The Dirty 80/20

May 25, 2011

During the housing boom, mortgage lenders came up with new and exotic mortgages to put people in homes.
One of the most common mortgages was an 80/20 mortgage.  You would be given a first mortgage which would cover 80 percent of the cost of the home and then a second mortgage that would cover the remaining [...]

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Does the Statute of Limitations Make Your Creditor SOL?

March 30, 2011

In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations on debt is four years.  That means that if a debt has a period of no debtor activity for four years the debt is no longer collectible in the Commonwealth.
So does this mean my creditor can no longer harm me once four years has past?  Like most things in [...]

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What is a Motion for Relief From Stay in Bankruptcy?

January 11, 2011

In both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a motion for relief from stay is when a creditor (usually a bank) asks the court to lift the automatic stay that protects the debtor from foreclosure or repossession.  The creditor has to give the court a reason, they can’t do it just because.
Generally speaking, the creditor [...]

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What is Absolute Zero and How Does it Effect My Bankruptcy?

January 4, 2011

Most Chapter 7 clients that I file cases for have one thing in common.  They have hit absolute zero financially.  What is absolute zero?
In science, absolute zero is where the temperature falls so low that molecules do not move.  It is the absence of energy, the absence of a capacity to change.

Absolute zero is a [...]

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Time For Bankruptcy To Turn The Next Chapter

July 8, 2010

It has been a while since I have posted, and I apologize for the silence, it was not intentional.  The law practice has been very busy and we hired one paralegal and will be hiring another paralegal at the end of this month.  This is a difficult but necessary decision, even for a certified control [...]

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Foreclosure Crisis Ready to Strike Lehigh Valley

March 12, 2010

Here it comes folks.  I’ve been warning about this since October and believe me, I want to be wrong.
In April 2010, 50% of the adjustable jumbo-loans (mortgages over $417K) are set to adjust.
For the first two years of this foreclosure crisis, the lower and middle class residents of the Lehigh Valley bore the burden, but [...]

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Letter to Senator Specter and Representative Dent

March 11, 2010

This is the text of the email I am sending to Senator Arlen Specter and Representative Charlie Dent.  Charlie Dent is the representative from my district, the 15th, while Specter is Senator for the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Both were Republicans when they voted for BACPA, Specter changed parties last year.  Both face tough re-election [...]

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Supreme Court Says Lawyer’s Cannot Advise Clients to take on More Debt Prior to Filing, Or Does It?

March 11, 2010

The Supreme Court’s job is calling balls and strikes, and while I am not happy with their decision, they called the Milavetz case correctly.
The two things for the consumer to know is that BACPA (the act passed in 2005 that made bankruptcy more difficult and expensive) considers bankruptcy lawyers debt relief agencies and that bankruptcy [...]

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Driving a New Car Into Bankruptcy

March 8, 2010

Half of finance is common sense, and unfortunately as my father once told me, some of the worst accidents happen on the showroom floor.
My dad was a car guy.  He loved driving around in a long Cadillac or a Corvette.  He didn’t pass the desire for flashy cars to his son though, my Kia is [...]

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Can I File Bankruptcy After My First Case Was Dismissed?

March 4, 2010

A common question lately is “Can I file a new Chapter 13 bankruptcy case if my earlier Chapter 13 bankruptcy was dismissed.
The answer is probably.
There are only a few reasons why you could not file your case again and most of them revolve around abuse of the system.  If your case has been dismissed with [...]

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