Every year, many Tennessee residents find themselves trapped in a financial hole with a load of debt. To make matters worse, this debt keeps accumulating interest every day, meaning that the hole only gets deeper with each passing month. These debtors stand to gain...
Month: January 2019
6th Circuit rules that FDCPA prohibits third-party collections
Once a consumer disputes a debt according to the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors and third-parties must cease collection activities. The Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, of which Tennessee is a part, ruled that third-party...
Wage garnishment and bankruptcy: Fixing a crisis situation
Most of us hate the feeling of not being able to repay a debt. If you're struggling to make payments and collection agents are harassing you, threatening to take your assets or bothering your friends, family members or neighbors, it's easy to become depressed and/or...
Fewer people are filing for bankruptcy compared to a decade ago
In September 2018, there were more than 770,000 bankruptcy filings in the United States. Of those cases filed in Tennessee and elsewhere, 97 percent were consumer bankruptcy filings. The number of cases filed was down from the roughly 1.6 million filed in September...
How to tell if credit card balances are excessive
There are many signs that a Tennessee resident may have too much credit card debt. For instance, if they are using credit cards to pay off other credit cards, that is likely a problem. Other signs include if card balances are maxed out or if payments are higher than...
Bankruptcies more prevalent among older Americans
In 2017, there were 789,000 bankruptcy filings, which were the second-lowest since 1990. That compares to the 1.6 million filings in 2010 in the aftermath of the Great Recession. However, the decline in bankruptcy filings hasn't been uniform for all age groups. Older...
Is bankruptcy a recession-proof solution to problem debt?
Yes, it is. If you qualify for it. Now that we have an answer, let's talk about the relationship between recessions and bankruptcies. Recessions, which Oxford Dictionaries defines as times of economic decline lasting two quarters or more, have long been part of bigger...