2012 - Page 4 of 4 - Better Call Dave

April 18, 2012June 11, 2012

New Median Income Figures

Just learned that the US Trustee’s Office is issuing new median income numbers effective May 1st. They are going up for all household sizes. This is a good thing.

Please keep in mind that I’m only talking here about the figures for Minnesota.

For a household of one, the present number is $46,161, but after May 1st it will be $47,618. For a household of two it goes from $61,170 to $63,101. For household of three it increases from $71,784 to $74,050, and for household of four it goes from $84,251 to $86,910.

For every additional family member in addition to four, add another $7,500.

I thought right away of one person who I had just spoken with who was discouraged over being just a little over the median. So I called that person just now with the news that now the family is probably a bit under the median.

In case you are wondering, the big deal is that as long as your income is under the median, you can avoid being subjected to what can sometimes be a very difficult means test.

April 15, 2012July 24, 2012

Tax Refunds Predicted to Fund Over 200,000 Bankruptcies

Just finished reading a USA Today article which refers to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study says they expect over 200,000 American households to use their income tax refunds to pay for filing bankruptcy.

“Last year the average tax refund was $2,913, NBER says. That’s enough for many Americans to file for bankruptcy,” says the article. “Those who have trouble saving money will delay filing for bankruptcy until they have a one-time cash infusion, such as tax rebates or tax refunds.”

It’s not news to me that people often will use their tax refunds to hire me or someone like me to prepare a bankruptcy filing. The predicted number, however, seems pretty high to me even though it is a nation wide number. If asked to guess off the top of my head what the number would be, I would have figured about half that – maybe 100,000.

Well, tax day is Tuesday – April 17th this year. Getting the returns filed is important. I no longer will file a bankruptcy case in a situation where all the tax returns have not been filed first. But take care of yourself and don’t get too frantic about it. In particular, don’t have a car accident over it.

March 20, 2012July 24, 2012

Big Meeting Tonight

The state bar association bankruptcy section is meeting tonight. The topic will be lien stripping.

Judging just from the announcements concerning tonight’s meeting, a bit of controversy seems to be brewing. At first the topic was announced as how to lien strip or words to that effect. Then the topic was changed to something like “a discussion of the pros and cons of lien stripping.”

I believe that sooner or later the process of lien stripping will be commonplace in Minnesota. Right now the procedure still seems a bit unsettled. I’ll have more to say after tonight. Perhaps my opinion will change. I would probably be willing to try it if I had the right case.

January 27, 2012July 24, 2012

Student loan horror stories

Two student loan horror stories:

Story No. 1. I’ve heard back from one of my former clients that student loans are now harder to get than they were before filing. In fact, that particular person seems to have been cut off entirely from student loans. It means for that client, who happens to have been employed as well as in school, that money will have to be set aside in advance before going back to school. So there is an unexpected delay in educational plans. It may be significant that this was a person who was relying on private student loans, not government student loans.

There’s what appears to be good article on the subject of bankruptcy and student loan eligibility at finaid.org. They say that bankruptcy should not effect eligibility for government student loans, but that it is common for there to be a problem with private student loans. This might explain why I haven’t been hearing from most of my clients or former clients about any such difficulties. I believe that most of my clients, if they do have an ongoing financial aid program at a college or school, are using government lenders not private lenders.

Story No. 2. Again, it’s a problem with a private lender. Client is no longer in school, but has a student loan and wants to keep paying. However, for several months now the client has not been able to find anybody who will accept the payment. There seems to be a musical lender shell game in progress. After the bankruptcy filing, the original lender seems to have transferred the loan to another institution. The new lender seems to have transferred it again, but the client can’t seem to find out where. I’ve made some calls about it, but it seems impossible to get a real person. When one does get a real person, they just say you’ll hear from someone soon. But so far that’s not happening. Frankly I wonder if someone has lost the file. The problem is of course that student loans don’t ever really go away, and sooner or later this thing is going to pop up with somebody demanding payment. And I’m sure whoever it is won’t be forgiving any of the interest that has been accumulating during this time that the loan seems to have disappeared.

I’ve been telling my clients that if they will be needing more student loans after we file, then they better check with the lender and their financial aid office at school to try and get a preview in advance as to what the effect of the bankruptcy might be.

January 15, 2012July 24, 2012

Lien Stripping Update in "Minnesota Lawyer"

Just noticed that Minnesota Lawyer has a good recent article on the subject of lien stripping and the status of the availability of this process for Minnesota residents. This is a process in Chapter 13 bankruptcies involving people who have second mortgages. It has to be a situation where the value of the house is less than the balance on the first mortgage. The theory is that in cases where the homestead is worth less than the balance on the first mortgage, then the second mortgage is not really a secured debt.

One prepares and files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in which the second mortgage is put in with the unsecured debts. If it succeeds, the debtors should be able to come out the other end – usually after paying in on a Chapter 13 plan for five years – with only one mortgage on their house instead of two. This could really help a lot of people. The trouble right now is that the availability of the process is still under appeal. Besides that, the exact procedure for clearing the lien of the second mortgage from the title as a matter of real estate law is still under discussion.

Once the appeals are over and both the bankruptcy laws and the real estate laws have been fully nailed down, this could be really something. For now I have not found myself willing to subject a client of mine to all the risks involved in this procedure. To me it just doesn’t seem quite ready for prime time. I know lawyers who are going full steam ahead with this, however, and I could refer you to one it you’d like to at least look into it.

January 4, 2012July 24, 2012

Beware of Undead Debt – Don’t let them reboot the Statute of Limitations

Over the New Year weekend I saw a Wall Street Journal article. It was about certain banks and credit card companies trying to trick people into paying expired debts. Those would be debts so old that they are now barred by the statute of limitations.

In Minnesota the statute of limitations on most obligations is six years. That means anything you haven’t paid on for six years is probably not a debt that can be legally collected. The Wall Street Jounal article describes a plan where people with such expired debt are offered new credit cards, but in exchange for getting the card they are required to pay off some of their old expired debt. The marketing for these new credit cards can be very misleading. A lot of people are signing up for these deals without understanding that the debt they are being asked to pay as a condition of getting the new card is rally old and now bogus.

I see that Yahoo Finance has republished the article or part of it, which you can find here.

Tip if you are sued for expired debt: Last time I checked, in Minnesota a bill collector can still sue you and still get a default judgment for debt which is past the statute of limitations. That’s because the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense that must be raised in a response to the lawsuit. So if you are sued for debt that you think is probably expired, you need a lawyer to help you raise that defense. Properly raised, the statute of limitations is a defense that makes the debt go away – but ONLY if it is properly raised as a defense. I would discourage you from trying to raise the defense yourself. You can try, but it’s complicated and would be easy to mess up.