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Ilyce Glink's Blog

Welcome to Ilyce Glink's blog! Here you'll find Ilyce's latest insights on personal finance advice, real estate advice and consumer issues. Come back often for timely and interesting posts on a wide variety of topics.

 

Friday, August 08, 2008

Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Increase by 48 Percent in One Year

While in grad school, I covered the bankruptcy beat for about six months. It was during the time when there was excess liquidity, or cash, in most markets - the stock market, real estate market and so on. And many of the bankruptcy professionals I talked to said that their business improves when the economy declines. Many of them seemed to be really available for interviews. So I imagine now they're starting to get really busy.

Anyway, consumer bankruptcies rose 48 percent in July from a year earlier. They were up nearly 14 percent from June of this year, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. In July, 94,124 consumer bankruptcies were filed. Many (32.5 percent) of them were Chapter 13 filings, which allows the consumer to work out a payment plan and often keep his or her home.

"The most recent uptick in bankruptcy filings reflects growing stress on the household finances of U.S. families," said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. "We expect bankruptcies to continue to surge past 1 million new cases by year end."

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posted by Melanie G. Rogers at 3:00 PM 1 comments

1 Comments:

Ilyce,

I got caought up in the boom and invested in two properties in Florida back in 2005. Obviously a victim of bad timing and poor decesions. I have been current on all three of my homes for the past 3 years by borrowing money from various credit cards (amassing 150 K in debt). My primary residence is here in Arizona. I have always had perfect credit and have never been late on any payment in my life. I can no longer go on borrowing money to finance these house that have depreciated overr 200k. Please tell me the ramifications on my primary house here in AZ and any of my current credit card debt if I should do the following:

1. Short sale the Florida homes?

2. Foreclose on the two Florida homes?

3. Declare bankruptcy?

Thanks for your advice and any suggestions you might have.

Pat

posted by Anonymous Anonymous | August 09, 2008 5:55 PM   | more stuff

 

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Monday, July 28, 2008

A Mom Shares Her Perspective

As a mom trying to teach an 18-year-old to manage his money, I think you were right on the mark with your advice to Jason.

While I do think he should register a complaint about the collection person who violated the law, there is no excuse - none - for his failing to take action on the overdue bill. Even if he had just called the credit card company immediately when he had to missed the payment, he would have done less damage.

Better to learn the lesson now than when he is a forty something with a mortgage and a family depending on him.

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posted by Melanie G. Rogers at 3:22 PM 0 comments

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Question About Jason's Credit Card and His Parents

One of the blog posters asked whether Jason's parents were co-signers on the credit card. The answer is no.

In addition, you have to be 18 to get a credit card on your own.

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posted by Ilyce Glink at 2:20 PM 0 comments

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

More Americans File For Bankruptcy in First Half of 2008


More Americans filed for bankruptcy in the first half of 2008 compared to the first half of 2007.
The American Bankruptcy Institute announced that filings increased 30 percent during that time.
In June alone, more than 82,700 people filed for bankruptcy. Last year at the same time, 68,559 people filed. That's more than 20 percent higher.
Bankruptcy isn't a quick fix however. When you file bankruptcy you cannot discharge student loans. They will follow you indefinitely. And with the last bankruptcy act revision in 2005, the process became more difficult overall. If you're thinking about filing for bankruptcy read all you can about it ahead of time and contact an attorney.
In June, 32.9 percent of consumer cases filed were Chapter 13, which may allow the debtor to keep his or her home after working out a payment plan with creditors.
The other common type of consumer bankruptcy is Chapter 7, where after creditors are paid off with available assets, the debtor gets a fresh start.
But no matter what, filing for bankruptcy damages your credit score. The filing stays on your credit report for many years.
It's not the stigma it once was however. During the 2007 aldermanic election in Chicago several of the candidates had previously filed for bankruptcy and they went on to hold public office. During that election cycle, I researched the candidates in the bankruptcy court's electronic files.

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posted by Melanie G. Rogers at 10:58 AM 0 comments

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