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It's Not How Much You Owe, it's How Much the Calculator Says You Can Pay... Chapter 13 Plans

10/6/2011

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A lot of people assume that with Chapter 13 bankruptcy they have to repay a lot of their debts, and that the more debt they have, the more they will necessarily have to "pay back" in Chapter 13.  This is a case of the consumer over-complicating the process; and the consumer loses out from their misunderstanding.  In short, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy payment is not based on how much you owe, but how much the government's calculator - with all of its curious equations - says you can afford to pay back.   A person with 100,000.00 of credit card debt would likely not have to pay back any more than a person with $25,000 of credit card debt, if all other factors were the same - because the payment is based on how much you can presumably *afford* to pay.

And most people we see can't afford to pay much of anything back - so they really shoot themselves in the foot when they wait too late to get legal advice.  Don't let the amount you owe be a deterrent to investigating your bankruptcy options.  In fact, one of the problems we see the most is actually people waiting until they owe less - they let their house go into foreclosure or do a short sale, and come see us after someone sues.  We'd estimate that 95% of the time, the government's calculator would indicate these individuals who waited too late can now **afford to pay more back** all of a sudden!  As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.  Don't try to let someone else fix your debts through foreclosure or short sale before you inevitably need to fix them yourself by filing bankruptcy, or you could end up spending a lot of money.  Our clients need their money for their cars and future medical expenses more than credit card companies need it.

This is a case of the bankruptcy process giving you just the opposite of what you hoped to get in exchange for giving in to your creditors sooner.  You reduce your debts, and as a consequence, might very well have to pay a lot more back when you file bankruptcy.  The easiest solution?  Get some bankruptcy advice even if you think you may not eventually need to file.  Just as with anything else in life, an ounce of prevention can be far, far less expensive than a pound of cure.

An individual with an above-average income is likely to end up having to pay back a substantial portion of his or her debts if their property is let go to foreclosure.  Why?  Because if you don't have a mortgage payment, the government figures you have some extra money around to pay back some more towards your Visa or Mastercard, or that nasty creditor who got a default judgement against you.  Don't procrastinate when your debt situation becomes unmanageable. -honakerlegal
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Bankruptcy Filings are Down, but Housing Pains Continue...

10/6/2011

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Consumer bankruptcies fell 17 percent to 108,517 in September from 130,329 a year earlier and are down 10 percent for the first nine months of the year, according to American Bankruptcy Institute's recent report, which is based on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.    This should be welcome news, but it ignores an inconvenient truth.  After several years of protracted recession and unemployment, bankruptcies are likely to slow down because many who need to file bankruptcy already have.  

In real life, the fact that bankruptcies are slowing does not help much.  Indeed, the housing market and the foreclosure situation are probably getting worse.  California had a 55 percent month-over-month increase in default notices from July to August, giving the state the second highest foreclosure rate in the United States, behind Nevada and slightly higher than Arizona, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, released last month.   Moreover, the ongoing scandal of "robo-signed" foreclosure documents - and the government and regulatory investigation of lender practices - have probably led to an outsize backlog of shadow-inventory foreclosure properties which will eventually have to be marketed, further depressing housing prices.

From our own experience, we know that many homeowners will file bankruptcy once they find out what their lender is going to do - i.e., when the loan modification is approved or denied - or the lender reneges on the "trial" modification.  If the mortgage modification process is ever streamlined to the point that it resembles a sensible business practice, we expect a large number of bankruptcies will follow from people who have been standing on the sidelines waiting to see whether they needed to file bankruptcy to discharge their other debts.   -honakerlegal
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We are a debt relief agency. We help people file Bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Code.
  • About
  • Attorneys
  • Why Choose Us?
  • Consultation
  • Blog
  • Mailing Information
  • Fees
  • Videos
  • Tax Resolution and Relief
  • ARAG
  • Contact Us
  • What is Chapter 7?
  • What is Chapter 13?