The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

“This matter is serious and will cause problems at the job.”

Believe it or not this is exactly what collection representatives from California-based debt collection company, Rincon Debt Management, were asked to tell unassuming Americans each time they attempted to collect on back debts.

But based on a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission, often the debtor they were trying to pressure didn’t owe any money at all. In many cases either they had already paid back their debts or never had them to begin with. Unfortunately, some of these people were so afraid of the debt collector calls, they sent Rincon money anyway just to make these types of aggressive calls stop coming.…

We’ve talked a lot about the recent record-breaking Black Friday, but it was our nation’s President who instead promoted shopping on the second annual “Small Business Saturday,” a day (November 26) devoted to spurring growth and hiring in some of our country’s most hard-hit business sectors.

According to Reuters, “Promoting “Small Business Saturday”, the second annual event to help Main Street merchants in a tough U.S. economy, [President] Obama visited a local bookstore with Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, in the diverse, upscale Du Pont Circle area of downtown Washington.

“This is Small Business Saturday so we’re out here supporting small businesses,” said Obama, standing next to Malia who was hugging an armful of books to her chest.…

Threats of a double-dip recession — a recession, followed by a short-lived recovery, followed by another recession — permeated the headlines in 2011, at a time when there were plenty of signs that this second coming of an economic downturn had begun. Stagnate hiring, a paltry job market and plummeting real estate prices, as well as low consumer confidence, all made another financial reckoning feel less like a fiction and more like a reality.

But did this double-dip economic climate put the freeze on one of the country’s most popular purveyors of subzero sweets?

Such seems to be the case with the recent bankruptcy of Dippin’ Dots.…

Chicago’s own Giordano’s, one of the most popular purveyors of stuffed pizza, is filing for bankruptcy protection.

It’s not unusual to hear of any business filing for bankruptcy in these tough economic times. During the Recession, less consumer demand and fewer customer orders often caused a rise in inventory, losses in sales margins, and high debts with no solution other than going out of business or restructuring via a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

But for a culinary institution like Giordano’s, the story was different. As The Chicago Times put it, “It wasn’t the pizza, it was the real estate.”

It turns out that throughout a five-year period during which many other restaurants lost business, served fewer customers, and eventually were forced to close shop, Giordano’s had actually thrived.…

The holidays. A time for figgy pudding, partridges zipping around pear trees and maids milking barn animals. Those are well and good signs of happiness and all, but we’re here to dole out gifts that really sparkle under the tree, the kind that keep on giving and never need be returned. We give you, joyous reader, the 12 Days of Bankruptcy.

On the first day of bankruptcy, the bankruptcy code gives to you: an automatic stay. This gem of a benefit to bankruptcy ceases all pending lawsuits filed against you by creditors upon the approval of your petition. You will probably still have to pay any tax lawsuits or student loans that you have out there, but hey, this is only the first day!…

Amid the lingering housing crisis, full of fraudulent foreclosures and missed mortgage modifications, many disenfranchised Americans have turned to renting to keep a roof over their heads, and their heads above financial water.  Yet, even in a period where renting can be financially friendlier than owning,  conscientious and reasonable renters continue to face this tough economy head-on…in the form of foreclosure notices?

That’s right. According to a recent report by AOL’s DailyFinance, even renters are being threatened by the meteoric rise in foreclosures with lenders actually tacking eviction notices to their rental doors.  “At the start of the recession, reports of renters being blindsided by foreclosure notices were not unusual.…

In this underwater housing market, the old adage that renting a home is the same as throwing your money away can be grossly inaccurate. In many cities, from San Francisco to Dallas to New York, “price to rent” ratios make leasing property a no-brainer. But now, even smaller cities like Omaha, Oklahoma City and Kansas City appear on top ten lists of places better to rent than own.

Yet, even in a period where renting can be financially friendlier than owning, many renters continue to face this tough economy head-on, with no chance of home equity to afford them a substantial bailout.…

If you’ve ever tuned in to reality television shows like “Operation Repo,” or the like, you may see repo men (and women) as a bloodthirsty lot, who’ll stop at nothing and use any means necessary to take back cars and trucks, and even boats and planes. In recent episodes, it’s common to see delinquent debtors of all walks of life confronted, assaulted, and even pepper sprayed in an effort to repossess their past due property. While it might be argued that there’s more fiction this fact in these terse depictions of confrontational repossessions, it’s still a good idea to be prepared when repo men may come calling.…

In these tough economic times, many families are facing unprecedented financial challenges. This country’s recent Great Recession has dealt, and continues to deal, a significant blow to the budgets of Americans—leaving millions in debt, underwater in their mortgages, perpetually jobless and looking for any means necessary to get back on a financially-healthy track. As a result of this economy, many need loans and are unable to get them without the financial support of a co-signor.

In part one of the series, “The Responsibility of Co-signors in Default and Bankruptcy,” we’ll look at why it’s better to be cautious than to co-sign.…

In an era of extreme economic downturns and rising unemployment, having a car at your disposal has never been more necessary for work, job interviews and providing other basic fiscal needs…even as you consider a personal bankruptcy.

Yet, if you’re on the road to bankruptcy, these same economic issues and employment woes can mean you may have fallen behind on your most recent car payments, leaving your precious vehicle as a prime target for repossession by your car’s creditors. And while your bankruptcy filing’s “automatic stay” suspends a creditor’s ability to repossess most assets, you may be wondering what happens when your car is taken prior to your filing.…

This unrelenting economic downturn has been rough on all Americans—whether they be single, dating, engaged, married or widowed. But, as anyone who has ever been married already knows: money can be the main cause of many a marriage’s marital strife. As a result, in this especially difficult economic climate—full of job insecurity, rising mortgage costs, health care uncertainties and other mounting money woes—times have never been tougher for couples pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.  Many are left to wonder, who or what can help?

Yet, no matter how tough the economic tide, laying blame to your spouse for your family’s financial problems can be a dead end road that often leads to, at best, long-term distrust, and, at worst, the dissolution of the entire marriage.…

What if you have money on deposit with a bank, and you owe the bank money for something totally unrelated―what can they do about it? Let’s say a bank had given you a loan at one branch and you’d fallen a bit behind on your payments. Then let’s also say you had money on deposit in a savings account, at another branch, but with the same bank? Can the bank just go into your account and take out what you owe them?

This scenario seems to prompt dueling intuitions; on the one hand, banks seem to be able to do whatever they want, and since they generally draft the contracts they sign with their clients, they definitely command the lion’s share of bargaining power.  On the other hand, something about this power seems wrong, intrusive.…

In a recent post, we talked a little about the “Meeting of Creditors.” That got us to thinking, are there other terms and steps along the way that we could help you better understand if you are still considering filing bankruptcy? And, does the blog mention or gloss over some terms that leave you with questions? So, we decided to put together a brief glossary of bankruptcy terms and jargon that might help get a better idea of how this whole thing works.

• Automatic stay: A court action that holds your creditors at bay upon filing bankruptcy.
• Collateral:An asset that backs up a specific debt.For example, in the most fundamental sense, your house backs up a mortgage loan.

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The automatic stay is one of the greatest benefits that filing for bankruptcy has to offer. However, it is important to note that there are some exceptions to the applicability of automatic stay rights.  You will not be protected from criminal prosecution, divorce proceedings, government regulatory procedures (except for efforts to collect on pre-petition debt–these will be barred) and efforts to collect on child support and alimony, or even modifications of the support orders.  Regular deductions for payments of a loan against a retirement plan may also continue even after the stay.

One of the most commonly encountered exceptions to the automatic stay relates to purchase money security interests.…

So you’ve had a few mishaps lately in your financial life– like just about everybody else in America. And you’ve been working really hard to keep up the juggling act: spread the minimum amount of money around to the maximum number of creditors to appease them until you finally get a break. But that pesky mortgage payment is mucking up your system. It’s so much larger than the rest of your bills, and, therefore, so much easier to fall behind on. The merciless late fees aren’t helping the matter. Before you know it, you find you’re four months behind and the prospect of ever catching up with the missed payments seems like a pipe dream.…

Credit card debt can easily spiral out of control. Credit card companies lure you in with promises of low introductory interest rates and then encourage you to charge as many of your purchases as possible. Then, they discourage you from paying off the balance, by setting a low minimum payment – usually just a touch more than the interest charge.

Even if you’re diligent and try to pay off the whole balance every month, when unexpected expenses come up, it’s tempting – and sometimes necessary – to just make the minimum payment. The interest adds up fast and, if this pattern continues, you can quickly find yourself carrying a high balance you simply can’t afford to pay off any time in the foreseeable future.…

Immediately after filing for bankruptcy, you can let out a sigh of relief for the first time in a long time― finally you will catch a break from your creditors!  One of the fundamental protections for debtors in the bankruptcy process is the automatic stay, which provides a much needed break from the relentless collection efforts of ruthless creditors.  An automatic stay is an injunction― essentially, the court bars further attempts at collection and can impose judicial punishments for disobeying the stay. Although some exceptions apply, creditors must cease their attempts to collect debts from you or face sanctions.

One of the great features of the automatic stay is that is truly automatic.…

“Identity theft won’t happen to me, I don’t buy anything off of the Internet.”

Sounds familiar, right?

Well, last year, there were millions of Americans who said that and turned out to be dead wrong.

Identity thieves do not need to access your computer hard drive to run up debt in your name. Many of them just need an unattended garbage can, an over-trusting relative on your end of the phone or just the United State Postal Service. Whether it happens electronically, through the mail or in the county dump, identity theft is all about getting access to your money. And when your money is in the hands of someone else, so is your credit.…

Constant calls. Late notices. Penalties. Late fees. Compound interest. Being buried under a mound of unaffordable debts can leave you feeling pretty helpless. And that’s because, on your own, you really are helpless: your creditors will keep calling, keep sending you threatening letters, and keep you and your family in fear. And they eventually will act on their threats, by suing you, taking your property, or even garnishing your wages. You remain at their mercy until you pay up – which, of course, you can’t afford to do!

Enter: bankruptcy’s automatic stay. This is your hammer against the harassing creditors.…