Free Consultation
The office is open as per the NYS Covid-19 guidelines. We are now doing both in-person and telephone consultations. Please call the office at 718-855-6840 to schedule a time to speak with one of our experienced bankruptcy attorneys.

Debt

Co-Signing Loans Unpopular Among Americans

The Washington Post ran an opinion column by an author explaining why she believed people should not co-sign loans for others. Indeed, co-signing loans can frequently get co-signers into trouble, particularly when principal debtors run into difficulties repaying the loans. You can read about the New York bankruptcy implications of co-signing a loan here. The …

Co-Signing Loans Unpopular Among Americans Read More »

What Is a Conduit Mortgage Provision and Is It Worthwhile?

In a typical chapter 13 New York bankruptcy repayment plan, the debtor pays any prepetition mortgage arrearages in the regular plan payments to the trustee in full and any post-petition mortgage payments directly to the lender as though the bankruptcy had not occurred. Two separate payments might be cumbersome to debtors, so the question is …

What Is a Conduit Mortgage Provision and Is It Worthwhile? Read More »

Federal Reserve: Health Insurance Can Keep You Out of Bankruptcy

One of the questions raised since Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) six years ago is whether decreasing uninsured rates would also reduce medical bankruptcy. One mechanism the ACA enacted was a requirement that states expand Medicaid, but the U.S. Supreme struck that down, leaving state governments with the choice of expanding the program …

Federal Reserve: Health Insurance Can Keep You Out of Bankruptcy Read More »

Don’t Confuse Your Student-Loan Problems With the Government’s

Much reporting on college education or student loans confuses or misleads audiences. One source that’s been particularly outspoken in the last couple months, The Wall Street Journal, ran a few articles worrying about the large sums of federal student loans going unrepaid, perhaps $200 billion. It’s a serious issue, but it’s important that student-loan debtors …

Don’t Confuse Your Student-Loan Problems With the Government’s Read More »

Federal Reserve Survey Shows Continued Household Financial Anxiety

Understanding the state of household finances in the U.S. can give debtors a benchmark to compare their circumstances to. The Federal Reserve recently published its “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2015,” which is based on the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED). The SHED is only three years old and …

Federal Reserve Survey Shows Continued Household Financial Anxiety Read More »

4 Reasons Older Americans Should Consider Bankruptcy to Handle Debts

A few weeks ago I wrote about a Boston-area man who lost his high-paying white-collar job and filed bankruptcy to discharge Parent PLUS student loans he took out for his children. Since that post, it appears the debtor settled with the creditors. Saliently, he had been unemployed for fourteen years, which raises the topic of …

4 Reasons Older Americans Should Consider Bankruptcy to Handle Debts Read More »

Can a Bad Economy Be Grounds for a Chapter 13 Hardship Discharge?

By the time most people file chapter 7 New York bankruptcy, they’ve concluded that there’s really nothing more they can do to repay their debts. They can’t work more jobs or magically earn more money. Thus, their hardship entitles them to a discharge. Chapter 13, by contrast, is aimed at debtors with some hope of …

Can a Bad Economy Be Grounds for a Chapter 13 Hardship Discharge? Read More »

Co-ops in Foreclosure and New York Bankruptcy

I recently wrote about what happens to condo or homeowners fees in New York bankruptcy, but I left out the prominent alternative, non-renting urban residence: co-ops. That wasn’t an accident; the reason is co-op maintenance fees are paid before mortgage payments, so a debtor would default on a mortgage before co-op fees. The result is …

Co-ops in Foreclosure and New York Bankruptcy Read More »

Government Reaching Out to Disabled Student-Loan Debtors

A few years ago, I discussed how the federal government changed its process for allowing qualifying debtors to apply for a non-bankruptcy discharge their student loans due to disability. Until 2013, the process required disabled debtors to slog through a bureaucratic process, even if the Social Security Administration had independently judged them as “totally and …

Government Reaching Out to Disabled Student-Loan Debtors Read More »

At Last, a Principal Reduction Opportunity for Underwater Homeowners

In addition to mortgage modifications, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure offers, New York bankruptcy, and other options, the federal government has finally created the effective solution that until now has been off the table for underwater homeowners: mortgage principal reductions. On April 14, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the Principal Reduction Modification program, which would …

At Last, a Principal Reduction Opportunity for Underwater Homeowners Read More »

Scroll to Top