Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

It is important to understand the difference between secured and unsecured loans, and where your credit card debt falls. Secured loans are those in which the creditor maintains a security interest or for which the borrower must put up some kind of collateral, while unsecured credit does not require that the creditor have a security interest. Some of the most common secured loans are mortgage loans and auto loans. When you have a mortgage, the property is the collateral. Similarly, when you have an auto loan, the car functions as the collateral, and the creditor maintains a security interest in the vehicle. Usually, credit cards do not work this way. We tend to assume that all credit cards are unsecured, meaning that the creditor has no security interest in our property connected to our ability to buy on credit. However, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times , you may need to read the fine print on your credit card agreement a bit more closely. Credit ...

Can parents with substantial student loan debt from PLUS loans have an easier time discharging this debt through consumer bankruptcy ? It is difficult to wipe out any student loan debt by filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, regardless of whether you are the student who borrowed the money or a parent who borrowed on behalf of your children. However, according to a recent article in MarketWatch , an appeals court settlement suggests that some parents may indeed be able to wipe out the PLUS loans they have borrowed under certain circumstances. While the recent case ended in a settlement—meaning that it will not create court precedent for other parent borrowers—it does suggest that student loan debt may not be as difficult to discharge as many of us assume. Parent PLUS Loans and Consumer Bankruptcy The debtor in this case, Robert Murphy, had borrowed around $200,000 in parent PLUS loans to finance his children’s education. What are PLUS loans? According to a fact sheet fr...

Rebuilding your credit after bankruptcy is a difficult but not impossible task. Although it can be tricky to apply and get approved for loans if you have a recent history of consumer bankruptcy , such a goal is not out of the realm of possibility. If you recently filed for bankruptcy or are considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you might have heard that you will need to abide by a specific waiting period before applying for a mortgage. According to a recent article from The Mortgage Reports , Fannie Mae has announced that it is lowering the mandatory waiting period to apply for a mortgage after a bankruptcy, a short sale, or a foreclosure. What else do you need to know about seeking out a home loan after having your debts discharged through consumer bankruptcy? Following Bankruptcy, Debtors Only Need to Wait Two Years If you are attempting to get approved for a home loan after filing for bankruptcy, you will not have to wait as long as you might have feared. Until t...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has promised to crack down on debt collection scams , particularly those that make fraudulent assurances about being able to help consumers get out of debt. Given that student loan debt is a mounting problem in our country, the CFPB has focused much of its attention on student loan debt scams, according to a recent article from ACA International . Late last month, the CFPB filed a consent order aimed at Student Aid Institute, Inc., a company that “advertised debt relief services to borrowers behind on their loans” yet “charged fees for federal student loan programs that are available at no cost.” With current student loan debt in the trillions, it may not come as a surprise that certain companies are attempting to profit from the anxiety that many former students are facing due to their student loans. However, as the article makes clear, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act makes scams like this one il...

If you borrowed student loans to finance your law school education, it is likely that you also sought out loans to pay for your bar review courses and other study materials. It can be very costly to study for the bar in Illinois and other states throughout the country, and as a result, law school graduates often borrow between $10,000 and $20,000 to pay for the costs associated with studying for and taking the bar alone. That figure does not include the average cost of a law school education, which tends to be in the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars range. Yet according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal , a federal judge ruled that bar-exam loan debt is different from other student loan debt and thus should be dischargeable through consumer bankruptcy . If you have thousands of dollars in bar-exam loan debt and you do not have adequate income to pay your monthly bills, could filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy help you with your financial situation? Bar-Exam Lo...

For many debtors in Oak Park, filing for consumer bankruptcy can be one of the best ways to get a fresh financial start and to recover after going into substantial debt. However, it is important to understand the ways in which Chapter 7 bankruptcy , for instance, might impact your ability to finance an education. According to an article from U.S. News & World Report , bankruptcy can indeed “allow borrowers suffocating under medical bills, credit card debt, and home foreclosures to catch a breath and start to rebuild.” At the same time, though, seeking personal bankruptcy protection can make it more difficult to secure a loan of any sort. If you are thinking about going back to school to complete your undergraduate education or to earn a bachelor’s degree, you should talk first with an experienced Oak Park bankruptcy attorney. Education Loan Consequences for Bankruptcy Filers As the article notes, securing college financing can be difficult after you have filed...