Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

Consumer debt affects adults of all ages, from young adults to the elderly. When it comes to tracking personal bankruptcy filings, many older adults past the age of retirement are filing for bankruptcy, yet younger adults also file for consumer bankruptcy with some frequency. There may be a significant difference in the way that very young adults who are part of Generation Z manage their debts in comparison with adults of other generations, according to a recent article in Ladders . That article cites a Lending Point study that reports “Gen Z may be just getting into their credit-using years, but they are already showing significant differences in their credit profiles from the Millennials and GenXers that preceded them.” In short, the article intimates that Generation Z adults may be on a trend to have less difficulty managing consumer debt, and thus ultimately could be less likely to file for bankruptcy than consumers in other generations. Generation Z Consumers Have Higher Credi...

Many debtors in Oak Park and throughout Chicagoland have concerns about filing for personal bankruptcy because they are concerned that it will impact their credit scores immensely. There are a couple of reasons that this is a bad reason to avoid filing for bankruptcy, however. First, regardless of the impact that consumer bankruptcy might have on your credit score, bankruptcy is often the only way for people to get out from underneath immense debt and get a fresh start. Second, and perhaps more importantly for anyone who is avoiding bankruptcy because of concerns about the hit to a credit score, bankruptcy simply may not affect your credit score as much as you think. Why Bankruptcy Likely Will Not Result in a Significant Drop in Your Credit Score According to a recent report from Fox 25 News , debtors’ assumptions about how bankruptcy filings will impact their credit often are incorrect. While it is certainly true that filing for bankruptcy can impact your credit sc...

Once you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy , can you apply and be approved for loans again? This is a common concern among individuals who file for consumer bankruptcy, and it is important to emphasize that filing for bankruptcy and receiving a discharge does not make it impossible to obtain credit again. According to a recent article in Consumer Affairs , having a bankruptcy discharge on your credit report could mean that a loan could end up costing a little bit more in terms of the interest rate, but a bankruptcy declaration does not mean that you will be unable to obtain credit. The article cites a recent study conducted by Lending Tree, which provides important data to consumers who are considering bankruptcy in Oak Park. Bankruptcy Might Add Costs But Will Not Prevent You from Getting a Loan There are many misconceptions about consumer bankruptcy. As the article explains, while bankruptcy can have some negative consequences, “it doesn’...

If you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy , how long does information about that consumer bankruptcy remain on your credit report? According to a recent article in ProPublica , for most consumers who look at their TransUnion and Experian credit reports, they will find that the credit reporting agencies report Chapter 13 bankruptcies for seven years. However, Equifax had been reporting consumers’ Chapter 13 bankruptcies for a longer period of time. Indeed, “hundreds of thousands of people who had filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 13” discovered that their history of bankruptcy remained on their credit report for 10 years if they failed to complete their bankruptcy plans. The good news is that Equifax has changed this policy, but it is not yet clear how many consumers have been affected. If you filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy more than seven years ago and were denied credit, the denial may have been a result of Equifax’s policy. You should talk to a bankruptcy attorney in Oak ...