Saturday, April 25, 2009

AUTO INSURANCE IN AMERICA

When ever a person is buying a car that person must have auto insurance. This is mandatory in most of the states of United States of America. So it very essential for a person to have a knowledge of it and its types as this will help a person to select a policy that best suits his or her needs.

Types of polices:

Auto insurance companies in America provide a lot of policy that can satisfy one’s need. There is Personal Injury Protection (PIP), policies regarding Liability, Collision coverage, Uninsured motorist coverage, Underinsured motorist coverage and Comprehensive coverage.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) – This kind of policy provides medical benefits to the person or to those who are affected in car accident. This kind of policy pays the medical bills without considering the faulty person. PIP is mandatory for all drivers. This is also "no-fault" insurance. It has two parts. One that pays the medical expenses and other one pays for non-medical bills.

Liability – This type of insurance is designed to pay those who are affected due that to person who is responsible for the accident. Liability coverage protects that person who is responsible for the accident by paying of legal expenses. This policy is divided in to two types: Bodily Injury Liability coverage and property Damage Liability coverage.

The Uninsured Motorist Coverage – In this case, if a person suffers due to any accident by an uninsured driver then this policy will compensate that person who is holding this policy. If the person who is responsible for the accident does not have any Liability coverage, he will not be paid for.

Underinsured Motorist coverage- This policy pays the owner of the damaged car in an accident by another driver who has limited insurance coverage. In this case, the policy pays the difference in the policy amount of the drivers. Therefore, the policy amount of the damaged car driver must be higher than the other.

Collision Coverage – This type of car insurance refunds for any damage to the car owner due t any accident caused by any one of the person involved.

Comprehensive Coverage – This policy covers the car owner from any damage to the car that is not due to collision.

Taking up any policy mainly depends on the state’s minimum liability requirements and affordability of any person. Many people try not to go for car insurance policy and to save that money but one should think about the financial pressure that a person would be having if he or she does not have any auto insurance coverage. At the same time, spending more than required on any car insurance is also not justifiable. Therefore, decision must be taken wisely.

Friday, April 24, 2009

BANKRUPTCY OFFENSES

Financial misery is a situation where an individual has nothing left to pay. It s a very serious thing. It occurs when an individual or a business entity is not financially strong enough to fulfill its responsibility or liability. This kind of situation is very horrifying. And there is only one option and that is to file bankruptcy to get out of it. Bankruptcy imposed lots of restriction on a person. The restrictions are imposed by the court. However, sometimes a person commit certain things, which he or she should not do during bankruptcy process and those are termed as bankruptcy offenses.


One of the major bankruptcy offenses include borrowing money from the creditors without disclosing about the bankruptcy filing during his or her tenure in bankruptcy process. An individual also should not run a business with a changed name without disclosing the real entity under which the bankruptcy was filled previously. Even is person is restricted to act as a director of any organization if they were declared bankrupt.


There are other types of offenses also. If any person is associated with gambling then also it comes under the category of bankruptcy offense. If any person is not having proper document about his or her financial matter and borrowing money to do business with no intention of paying back as he or she cannot pay, is called a bankruptcy offense. Sometimes it is found that a defaulter already paid some of the creditors over the other before the court ordered discharge in that case also it will be considered as bankruptcy offense.


Like bankruptcy, bankruptcy offense is also a serious issue. A person has to pass through tough situation if it is found that he or she is involved in bankruptcy offensive acts. It may delay the discharge up to 15 years. So after while filing bankruptcy a person must pay attention to these things.

Friday, April 17, 2009

MORTGAGE AFTER BANKRUPTCY

There had been certain changes in the bankruptcy laws since 2005. Previously if a person wants to have a mortgage after bankruptcy discharge then he or she used to get it approved in a very short period. Now the things have changed. There are few things now one must know in order to apply for a mortgage after he or she is discharged by the bankruptcy court. Now if any person requires having a FHA mortgage then his or her application will be approved if the application is made after two years of discharge and in case of a usual mortgage the application must be after five years from the discharge date.

To wait for such a long time before applying for a mortgage after bankruptcy is just a small part of the whole scenario. The finances and the credit must be in good position to apply for a mortgage. This is a very important part because if nothing is done after filling bankruptcy then the credit report of that person will be full of errors and that might prevent a person from getting a mortgage even after waiting for such a long time.

The primary thing that must be done is to review the credit report after getting discharge order from the court. Because generally the creditors do not go to the credit bureaus to update the status once a person file bankruptcy. In those cases, it is always better to hire an attorney to fix those errors. By doing this, it is found that most of the items will be deleted. The credit score will also start to increase.

The second most important thing would be to build a new positive credit. Applying for bankruptcy friendly credit cards will be a good move. This will also help an individual to build a positive credit.

By doing so a person can take his or her credit score to a great extent in those two or five years. It is found that the credit score of a person moving up to 750 within 18 months after filing bankruptcy. The credit score of this level is always good enough to get approval for a good mortgage rate.

So getting a mortgage with a good rate after two years of filing bankruptcy is not easy but can be achieved if certain things are kept in mind.

BANKRUPTCY-WHAT IF A CREDITOR WON'T GO AWAY AFTER A DISCHARGE

Many people suffer from financial stress in their life. Sometimes the financial stress become so unbearable they did not have any other option left other than to choose bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a critical process so it is difficult for any individual to file bankruptcy alone. An attorney is required in that case. Once an attorney is introduced, he or she will work on behalf of that person and thus helping the person to be successful in bankruptcy. However, one of the creditor oppose to the decision of filing bankruptcy. Moreover, he keeps trying to collect the debts. Now what one can do in those circumstances?


Bankruptcy is no joke. The debtors as well as the creditors have to pay a big price once a debtor declares him or her bankrupt. In case of a debtor, the credit score is worse affected and many of the valuable assets are lost. And for a creditor the worst thing is that they will not be getting the amount that they deserve from the debtor. The court usually discharge all or most of the debt of a debtor.


In recent times, many bankruptcy cases are filled and the numbers are still growing. Then lending institutions have now become familiar with the bankruptcy process. They have idea about when to be aggressive and when not to be. But there are few creditors who still do not know the time to let it go. Therefore, if the creditors do not stop harassing even after a person is discharged by the court then it is again the time for that debtor to go back to the court. The bankruptcy dealings will be again opened, as the judges are very strict about those creditors who do not follow the decisions. The creditors who violets the law will be asked by the court to appear in the court. The judge will ask them about their deeds and in the end, they will be penalized for their deeds. They have to pay large fine. Many times, it is found that the creditors are paying a debtor for his or her time and the creditors have to pay the attorney's fee.


So if after being discharged by the court a creditors did not stops harassing then the door of the court is open for that debtor. The judge will take care of it.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

HOME EQUITY LOANS VS BANKRUPTCY

Over the year's bankruptcy law under goes certain significant change. Some of them are

a) The income of a person will be verified with two-part means text to judge whether the person is qualified for chapter seven or chapter thirteen.

b) A person must appear for consumer a credit-counseling program before filing bankruptcy, which must be approved, by United States Trustee’s office.

c) There will be arbitrary audits by the bankruptcy court to check whether the documents are correct or not. If not then the lawyers could be fined.

d) And a person must appear for financial management class at his or her own cost.

Moreover, a chapter seven stays on the credit report for ten years and a chapter thirteen-bankruptcy filing stays on the credit report for seven years. So filling bankruptcy is a very dangerous decision. So instead of taking in so much harassment a person easily apply for a bad credit home equity loan. The benefit of this loan is that a person can pay his or her all the due to the creditors without damaging the credit score by lowering the debt ratio.

Though the rates are higher than those with a good credit report, but still lower than the high interest that can be more than 18% interest of any credit card and much better than thirty percent interest that a person might have to pay due to miss payment on only one credit card.

Refinancing a financial problem can save a person from the trauma because of his effort in getting home equity loan once declared bankruptcy that is even worse than a receiving a bad credit loan. Moreover, a home equity loan can will also help a person to keep the house. Therefore, it is always advisable to go for a home equity loan rather than filing bankruptcy to avoid financial problems.

EFFECT OF NEW BANKRUPTCY LAW ON DEBT NEGOTIATION

Bankruptcy law has changed since October 17, 2005 by Congress. Now it is known as "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer protection Act" and this new law can prove to be very harsh for debt ridden American citizen.


Will the creditors agree to negotiate with the financially stressed person? What can be the possible effect of bankruptcy on debt negotiation practice? These questions are asked frequently after the new law was passed. The simple one word answer to these queries is "yes". Those who had no other option other than filing bankruptcy are worse affected. However, those who had plans other than bankruptcy like debt negotiation etc. will not be affected that much. In fact, this is what the credit card banks are waiting for since decades. As, according to them rich people used to take unfair advantage of the bankruptcy laws previously.


It has been found that bankruptcy filling increased after the new law was passed and on the other hand, profit of the credit card industry also increased. This new law is a boon to the credit card companies. It is estimated that approximately five billion dollar will be added every year to the industry's bottom-line. So the main thing is those who will be filling bankruptcy under chapter seven most of them now will be forced to file bankruptcy under chapter thirteen. Therefore, if not all then also many defaulters will have to pay a part of their outstanding to the creditors within a five-year timetable as laid down by the court.


Another harassing part in the new law is the IRS "allowable" expenses agenda to determine the monthly budget of any individual. Moreover, the person who is making a step forward to attempt a bankruptcy filing will also have restrictions on the things like mobile phones, cable T.V, internet as per IRS and Court.


Creditors already started to use this new bankruptcy law to harass people, as this new law is a real gift to the creditors. Still negotiations can be done because the creditors also do not know for which chapter a defaulter will qualify for. So for them negotiation is a better option.

Friday, April 3, 2009

SECURED CREDIT CARDS AFTER BANKRUPTCY

Bankruptcy is definitely a way to get rid of debt but because of this bankruptcy only a person is denied of future credit and loan and other kinds of credit and credit cards. And much of the bankruptcy cases are due to credit cards. So if any person wants to carry on with credit cards then he or she must avoid the mistakes that he or she committed previously. So it is always better to opt for those credit cards which are protected against any non-payment.


There are two types of credit cards available in the market one is secured credit card and the other one is known as unsecured credit cards. If a person is having a strong memory then the person can recollect that payments which are to be made on secured credit card were never erased off from the long list of the debts of that person who is going to file for bankruptcy. And those secured credit card companies can do anything to get the money back. They can even take away valuable possessions of the bankrupt person to satisfy their demands.


So keeping in mind the circumstances of a secured credit card, a person must opt for unsecured credit card after bankruptcy because if a person is declared bankruptcy again then the unsecured credit cards will not be a burden to that person. This is so because if not all than also most of the debts are waived off by the bankruptcy court.


Moreover if a person is accessing a secured credit card after bankruptcy then numerous amounts of charges are added to it making it really difficult for that person to cope up. So it is always better not to go for secured credit cards once a person is declared bankruptcy.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

TRUTHS ABOUT CREDIT CARDS AFTER BANKRUPTCY


Filing bankruptcy can be considered as the most dreadful thing on this earth. It leaves its mark for 7 to 10 years in the credit report. But still the discharge by the bankruptcy court does provide great relief to the person as it erase most of the debts.


When a person is discharged from the court the news of it will reach to the public. The companies those who deal with bankruptcy listings will collect the information’s so that they sell it to the financial institutions and credit card companies. The card companies now will be sending various offers to those people from the information’s they receive. It is basically easy for a person to get a credit card after bankruptcy. But there are drawbacks in the credit card agreement which can again drag a person into financial trouble.


To make a fresh start with credit card after bankruptcy is a very bad idea. The credit card companies make astronomical profits every year from the penalties and other charges they receive from the defaulters of the credit card holders. Money problem is a big problem and it is also big issue for creating family disputes. And most of the money related trouble is due to credit card. Whenever a person is filing for bankruptcy he or she has to work with a counselor. In every case it is found that the credit counselor advised that person to cut their credit cards.


It is always better for a person to do transaction with cash rather than credit after filing bankruptcy. It is absolutely necessary to stop the mistakes caused due to credit card. It is also found that the spending of any person increased considerably when credit cards are used. It is always better to use debit card or bank check card. But credit card after bankruptcy is a big no.