As a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana for more than 20 years, I've been helping folks with their financial affairs every day. I always try to read up on news—local, national, and even worldwide news—so I can provide my clients with the best advice possible.
Given the state of today's economy, people are reading and listening to all these news stories, and more and more folks are expressing to me that they don't know what to make of it all.They don't really understand how these events and changes are going to affect them as they raise their children, do their best to make everyday ends meet, and save for the future.
A sluggish housing market is eroding Marion County home values even as the state is calculating higher values for tax purposes, squeezing thousands of homeowners and tipping some toward bankruptcy.
Indianapolis bankruptcy attorney Mark Zuckerberg said hundreds of calls came into his office from beleaguered homeowners squeezed by higher taxes, falling property values and adjustable rate mortgages automatically resetting to higher payments.Read More April 28, 2008
Desperate people are filing into the office of Indianapolis bankruptcy attorney Mark Zuckerberg at a rate he hasn't seen
in years.
Personal bankruptcy filings in the nation rose 38 percent from 2006 to 2007. Total bankruptcy filings, including those from businesses, rose to 850,912 compared with 617,660 in 2006. Read More April 18, 2008
Bad Things Happen to Good People (Click in the middle)
Health Care and Bankruptcy in Indiana (Click in the middle)
Many consumer bankruptcies typically can be traced to a divorce, job loss or medical issue. Now another perpetrator-subprime mortgages – is entering the fray.
The fallout from the housing crisis, coupled with a weakening economy, is contributing to a rise in bankruptcy filings nationwide. They spiked more than 30 percent in January compared with the same time last year, according to the Virginia-based American Bankruptcy Institute.
You don’t have to do it al yourself, asking for a hand can strengthen ties.
Everyone has a reason to avoid asking for help – even when its really needed. But the excuses need to stop, because we hurt ourselves and the people around us when we don’t ask for assistance, says the author of a new “anti-self-help” book.
Joseph A. Mullaney, a consumer affairs lawyer in New Jersey, was once a victim of a debt settlement company.
Credit card companies have long seduced customers with “buy now, pay later,” hoping they would pay at least a minimum amount month after month but never pay off their debts. Now, though, with the economy slowing and houses no longer easy sources of cash, a growing number of consumers cannot pay even the minimums.
The epitaphs of foreclosed homes have spread like crab grass across Indianapolis.
On one block of Dearborn Street on the city's Near East Side, half of the one- and two-family row houses have been shuttered. "This property was found vacant," seven-month-old stickers on one say, "and in accordance with mortgage agreement, HUD or V.A. guidelines, has been secured."
