcy these many years, I offer bankruptcy services and bankruptcy information in Indiana only, so I was curious to verify if those 2009 statistics are consistent with what happened in our state.
Based on information supplied by Bloomberg News, here’s what I found out:
First, when it comes to personal bankruptcies filed per capita, our state ranked fifth of the fifty states last year. However, unlike the case nationally, the percentage increase of “commericial” versus “non-commercial” bankruptcies, in Indiana it was about the same (25% increase) percentage increase compared to 2008.
Bankruptcy Blog Readers’ Question: My Home Is Going Up For Public Sale In Indiana. …
Today’s bankruptcy blog reader’s question hints at a very sad picture – a home going up for public sale. While I’m not familiar with the details of this particular case, as an Indianapolis bankruptcy lawyer for so many years, I’m unfortunately all too familiar with the general picture.
A “Notice of Public Auction Sale” has been posted, perhaps because the reader’s home was seized for nonpayment of federal taxes. Perhaps it’s the mortgage lender that has foreclosed on the property. In the course of a bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court may employ an auctioneer to manage a public sale of a property. In
A while back I wrote an article about the importance of keeping records and receipts, as they are necessary in a bankruptcy case (see http://bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/2008/11/receipts-and-documentation/). This requirement was recently revisited by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Caneva, 550 F.3d 206 (9th Cir. 2008). In that case, the court held that a debtor filing bankruptcy would be denied his discharge because he failed to maintain or preserve adequate books and records from which the Trustee in bankruptcy (and creditors) could assess the debtor’s financial condition.
This is one of the prerequisites to obtaining a discharge in a Chapter 7 case. 11 U.S.C. 7