According to a study conducted by Credit.com last year, a surprising 73 percent of Americans die in debt, leaving behind a mean-average balance of $61,500. The most common form of debt was credit-card debt (68 percent), followed by mortgage debt (37%) and then others. Given how frequently Americans die with debt, what are the consequences …
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is not a source most New York bankruptcy lawyers would turn to for scholarly discussion of bankruptcy in the United States. However, in March 2018, the medical publication ran a perspective piece arguing that medical debt as a principal cause of bankruptcy is vastly overblown, despite alarming media …
Medical Debt May Not Be a Significant Bankruptcy Trigger Read More »
An unfortunate cause of New York bankruptcy cases is identity theft. If a thief gets a hold of a consumer’s personal financial information he or she can easily open false accounts in that consumer’s name and run up substantial charges. Medical identity theft is also a possibility. Consumers can reverse many of these activities, but …
In the Real World Anonymous Data Is Not So Anonymous Read More »
It’s often a challenge to discharge student-loan debt in a New York bankruptcy case, which is why I have consistently recommended debtors with federal-education loans choose income-driven-repayment (IDR) plans if they find their monthly payments difficult to afford. These plans reduce monthly payments to a fraction of ten-year repayment plan and offer loan forgiveness after …
Income-Driven Repayment Plans Don’t Always Help Debtors Afford Homes Read More »
Maybe it’s good news for some New Yorkers, but its result probably won’t affect them: The U.S. Supreme Court recently chose to hear a case about whether the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) applies to parties initiating non-judicial foreclosures. New York State, however, no longer allows non-judicial foreclosures, so the Court’s ruling probably won’t …
Big FDCPA Supreme Court Case Offers Lessons to New Yorkers Read More »
Few New York bankruptcy debtors regret filing bankruptcy, but I’m sure it’s not anyone’s life goal. Many debtors, then, will be interested in taking the necessary steps to avoid a second New York bankruptcy—and of course, I’m not referring to debtors who choose to file a chapter 13 case after a chapter 7 case, aka …
New York bankruptcy lawyers regularly warn debtors against payday loans. In 2017, the CFPB even finalized a rule to end “debt traps” caused by them. Now, though, lenders are turning to an even blunter way of enticing debtors to borrow significant sums they might not be able to repay: simply sending them checks with fine …
Payday Loans Sidelined by ‘Consumer Installment Loans’ Read More »
I recently discussed the question of whether it’s better to repay credit-card debt or student-loan debt. Many New York bankruptcy cases feature both types of debt, so similarly situated debtors might want to know which path is best. However, there is a third path open to debtors who are at least on top of their …
Sometimes debtors hear the term “bifurcation” in New York bankruptcy, and they ask what it is, hoping it will help them. Although the term sounds sophisticated, it’s actually something that’s routinely associated with chapter 13: cram-downs. It’s a topic I’ve discussed before, but here I’ll synthesize everything in one place. In a sense “bifurcation” does …
Nothing secures most tax debts, which is why if they’re able to discharge them in chapter 7, New York bankruptcy debtors choose to do so. I’ve discussed how that works in a post about how bankruptcy courts were becoming less forgiving of late tax returns, so I won’t repeat it now. However, there are times …
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