Fact and fiction about consumer debt relief

How To Claim Bankruptcy Without A Lawyer


Each and every year millions of struggling individuals contemplate filing for bankruptcy, yet most don’t even know where to start. They’ve heard the commercial advertisements of companies that promise to eliminate debt completely through the bankruptcy process, and they’ve probably even done a bit of research on their own. One thing that’s clear for most people is the filing doesn’t require the services of a lawyer or other financial professional. If you’ve decided to go it alone, the following article will offer some basic advice to help see you through to the other side.

Before helping you understand how to claim bankruptcy without a lawyer, it’s important to talk briefly about what bankruptcy is intended to accomplish. Despite what you may have seen on television about bankruptcy being an easy, no hassle process, filing a bankruptcy claim can be extremely stressful. Not only will you be required to expose your financial mishaps in public, you will also need to spend time collecting information related to your assets, liabilities and household income. A record of your assets will be provided to your creditors, and some of these assets may be liquidated to pay back a portion of your debt. You will also be required to pay several hundred dollars in order to file a claim.

In order to initiate a bankruptcy claim, you will need to fill out some required paperwork and submit it to the bankruptcy court. The information you provide regarding your assets, liabilities and income will be used to determine whether or not you qualify for bankruptcy protection, and if so, what type of bankruptcy is best for you. You will be required by law to enroll in a credit counseling course, which is designed to teach you the basics of managing your finances.

Ultimately, the decision to secure a lawyer for your filing is entirely up to you. Although obtaining a lawyer is completely optional, doing so will offer you several advantages including the ability to work with someone that has experience on the subject and also someone that can offer you advice regarding some of the alternatives that exist.

Downsizing Causes Credit Card Companies To Change Tactics


As a group, citizens of this country are carrying more than one trillion dollars in credit card debt, the most that we’ve ever seen in this country. And, each month, there are more and more consumers who are not able to make even the minimum payments on their credit card accounts.

And, so many of these consumers are in such dire straits that they are close to filing bankrupt. A primary reason is that many credit card holders have either lost jobs or have otherwise lost much of the income that they depended on to pay their monthly bills. After the loss of income they sadly discover that they don’t have enough to even cover all of their essential expenses like food, rent, and utilities – let alone their credit card bills.

So many families have had the economy kick them in the teeth over the last couple of years. The credit card companies, being ever aware, have noticed this and in response started to change their way of marketing. For example, it was only two years ago that anyone who had reasonably good credit was receiving hundreds of credit card offers a year.

Today, most of the credit card companies are not nearly so competitive in beating the bushes for new prospects. Instead, they are concentrating on pulling more money from their current customers than they already have. They do this with a very aggressive strategy of inventing novel fees to charge the customer for all sorts of things.

Credit card companies have begun to restrict the number of prospects they send cads out to. This is partly a response to the increasing number of card holders who have employed debt negotiators to help them reduce the balances on their credit card. This has, of course, caused the companies to suffer big losses. But, a second reason for their change in attitude is due to the fact that the number of potential credit worthy customers has decreased dramatically.

Now, unfortunately, life is becoming a lot more difficult for consumers in financial trouble as the credit card companies become ever more aggressive about collecting their balances from card holders that are delinquent.

Information About Bad Credit Mortgage Loans


You might have heard of bad credit home mortgage loans, but not really know exactly what they are, so the purpose of this article is to provide a little more information to help you, in case you are in need of such a loan.

Typically, people who look for a bad credit mortgage loan are those who have defaulted on previous debts but who still need a mortgage for their property. The default may even be on an existing home loan. Many people in this situation are faced with the possibility of foreclosure and losing their home.

This is obviously not a good situation to be in. Having bad credit is one thing, but being threatened with homelessness is another thing entirely. So if you are in this position yourself, what are your options?

Talk to your Lender

The first thing to do is to have an open, honest and frank discussion with your current lender, to see if there is anything they can do to ease your burden of debt. Don’t try to hide anything, be upfront about your situation and see if you can work with them to put together a plan to improve the situation. What you have to remember is that it is in the lender’s interest to help you out. They would much prefer to have a borrower with a realistic planned payment schedule that a defaulted loan and a foreclosed home on their hands.

It is almost always a better course of action to try and sort things out with your existing lender rather than scouring the Internet for a new lender who doesn’t know your history and who may be lending you money under false pretenses.

Beware of Fees

Whether you re-finance with your existing lender or take out a bad credit mortgage loan with a new lender, make sure you fully understand all the fees involved. Booking fees, transfer fees, late payment fees, etc are all examples of charges that could add up and increase your debt.

Also, wherever bad credit is involved, interest rates tend to be higher, so make sure you check that any new loan you take out is not going to cost you more than your existing loan.

Our best advice would always be to talk to your current lender and try to work something out with them.