The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

It would make sense that recent signs of recovering economy would be great news for jobless Americans. But as a report on public polling explains, even though the overall economic picture may be brightening, many job seekers are still very much in the midst of a stark economic haze.

According to a report from The Huffington Post’s Janell Ross, “Economic data suggests the long-stagnant economy may finally be gaining momentum, but Americans aren’t seeing a turnaround yet, according to a pair of newly released polls. The economy — and more specifically the nation’s persistent jobs crisis — remains the number one concern for most Americans, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Friday.…

If you’re like many beleaguered and over-budgeted Americans, you grew weary and wary of credit card debt during the throes of the Great Recession.

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Credit CARD Act) was supposed to address the fact that you’ve been “paying” with plastic both literally and metaphorically ways for years, shielding average Americans from unexpected and massive changes to their credit card terms—terms that had previously led directly to financial hardship for an overwhelming amount of our nation’s families.

Fast Forward to 2011 when new legislation is actually worsening many of the gains from the Credit CARD Act, by tightening federal regulations on debit card usage and causing banks to push their credit card offers to supplement lost debit income.…

Need signs that credit card companies are getting more aggressive with their credit card tactics and tricks? Well, there’s 346 million reasons from one particular credit card purveyor, Citigroup.

Based on a new report from The Wall Street Journal, in the third quarter alone, the bank mailed more than 346 million credit card offers to unwitting customers. Keep in mind, that’s more than the approximately 308 million people in the U.S, according to the Census Bureau.

Despite this high volume of consumer credit offers, according to the financial experts at Bloomberg, revolving credit usage, which includes credit cards, dropped the most in six months in July.…

This week, Citigroup will launch a brand, spanking new credit card that purportedly carries with a trifecta of post-recessionary perks: no late fees, no penalty rates and a single interest rate for purchases, balance transfers and cash advances.

As reported by The Associated Press, Citi’s revamped “Simplicity card” sells itself as exactly that: it will be marketed to those who are “juggling busy schedules” and “want a credit card with simple terms.” In fact, Jud Linville, CEO of Citi Cards told the AP, “It lets them not have to worry that they’re going to be late on a payment. It provides some flexibility.”

But amid Citi’s claims that their new card is somehow different than the plastic that has placed so many an American budget in financial jeopardy over the past several years, there are many reasons to think twice before sending in an application for their Simplicity.…

By now we know that “paying” with plastic is both a literal and metaphorical proposition, especially as a good number of bankruptcy bound individuals—even in an era of home-made foreclosure filings and mounting medical bills—find credit card debt to blame for their insolvency.

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Credit CARD Act), signed into law by President Obama on May 22, 2009, was meant to change much of that. Signaling a new era of consumer protection, the so-called CARD Act was intended to shield average Americans from unexpected and massive changes to their credit card terms—terms that had previously led directly to financial hardship for an overwhelming amount of our nation’s families.…

If you’re like many average Americans, you were dealt a hefty budgetary blow during the recent Recession. And, as a result, you may have responded by trying to spend less, save more and reduce debts where you could—including cuts in your consumer credit card use.

If so, you’re not alone.

According to a recent report from Credit.com, since the inception of the economic crisis, more and more men and women are resisting the urge to spend, climbing aboard the equivalent of the “Good Ship Spendthrift” in order to create a sea of savings on a new course to a better financial future.…

Serious debt happens to most people before they realize it. Even though it’s always there, only when the income stops do the debt obligations get really noticed. And in a recession like the one that has plagued our country for the last three years, loss of income is a common thing.

Bankruptcy can serve as a lifeline for those who finally reach the point where decisions have to be made about which bills get paid. Lately, it seems as if a lot of people are choosing their credit cards and utilities over their mortgages, as “strategic defaults”—people purposely not paying their mortgage—are on the rise.…

While many people consider it common knowledge, the last-minute fear before deciding to file bankruptcy could end up costing you even more come retirement. Turns out, that as the recession deepens, more people are looking toward their long-term savings for an influx of cash to help stay afloat.

Well, don’t ever be one of those people. Typically, what ends up happening is that you wind up without retirement money and still filing bankruptcy. We’ve seen it happen. And it’s hard to watch.

An article on USAToday.com pointed to figures that show a record number of people in the second quarter of this year used their retirement accounts to help stave off a financial problem.…

Well, this may come as a surprise: a bank was deliberately charging customers for banking errors they did not make.

Shocker, huh?

Okay, well, maybe that kind of snark is a bit uncalled for. There are plenty of banks out there doing the right thing. But the timing of a California judge’s ruling that Wells Fargo must pay back more than $200 million to customers for egregiously fat-fingering their adding machines when calculating overdraft fees could not have come at a worse time.

News that the economic recovery is slowing (also quite the shock, huh?) and that unemployment continues to punish the nation has only exacerbated the nation’s mood toward the financial industry, largely considered the source of our current economic woes.…

A number of good things have emerged from the economic situation of the last several years. Recently enacted credit card reform will hopefully change the way we are treated by the industry responsible for so much of our country’s collective personal debt.

Mortgage modification, even with all its warts and scars, should eventually become an industry with real benefits to struggling homeowners. The quick roll out of federal plans and the pressure on banks to quickly create similar programs obviously led to a lot of frustrations. Still, when things iron themselves out, consumers stand to benefit.

Another recent instance of positive regulation has stemmed from the offices of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).…

Chapter 13 bankruptcy involves the facilitation of a financial reorganization plan that allows you to pay back your expenses over the course of three to five years. As a result, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy also requires that you look ahead three to five years in order to construct a realistic and sensible plan that can work for you.

Unfortunately for many people who are bankruptcy bound, the future is far from unclear. And, just as many circumstances can occur that exacerbate your financial present and force you into bankruptcy, the same unexpected scenarios—from a job loss to a medical emergency—can cause your Chapter 13 reorganization place to fail.…

A recent insurance company survey highlights the fact that a large percentage of Americans are not financially prepared for a sudden loss of employment. Saving an “emergency fund”, as the financial advice columnists and radio show hosts like to call it, is far easier talked about during afternoon drive time than done. Heck, it’s the emergencies that pop up while trying to save for an emergency that prevent us from being able to squirrel away enough cash to prepare for the worst. Have a few hundred bucks to put away? Oops, there go the brakes on the minivan.

MetLife’s report shows that close to half of all Americans would be unable to pay their bills if they lose their job.…

You may already understand some of the dangers of debt settlement: the fact that Americans rarely emerge from debt settlement programs with their credit card balances eliminated; the fact that many wind up worse off than when they started their consolidation; and that many emerge from these plans with severely damaged credit, ceaseless threats from collection agents and lawsuits from creditors.

But, you may be wondering, why is bankruptcy any better than debt consolidation?

Well, it turns out there are many reasons.

While debt consolidation and settlement firms have done a great job at selling their side of the bankruptcy alternative story, Chapter 13 bankruptcy needs no sales pitch.…

Imagine it: Oceanfront resorts. Leis around necks. Succulent buffets. Steel drum music in the distance. Beautiful hostesses serving plentiful drinks. Tanned clientele all around.

For many beleaguered Americans these images evoke a distant and faraway vacation-land entitled for only the endlessly rich and privileged few. But this background of tropical bliss isn’t only for elite individuals. They’re the type of settings now home to industry trade associations like the United States Organizations for Bankruptcy Alternatives, a group that recently convened in Palm Beach, Florida, amid the oceanfront confines of the Four Seasons Resort, to forge deals and plot strategy. And for these types of companies that are currently promising relief to Americans confronting overwhelming credit card debt, business is booming.…

There is no shortage of bright, shiny signals alerting us that the world of technology is changing faster than we can measure. At one time, shopping on the Internet was considered a decision that could put your entire financial wherewithal at risk. Now, if a company doesn’t have an online shopping cart, it’s outdated. Cell phone cameras were thought of as intrusive, unnecessary accessories that no one is going to care to own. Today, a palm-sized phone has auto-zoom, manual focus and 5-megapixel imaging.

The latest sign of technology’s preponderance is the presence of Blockbuster video on the ever-crowded edge of corporate bankruptcy.…

In the last ten years, self-storage centers have infiltrated America faster than a bad singer on YouTube. From basic storage sheds with individual bays to climate-controlled multi-story complexes, we have become a nation obsessed with storage. Heck, you can even invest in a garage condo today.

Now, let’s juxtapose our need for storage with the general financial position of so many American families right now. There is really no more proof of our collective love of useless consumer products than the need to pay $100 month just to store it.

And if it’s not in a storage facility, it’s pushing the car out of the garage.…

It was easy to spend money a few years ago, somewhere around late 2005 and into 2006, when the economy was flying, anyone could get a loan and every house in the zip code was appreciating at eight percent a year.

Those who managed to avoid subprime loans and the desire to keep up with whatever the other side of the cul-de-sac was spending turned out to make it through the recession in decent shape, provided the unemployment crisis didn’t catch up with them.

Truthfully, the degree of financial difficulty at which someone finds themselves is no measure of intelligence or social wherewithal.…

Since the Great Recession began in 2007, small businesses across the country have been squeezed.  Exacerbated by the flagging economy, small business owners everywhere are not only facing high employee health care costs and lagging consumer and commercial spending, but also fewer credit options. And while loans have always been the lifeblood of the small business, all across our great nation, mom and pop endeavors with even the most solid credit histories face tremendous obstacles in qualifying for much-needed capital. And because small business accounts for some 65% of employment in a nation already facing off-the-charts job losses, any squeeze on small firms is a serious matter—with last year’s disconcerting lending figures illustrating just how serious—for the long haul.…

This blog talks at length about savings strategies and offers a great deal of consumer spending advice. Our goal is to create an all-encompassing approach to helping readers, clients and potential clients be financially successful after bankruptcy.

Having a healthy savings account should be the goal of anyone rebuilding after bankruptcy. But after the great bank fallout of the last two years, it’s becoming hard for a lot Americans to trust some of our nation’s largest financial institutions. Not only are the rate of return on these accounts very low, it seems every day banks are surprising account holders with a sudden fee or reduction in service.…

Dear Consumers,

Just kidding.

Yours,
LifeLock

To follow up on a recent post about the overzealous marketing of credit report monitoring services, we bring you the latest in what can now be called a disturbing trend in financial fear-marketing.

LifeLock , the company that boasted their monthly fee-based privacy system could thwart even the Impossible Missions Force from seizing your identity or accessing your credit is now on the hook for $12 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for … wait for it … misleading consumers about the nature of its products.

You can’t make this stuff up.

From the Law Offices of John T.…