Normally, when a homeowner makes a mortgage payment, the servicer places the money in escrow and then distributes it to the relevant parties (the creditor, the insurance company, the government, and itself as a fee). Problems can arise with partial mortgage payments. Instead of placing it in escrow, making a partial distribution to the creditors, …
What Are ‘Suspense Accounts’ and How Do They Relate to Foreclosure? Read More »
The New York Fed is apparently very interested in the effects of college costs on young Americans’ home buying. The central bank branch explored the topic of student loans leading to lower homeownership rates in April, but in July it looked at it from a different angle: how public university tuition costs relate to homeownership. …
New York Fed: Higher College Costs Translates to Less Homeownership Read More »
People with teetering finances frequently seek alternatives to New York bankruptcy. It seems to be a sensible thing to do, but wherever there are people who need to make quick money, there will be others who will sell them what they want to hear—and nothing else. One example you may have heard of is multi-level-marketing …
Bankruptcy: Safer Than a Multi-Level-Marketing Company Read More »
A few weeks ago a married New York City couple wrapped up their affairs and leapt from their ninth-story chiropractic office. They carried small plastic bags in their pockets containing identification and notes. One pointed to a “financial spiral” that made it impossible for them to live with their “financial reality.” Reporters discovered that they …
Bankruptcy Is a Better Solution to Debt Than Suicide Read More »
Chapter 7 New York bankruptcy is often offered as an option for stopping a foreclosure. However, debtors should ask why it’s worth the trouble if they think they will lose their homes anyway. It’s a fair point: Debtors who are behind on their mortgages might not keep their homes in chapter 7. Ultimately, the answer …
Why File Chapter 7 to Delay an Inevitable Foreclosure? Read More »
The Internal Revenue Service brings both good news and bad news: Identity theft via individual tax returns is falling, but business-related tax-return identity theft is on the rise. Identity theft is often catastrophic for individuals because the thieves can use personal financial information to ruin them. More insidious than conventional identity theft, Medical identity theft …
IRS: Identity Theft Falling, Business-Related Identity Theft Rising Read More »
There’s quite a bit of research on the effects of debt on mental health, and there’s some interesting research on how filing bankruptcy can help remedy debt-related health problems. This literature, however, focuses on the stress debtors face due to debt itself rather than on debtors who have serious mental health problems and who also …
The connection between bankruptcy and health insurance is well documented. For example, research by the Federal Reserve found that health insurance can keep people out of bankruptcy, and the Affordable Care Act reduced medical bankruptcies by half. Naturally debtors may ask what happens to their health-insurance plans in New York bankruptcy. The short answer is …
What Happens to Health-Insurance Policies in Bankruptcy? Read More »
Sometimes people will refer to bankruptcy as a shield and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) as a sword, or vice versa. It’s contradictory, but the point is that both laws are designed to protect debtors in different contexts that hopefully don’t overlap. Bankruptcy allows debtors to get rid of debts without punishing overbearing …
Remedies for FDCPA Violations Versus Discharge Injunction Violations Read More »
A long time ago, I discussed the requirements in New York for a successful deed-in-lieu of foreclosure agreement, also called a mortgage release. The benefits of such an agreement are that the lender is able to resell the property and the borrower is no longer obligated to pay on an ultimately unaffordable mortgage. The question, …
Is Renting Your Underwater Home From the Bank a Good Idea? Read More »
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