Recently I wrote about the agreements big banks were striking with colleges to make money off their students. The Washington Post ran an article about similar agreements between hospitals and banks for lending money to patients to pay for their medical expenses. From a New York bankruptcy context, debtors should try to avoid these loans …
Excessive Credit-card debt is very common in New York bankruptcy. In fact, in 2016 in the Eastern District of New York, which includes all Brooklyn bankruptcy cases, the average debtor owed tens of thousands of dollars in unsecured debts. (Information from “Who Are Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Debtors?“) The question is, what are the main reasons …
Study: ‘Making Ends Meet’ Most Common Cause of Credit-Card Debt Read More »
There’s been some discussion lately on bankruptcy lawyers steering debtors to chapter 13 when chapter 7 is more appropriate, e.g. when ProPublica found significant racial disparities in bankruptcy outcomes. This isn’t so much of an issue in New York bankruptcy cases because New Yorkers, particularly downstate, tend to file in chapter 7. However, there is …
Reason to File in Chapter 13: Future Deteriorating Financial Conditions Read More »
In recent weeks, you may have heard of the bursting Bitcoin bubble and the faltering stock market. These types of events are naturally associated with recessions, job losses, and people filing bankruptcy. The sudden turn in markets isn’t nearly so ominous, but there are some things debtors should know about financial assets in New York …
Now that a new year has begun, some debtors might consider changing their tax withholdings to free up income to pay debts. The idea is that they can stay current on their bills now and repay the IRS next April. In most circumstances, reducing withholdings to pay debts is a bad idea and New York …
Reducing Tax Withholdings to Pay Bills Is a Bad Idea Read More »
No, not debt collections, I’m talking about personal collectibles. Probably everyone has heard the urban legend about the baby boomer whose parents threw out his baseball-card collection that had a priceless Honus Wagner among them. Contrary to the parents’ perception that it’s just junk, collectibles of all kinds can be quite valuable. In fact, people …
How Much Is That Collection Worth in Bankruptcy? Read More »
Married debtors in New York bankruptcy are more likely to have signed prenuptial agreements than debtors elsewhere just because so many New Yorkers are wealthy and want to protect their wealth in the event of a divorce or early death. Because marriage and bankruptcy intersect—often unpleasantly, alas—some debtors wonder what effects a prenuptial agreement might …
A few months ago, I wrote about when a chapter 7 bankruptcy case can be dismissed, and I touched on dismissals that are with or without “prejudice.” Today I’ll clarify what this means for New York bankruptcy debtors. Section 349(a) of the Bankruptcy Code prevents a dismissal from interfering with a debtor’s future rights to …
When Can a Bankruptcy Case Be Dismissed With Prejudice? Read More »
I recently analyzed bankruptcy data to find out who chapter 7 New York bankruptcy debtors are. The dataset came from the federal courts’ 2016 BAPCPA Report, which contains information on people who file bankruptcy but owe mainly consumer debts. However, not all bankruptcy debtors are consumer debtors, so the post gave incomplete information on how …
How Many People File New York Bankruptcy Each Year? Read More »
Back in July, The New York Times ran a long article about abuses (and incompetence) of debt collectors trying to recover from private-student-loan debtors. The issue is important because unlike federally backed student loans, debtors with private loans have fewer options to deal with them when they become burdensome because those loans are ineligible for …
NYT Explores ‘Assembly Line’ of Student-Debt Lawsuits Read More »
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