the7thirteen

  13 Halloween Movies With Bankruptcy Themes Consumers waiting on student loan relief and a second stimulus package? Can we all agree that Halloween is the holiday with the best collection of movies?   Perhaps due to plots which often focus on personal choices and challenges amidst unusual tension, many horror movies put me in mind of issues frequently encountered in consumer bankruptcy cases.   Here are 13 for your consideration: A Nightmare on Elm Street ­­– During the COVID-19 pandemic many mortgage companies have suspended monthly payments. This has been a welcome respite for many homeowners facing unemployment or reduced income.   However, the payment suspension will not be indefinite.   In many cases the suspended payments will be coming due in full at the end of the suspension period.   Homeowners who are not able to make the payments will be in default under the loan documents when the forbearance periods end and could face foreclosure.   A widespread housing crisis is a nigh

  TWO COURSES AND NO DESSERT   Bankruptcy Credit Counseling Rules Can Be Way Too Danged Confusing! Photo credit: Man Dy, Pexels.com A consumer bankruptcy filing involves a flood of forms, papers and procedures.  To the uninitiated, it can be difficult to understand why each of these components is important, or if they have an actual purpose.  After filing a bankruptcy case your mailbox will have fewer bills, but you’ll instead get notices about hearings and meetings, objections to one thing, and notice of requirements to do another thing.   Some of these items are from lawyers – either yours or someone else’s – and others could be from the Trustee or Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court.   The Bankruptcy Court Clerk will probably send you something called a “NOTICE OF REQUIRMENT TO FILE A CERTIFICATION ABOUT A PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT COURSE (Official Form 423).”   That sounds an awful lot like the “credit counseling” that you did before you filed your bankruptcy case.   You coul

Photo by Abby Kihano, Pexels.com While 7thirteen day may or may not be a holiday that I invented, taking a day to appreciate consumer bankruptcy laws in the United States is a pretty good idea.   It’s no less valid than “Barbershop Music Appreciation Day” and “National French Fries Day,” both celebrated on the same day.   In fact, you can easily celebrate all three holidays at the same time, which would surely also qualify as participating in the day’s fourth holiday: “Embrace Your Geekness Day.” Simply put, bankruptcy is a financial safety net that allows individuals to protect property while dealing with their debts with dignity.   Bankruptcy is a federal law, authorized in the U.S. Constitution.   It’s there because the framers wanted citizens to be protected from the debtors’ prisons that existed in England at that time.   Our bankruptcy system is not perfect, and can be devilishly complicated, but it’s a right worth celebrating, even more so in view of the COVID-19 epi

(Wishing everyone remains safe and healthy, and looking forward to days with fewer masks and more smiles!) It’s a major source of concern for those in bankruptcy, or considering it.   Individuals in the midst of a bankruptcy case are at least as likely as anyone else to have dire need of the checks soon to be issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.   The checks are referred to in official circles as “recovery rebates” or “economic impact payments” but are often referred to as “stimulus payments.”   Since “stimulus payment” is shorter, easier to say, and about as accurate a description as anything else, let’s go with that.      Bankruptcy requires consideration of your income as well as your assets.   Depending on the type of bankruptcy case, you may be required to contribute all of your “current monthly income” or turn over property to a Trustee if you cannot claim the value of the property exempt.   These are two different c

Filing a Chapter 13 case is easy.   Keeping it going is the tricky part.   A Chapter 13 case can provide immediate relief and peace of mind.   There is a certain element of “instant gratification” that gives it appeal on day one of the case.   In many jurisdictions a case can be filed for “no money down.”   Spending a few hours at an attorney’s office and signing some paperwork will make the foreclosure, repossession, garnishment or other collection efforts stop, as if by magic.   Appearances can be deceiving.    A successful Chapter 13 case usually requires a three- to five-year commitment involving monthly payments.   The jumble of rules, requirements, meetings and hearings can seem like a bad set of instructions for building a complicated piece of furniture.   Miss something important and the case will be dismissed, leaving you right back where you started, or maybe in even worse shape.   Let’s look at the common reasons why Chapter 13 cases fail, and how to avoid