The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

When home prices plunged, the stock market crashed, and nationwide hiring froze, many desperate debtors were left destitute, depressed and feeling without hope—all at the height of our recent Great Recession. But fast forward to nearly three years since the recession officially ended, and today many of the most mentally hard-hit Americans are those facing long-term unemployment.

According to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, about 9 percent of Americans were defined as clinically depressed in data released last year by the compared to an estimated 6.6 percent in data collected in 2001 and 2002. In the process, many of these depressed men and women have also seen their home foreclosed, vehicles repossessed, relationships fail, and addictive behaviors prevail.…

When markets crashed, home prices fell, and unemployment rates rose, many desperate debtors were left destitute, depressed and feeling without hope in the height of our recent Great Recession. And as you might imagine, and as researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed last week, some of these desperate Americans even took their own lives—in greater number—during the tough economic times of the 2000s.

These troubling stats were confirmed in the CDC’s latest study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health. According to Reuters, the new study was the first of its kind to evaluate suicide trends by age and business cycles, revealing that working Americans, aged 25 to 64, are significantly more likely to commit suicide when facing the feeling of insurmountable economic struggles.…

Well, it’s a new year. 2011. Time to put behind the hassles and headaches of what was and time to think about what will be. Especially in terms of your personal financial situation.

Despite what so many had predicted, 2010 wasn’t much of a recovery year for America. The stock market saw some gains for the second year in a row. However, the unemployment conditions didn’t respond accordingly, perhaps making the connection between Wall Street and Main Street a bit more obscure. A rising tide, as it were, might not raise all ships.

That being said, what kind of decisions are you going to make about your future?…

By it’s very name, a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy sounds like a process that would leave you not only without any debt, but also without any property or assets left over to show for it. As a result, many people considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy worry about losing their biggest asset—their home—in the process. As such, even folks who desperately need the debt protections afforded by Chapter 7, more often than not delay their bankruptcy filing, waiting for another solution that could also allow them to hold onto their home.

If this is your own personal justification for avoiding a personal bankruptcy under Chapter 7, fear not.…

Political satirist P.J. O’Rourke once said, “Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs.”

This quote could be said to ring true today as ever, since not yet a week after the Obama Administration pushed for more economic stimulus spending meant to benefit “the people,” Congress refuses to act, distracted by election-year anxiety about the deficit.

According to this weekend’s The Washington Post, “Congress has delivered only about a quarter of the $266 billion in “temporary recovery measures” the president sought in his February budget request and ignored much of the rest.…

Have you heard from many experts and economists that the country’s headed for a double-dip recession—a second downturn that results from recent limits on economic stimulus? Well, take heart…we’re apparently only in a “one-and-a-half dip” recession.

That’s right.  According to Robert Reich, Former Secretary of Labor, we’re in a one-and-a-half dip recession, with the worst is yet to come and politicians and other people in power should take note. With retail spending on a downturn, home sales in the dumps, and the average work week in decline, Reich argues the only thing that’s actually piling up in this economic climate is unsold goods, fallow homes and default loans.…

In these tough financial times, finding people with a steady job, much less a job that provides a higher income, can be difficult. As a result, it may be surprising to find a lot of these high-income debtors are currently considering bankruptcy. But in this economic downturn, many of these men and women are suffering from unexpected challenges to their steady income and business, and, as a result, joining millions of other Americans by seeking the safe harbors of bankruptcy to protect what they’ve worked for.

If you happen to be one of these high-income debtors, you may be wondering what bankruptcy can offer and if you’re even eligible.…

It may come as no surprise that long-term unemployment has a greater effect on layoff victims compared with shorter spells of joblessness. What you may not know is that this impact has far-reaching implications for family, friends and feelings about oneself.

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, more than four in ten (44 $) of people out of work for six months or longer said unemployment had led to “major changes” in their lives, compared with 31 percent of people jobless for less than six months. Forty-three percent of long-term unemployed said they lost contact with close friends, and 38 percent said they lost some self-respect.…

The times they are a’ changing.’ But are they really getting better for the unemployed?

Back in the 1980s, laws like COBRA were enacted to protect laid-off workers from losing their precious health care immediately following their job loss. COBRA allowed, and currently allows, for unemployed Americans to keep their former employer-provided health care benefits for up to 18 months, assuming those same employees pay the full amount of their premiums along with additional administrative charges.

But fast forward to the recessionary 2000s, when family premiums average about $13,500—economically out of range for many, if not most, of the millions of today’s unemployed.…

Are you angry at banks that are supposedly too big to fail? But you haven’t withdrawn your money because you think your account is too small to matter?

Well, one media matriarch has some alternative advice. 

Started by Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post is an American news website and aggregator for a host of blogs, columns, stories and moderated comments. The site, through its founder, is now taking a stand against America’s oversized financial institutions—from JP Morgan to Bank of America—and urging you to do the same.

HuffPost’s “Move Your Money” campaign urges you—the bank customer—to withdraw your money out of the big banks and into smaller community-oriented ones.  The reason is simple: a post-recessionary payback of another color.…

It’s almost February and ‘tis the season for thinking about tax time—even more so if you find yourself considering the benefits of bankruptcy. So, if you believe bankruptcy is the right option to help you start fresh in 2010, in addition to trying to get your 2009 taxes filed in a timely manner, and wondering whether you can discharge any income tax debt in your bankruptcy filing, you may also be thinking about how you can protect your precious tax refund from creditor claims.

In these painful financial times, the toughest bind facing many Americans is financing their well- being. While it’s vital to stay healthy and seek medical help when necessary, with health care costs on the rise and health care reform largely in limbo, the results of putting wellness over wealth can be financially devastating.

As the New York Times reported, (from the November 25, 2009, article “From the Hospital Room to the Bankruptcy Court” by Kevin Sack), many Americans are merely “one accident or illness away” from a “medical bankruptcy.” And while there is no medical bankruptcy per se—rather merely a standard filing that includes the wiping away of medical bills—more and more people are filing for bankruptcy because of these bills with the ubiquitous term “medically bankrupt” having become largely a sign of the economic times.…

Bankruptcy is often filled with as many financial ups and downs as it is emotional ones. A fear of an uncertain future, the unfortunate stigmas about having to file, and the very real dose of reality can certainly be downers.. There is no shame in feeling depressed about your financial struggles. Trust us, you are not the only person feeling that way.

Much like contacting an attorney and filing bankruptcy will eventually relieve your financial troubles, there are a lot of things you can do to stop the emotional setbacks you might face during or after the process.

Experts on happiness, or psychologists really, encourage people to find and explore “their passion.” Sounds corny, sure, but give it a shot.…

We hear plenty about the dangers of gambling addictions. Perhaps this is because the compulsion to gamble doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, and it is always easier to vilify from a distance.  Or maybe it’s that gambling addictions seem dangerous because a gambler could lose everything in an instant.

By comparison, indulging in little purchases here and there seems rather tame. But even little purchases add up, and when you get a rush from spending, chances are you’ll spend more money and spend more frequently to continue to experience that comfort. Just like someone addicted to gambling, you could lose everything; it may not happen in an instant, but little warning signs ignored for years will add up and catch up eventually.…

Multi level marketing, also called “direct selling” “affiliate marketing” or “home-based business franchising”, has become popular in the past few years as a way for those with an entrepreneurial streak to build their own businesses with minimum investment. It has been especially appealing to, and vigorously directed towards parents (usually mothers) who wish to stay at home with their children but want or need to earn income at the same time.

The structure is designed to create a marketing and sales force by recruiting promoters of company products, or “distributers”, and compensating them not only for their own personal sales, but also for the sales generated by others they introduced to the company, creating a “downline” of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation.…

While details of super-sized corporate failures, like GM and Chrysler, are being splashed across front pages of newspapers and websites, grabbing our attention and garnering an inordinate amount of debate, the reality is that the vast majority of commercial bankruptcies are filed by entrepreneurs and small-business owners. The first five months of this year have shown a 52% increase in the total number of commercial bankruptcy filings. On average, during the first six months of 2009, some 350 commercial enterprises file for bankruptcy daily — an increase of 240% from 2006, the first year after the bankruptcy law was changed.

Today’s economic landscape has proven to be especially toxic to small business owners.…

Buying a home after bankruptcy is a smart move. And yes, it is possible! If you don’t own a home already, buying a house is an excellent step toward rebuilding your financial life. A home can be a great investment because it is one of the few major assets you will own that will hopefully appreciate over time. Home ownership also demonstrates stability, which can reflect positively on your credit profile.

The good news is, as soon as a year after your debts are discharged in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you may be eligible for a good car loan, and just two years after completing a bankruptcy, you may become eligible for a home mortgage with a good interest rate.…

Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or a liquidation bankruptcy, involves the sale of any non-exempt assets, and is generally the fastest route to a discharge of debt.. Chapter 13 offers the option of a payment plan, or wage earner’s plan, that allows a person to create a structure to catch up on missed mortgage or auto payments. Another form of bankruptcy that is not as often filed but relevant to many, especially in states like North Carolina, is Chapter 12, or Family Farmer and Family Fisherman bankruptcy.

Chapter 12 bankruptcy was established in 1986 to support family farmers and fisherman who are struggling economically.…

In January 2005, a dream came true for the Harper family of Lake City, Georgia: they received a brand new home, courtesy of ABC’s “Extreme Make-Over – Home Edition” reality TV show. In a nationwide broadcast, a construction workforce 1,800 strong descended upon the family’s neighborhood and spent the next six days demolishing their ailing, humble abode and building a 5,500 square foot comparative palace – complete with four bedrooms, decorative rock walls, a three-car garage, four fireplaces, and a solarium. The home was valued at $450,000. It was, at the time, the largest and most ambitious home remodeling project the TV show producers and their builders had ever undertaken.…

Many people own a home before they file for bankruptcy protection, and once they are ready to start over and lay down that solid financial future, they will want to refinance their home loans. Refinancing a home can result in excellent benefits for a home owner.  By refinancing, you may be able to improve your cash flow by lowering monthly payments and reduce future risk associated with variable rates. The steps toward this process will differ depending on the type of bankruptcy filed and certain other factors. For both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, a common and crucial first step after bankruptcy is to carefully rebuild credit.…