Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

If you moved to Chicago relatively recently from another city outside of Illinois, are you eligible to file for personal bankruptcy in Illinois ? If you are eligible to file for consumer bankruptcy in the Chicago area, will Illinois’s bankruptcy exemptions apply to your case? These are extremely important questions to ask, and it is important to learn the answers in your specific situation by speaking with an Oak Park bankruptcy attorney . The place in which you file for bankruptcy—and the state’s exemptions that you use—can make an enormous difference in your case. As such, it is necessary to understand how moving can impact a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing. Where Do I File for Bankruptcy After I Have Moved? The answer to this question largely depends upon how long you have been living in your current location. In general, bankruptcy law ( 28 U.S.C. § 1408(1) ) typically requires that a debtor has been domiciled (or has resided in) a state for the maj...

Does the current system for consumer bankruptcy in Illinois and across the United States work as it should? For instance, does the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) actually function to prevent abuses in Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings? Has federal law caught up with the practical needs of debtors in our current decade? In particular, do we need to rethink the ways in which federal bankruptcy law deals with student loan debt given the enormous amount of student debt owed by consumers throughout the nation? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed by the Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy. In the meantime, what else should you know about the Commission, as well as how current bankruptcy laws may impact you? Goals of the Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy According to a press release from the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy is a new 15-member panel that was put together to “...

If you default on your student loans for a brief period but begin repaying as soon as you can, are there protections in place to prevent debt collectors from charging you substantial fees? According to a recent article in Time Magazine , such protections used to exist, but the U.S. Department of Education recently rescinded that rule, which “prohibited student loan guaranty agencies from collecting jumbo fees from defaulted borrowers who quickly resume paying.” In other words, student loan borrowers already are being impacted by the current administration’s position on consumer protection. What else should you know about the U.S. Department of Education’s current position on student borrowers and student loan debt ? How the Rules Can Change Under the Current Administration What was the Obama-era rule that has been rescinded with regard to student loan borrowers and brief periods of default? As the article explains, the original rule took effect in July 2015, an...

Can health insurance limit medical debt and help Chicago residents to avoid personal bankruptcy ? While it might seem logical to assume that having health insurance can greatly reduce the amount of medical debt a person owes, and thus make the likelihood of having to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy less likely, this may not be the case for numerous Americans. According to a recent report from ABC News , the Kaiser Family Foundation released data showing that “an increasing share of Americans find it difficult to pay for health services even if they have insurance.” Health services are among the leading causes of consumer bankruptcy in the country. An article from CNBC indicated that around two million people file for bankruptcy each year as a result of unpaid medical bills, and that high numbers makes “health care the No. 1 cause of such filings, and outpacing bankruptcies due to credit-card bills or unpaid mortgages.” If health insurance is not making a sufficient differ...

When a credit bureau fails to properly report a bankruptcy discharge on an Illinois resident’s credit report, does the consumer suffer irreparable harm? According to a recent article in the Madison-St. Clair Record , a court in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois will decide whether a group of credit bureaus and credit furnishers violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to make clear that a consumer’s particular debts were discharged through personal bankruptcy . What rights does a consumer have under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)? What are the available remedies when there is a violation? Details of the Recent Lawsuit What are the details of the recent lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act? According to the article, the plaintiff filed a claim against a number of entities, including: TransUnion Consumer Solutions LLC, Experian Information Solutions Inc., Bank of America, and American Honda Finance. I...