Articles Posted in Bankruptcy

You did the math, or a calculator did it for you, and the answer was that you earn too much for Chapter 7. The credit card balances are the same as they were before you checked. Earning too much for Chapter 7 does not mean you earn too much for bankruptcy. For most people over…

You live in Prince George’s or Montgomery County, and you have been reading about bankruptcy exemptions online. Half of what you find talks about the “federal exemptions,” and you can’t tell whether any of it applies to you. It mostly doesn’t. If you live in Maryland, you use Maryland’s exemption list, plus a few protections…

You owe far more on the car than it is worth, and the interest rate is eating your budget. Someone told you Chapter 13 can “cram down” a car loan. It can, if the loan is old enough. Chapter 13 can reduce what you owe on a car loan to the car’s value, but not…

You have spent years putting money into the Thrift Savings Plan. Now the debt is out of hand, and you are afraid bankruptcy means handing that money over. For most people it doesn’t. Employer retirement plans, including the TSP and FERS and CSRS pensions, are generally protected in full, in DC, Maryland and Virginia alike.…

You owe the IRS for several years of income tax, and the penalties and interest keep adding up. One person told you taxes can never be wiped out in bankruptcy. Another told you they can. Both are partly right. Older income taxes can be discharged if each year passes three timing tests, and many people…

Yes. You can live in Lisbon, Mexico City, or Bangkok and still file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 in a U.S. bankruptcy court. Here is who qualifies, where you file, what the court can reach overseas, and the traps a stateside filer never has to think about.

Your federal job was supposed to be the safe bet. For most of your career, it was. That assumption is gone. Federal employees and contractors across DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia are facing sudden income disruption: reductions in force, furloughs, administrative leave, lost contracts. The debt does not take a break because the paycheck did.…

A debt defense attorney answers the lawsuit, makes the creditor prove the debt, raises your defenses and counterclaims, and negotiates the settlement. In most collection cases, the fee is less than what a default judgment would cost you. A default judgment is the order a creditor gets when you don’t respond, and it is what…

Your cell number is your cell number, and you are not changing it. Unfortunately, the debt collector has it too. Here is how to handle the call, what the collector is not allowed to do, how to tell a real collector from a scam, and how to make the calls stop for good. What should…

You don’t have to have a perfect credit score. Few do. Yet having good credit is important for getting good interest rates on credit cards, mortgages, and vehicle loans. Employers look at credit scores, too, when making hiring decisions. Even if you have a suboptimal credit history, you can boost your credit score by avoiding…