Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

Chicagoans constantly receive credit card offers in the mail, many of which tell us that we have been pre-selected or pre-approved for credit cards. Even after filing for consumer bankruptcy , Illinois residents may receive these offers. But should you apply for them? Or can you risk doing damage to your credit profile as you are attempting to rebuild your credit after bankruptcy ? How Do Credit Card Companies Determine Offers of Credit? According to a recent article from Bloomberg Business , there is actually a method behind the credit card mailings most of us receive. A Federal Reserve working paper analyzed the “business of credit-card solicitation,” tracing the ways in which these communications have been steady or have shifted in the years during and after the financial crisis. Who tends to receive these offers? It depends, in large part, on the types of offers and the individual’s credit history. Lenders tend to target borrowers by looking at a number of diffe...

Many veterans in the Chicago area are all too familiar with the difficulty of earning a living after returning to civilian life. Numerous veterans in Illinois have filed for consumer bankruptcy and have lost their homes to foreclosure. Is it still possible to buy a home after experiencing financial setbacks? According to an article from Military.com , home ownership is not out of reach for America’s veterans who have sought bankruptcy protection. To be sure, veterans who have filed for personal bankruptcy can still count on using their VA home loan benefits. Veterans Filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Making the decision to file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is often difficult. While bankruptcy protection can be a powerful tool for veterans with insurmountable debt, it can also make it difficult to secure credit in the months afterward. Personal bankruptcy can hurt your credit score, and a low credit score can make it hard to find a mortgage lend...

If you are thinking about filing for personal bankruptcy in Illinois , there are many factors to consider. For some residents of the Chicago area, the relationship between consumer bankruptcy and small business loans may be one of those factors. Obtaining credit for your business after you have declared bankruptcy is similar in many ways to getting credit for other purchases—potentially difficult in the time period immediately following bankruptcy, but certainly within the realm of possibility once you have rebuilt your credit. However, there are other significant considerations for Illinoisans who are seeking financing for business purposes. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Transcript , small business owners should consider a number of issues in relation to their personal finances. Keeping Your Business Profile and Personal Credit History Separate Generally speaking, if you have a small business, it is a good idea to keep your business credit history sep...

If you are thinking about filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy or are currently making payments as part of a consumer bankruptcy repayment plan, it is extremely important that you know the timing and amount of your monthly mortgage payment. Many consumers were negatively impacted when Wells Fargo Bank did not notify them of payment changes. According to a recent article in The Washington Post , Wells Fargo Bank agreed to a payment of $81.6 million “to settle claims that it failed to notify homeowners in bankruptcy of changes in their mortgage payments.” Notice Violations Impacted Nearly 70,000 Account Holders Allegations that Wells Fargo failed to let homeowners in bankruptcy know about payment changes were not referring only to a handful of customers. To be sure, “Wells Fargo acknowledged that it failed to file more than 100,000 payment-change notices on a timely basis,” and that it “failed to meet the deadline required in more than 18,000 escrow analyses.” All in all, th...

Did a parent or family member co-sign on your private student loans or for another substantial purchase on credit? You are likely to have many questions if you find out that your co-signer has decided to file for personal bankruptcy . Should Chicago residents in this situation worry about the status of their loans and their relationship with the creditor? A recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch helped to explain what happens when a consumer takes out a loan with the help of another’s credit profile, and that co-signer files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy . We will take a closer look at the situation described in the article to help explain what you should do if you learn that your co-signer is seeking bankruptcy protection. Help! My Co-Signer is Filing for Bankruptcy By taking a closer look at the scenario presented in the article, we can explain how a consumer should handle a situation in which her co-signer files for bankruptcy. According to the article, a conc...

Last week, we discussed bankruptcy reform from 2005 and the position that the changes to the system did not go far enough. While some experts believe that we need to do more to consumer bankruptcies , others argue that we are not doing enough to protect debtors in need. What should we make of the bankruptcy reforms that came through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA)? According to a recent article from Bloomberg BNA , some consumer advocates believe that the bankruptcy reform measures that went into effect a decade ago may have caused “more harm than good.” To be sure, a panel of experts at a webinar held by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) suggests that the overhaul to the consumer bankruptcy system “may be driving away consumers who are the most in need of the system’s protection.” Cons of the Bankruptcy Overhaul Some commentators emphasize that bankruptcy reform did, at least in part, what it set out to do: t...

Almost exactly ten years ago, American consumers learned about the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act . The legislation became law on October 17, 2005. According to a recent article in American Banker Magazine , the legislation “was the culmination of a bipartisan effort in Congress to change a legal system that seemed to encourage bankruptcy filings during a time of prosperity.” Depending on which side of the economic spectrum you are on, you may have mixed feelings about bankruptcy reform. On the one hand, for many consumer advocates, reform efforts did not do enough to address issues impacting debtors. For example, we have yet to see bankruptcy reform measures that address private student loan payments and the limitations of income-based repayment plans. On the other hand, business advocates argue that the reform measures did not do enough to curb the rate of bankruptcy in our country. Do we need to return to the issue of bankruptcy reform? What are some of t...