Category Archives: Practical tips

One of the most common questions bankruptcy lawyers get is some version of “what will a bankruptcy do to my credit rating?” Surprisingly, there is no real answer to the question, as the client is really asking me for a prediction, not a legal or practical opinion. It is just like asking if the Red […]

Missouri bankruptcy attorney Wendell Shark has written a great post on what not to do if you are thinking of hiring a bankruptcy attorney. Among his no-no’s are: 1. Holding back on information during an initial consultation. Lawyers are trained to help get people out of jams when they can, but are basically powerless to […]

With graduation season in full swing, Dave Carpenter has put together a good article on how the newest members of the working world should go about avoiding debt problems. His advice: * Stick to a budget; * Be very careful with credit. “If you can’t pay for it with cash, you don’t need it.’’ Debit […]

After assembling your paperwork and then meeting with an attorney comes the day that most debtors are most eager to see arrive — the actual filing of the case with the United States Bankruptcy Court. The date of filing has a lot of significance for debtors, not the least of which is the start of […]

I always get a kick out of debtors who go on legal advice sites and ask attorneys whether they should handle their own bankruptcy case. We lawyers are all in the same union, so the answer is invariably some version of “NO” although the reasoning and justification may change between different attorneys. Still, bankruptcy debtors […]

Most people are at least a little bit afraid of something they haven’t done before. That’s natural. If that something is going in to bankruptcy, no one should blame them for being somewhat apprehensive, even if it turns out there is no real reason to be. But consumers need to realize there are people out […]

One of the biggest mistakes that people in financial trouble make is to be too focused on their credit score and how bad it is (or how bad it will be if they don’t settle with that collection agency right now). Years ago there were no credit scores. And then for a while there were, […]