Your job and your income have absolutely no effect on your credit score. In fact, you could have an almost perfect credit score with no job, no income or reliable source of income provided you were able to always make your payments on time (yeah, you might have to be independently wealthy or something to always have the moneybut). Contrary to what some people may think, it is not essential to have a job or income to have great credit as both of those things are deemed irrelevant and are not even part of your credit reports and scores.

And a 30-day late payment in 2011 may be more detrimental to your score than a bankruptcy in 2010. The most pressing factor of how much impact something has on your credit is how recently it occurred. With credit, time heals all wounds, no matter how brutal they were at the time. So keep your payments current and if something bad happened in your past, time will pass and youll get over it.

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Is the FDCPA glass half full?

FDCPA Suits on the Rise…

The economy is still in trouble and people are defaulting on loans in record numbers. It should come as no surprise then that Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) lawsuits are on the rise, with court awarded attorney’s fees often far overshadowing the typical $1,000 in statutory damages awarded to the plaintiff.

“Only the Brave Deserve the Fee”

It’s a not so well kept secret that FDCPA violations are so common that bankruptcy law firms often make more in attorney’s fees representing FDCPA and stay violation plaintiffs than they do representing chapter 7 debtors. Recent press coverage has cast aspersions on the validity of FDCPA claims, suggesting they “clog” the courts with frivolous litigation. According to a Read more…

Can you declare bankruptcy on just your credit card debt? The short answer yes. The long answer well, keep reading the rest of the article.

Before 2005 you would be able to discharge on your credit cards without any consequence from your lenders especially in the discharge of debts in a chapter 13. Credit card companies have the ability to file an adversary preceding. They do this when the credit companies feel that you filed bankruptcy because your debt was not authorized, second that you used the card without any intention to repay the debt on your cards in the first place.

Not only do these companies have the ability to file an adversary preceding in a chapter 7 bankruptcy, but also in a chapter 13 after 2005. There are many things that can cause your lenders to file an adversary proceeding on your discharge, here are just few: A newly issued card, Using your card for recent vacations and trips, Going passed your limit, Having a lot of debt at filling, Increasing the amount that you use the card just before filling bankruptcy, Making an significant cash advance before filling bankruptcy, Talking to a bankruptcy lawyer first and then charging more on your cards afterwards. Read more…

Small businesses are often what forms the core of the community, whether that community is a small town or Beverly Hills, and bankruptcy has hit such businesses hard in the last few years.

Across the country, small businesses have strained to stay afloat under a struggling economy. And when a business must file for bankruptcy protection, often a piece of the community goes with them. Such is the case with a survey of businesses that have recently filed for bankruptcy.

In Perry, Iowa, for example, a town of under 8,000 people, a local institution that touched the lives of countless members of the community has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

The Perry Tea Room saw many a Mother’s Day celebration and gatherings of generations of women enjoy the fine service and the sense of tradition. The article in the Des Moines Register reporting the bankruptcy called the Perry Tea Room, a “cultural touchstone.”

“A lot of daughters and a lot of grandparents went through that place,” said Brian Witherwax, the bankruptcy attorney for local owners Vicky and Dwight Taylor. “It was e

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I remember watching the Wizard of Oz movie every Thanksgiving Day as a child growing up here in the southland.  After sticking my fingers into the black olives and then eating them from my fingertips and stuffing my belly fully of all the trimmings that make up every traditional holiday meal, the family would then gather around the television and watch the Wizard of Oz. I always looked forward to eating my piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream while watching this classic film.

Now, as a bankruptcy lawyer, I find myself breaking every illusion I can find about money, the banking system, wall street and the government. Last week, I was pointed to the Secrets of the Wizard of Oz and Our Current Economic Crisis. This article breaks down the symbolism presented in the original book and the movie and explains the entire illusion and how all the systems play a roll in keeping the American people in slavery (Debt).

I see a sequel to this: Dorothy (a baby boomer) is dying and her children take up her cause and become the hero protagonists that lead the munchkins (American public) out of debt and liberate the masses from the wicked witches (banks and wall street) through bankruptcy.

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Everywhere these days, you hear scary projections about soon to come gold bubble. I perfectly understand that many people can’t wait for this to happen. We just recently touched the gold bubble topic in Gold, silver and interest rates which explains why rising interest rates are very bullish for gold. The other very popular talking point pushed by bubble crowd is that gold prices have been driven by speculation among big money investors and ETF funds, while physical demand has been very weak. Jon Nadler of Kitco for example, loves those flashy titles, like Mumbai on Gold: Good Buy or Goodbye? and Dubai, Mumbai Cry: Oversupply!, constantly implying that Gulf Arabs and Indians who account for most of the physical gold buying, are staying away because the very high prices. Apparently, the hard numbers and facts tell us something entirely different. Something that gold bubble crowd won’t like.

According to the World Gold Council report released last week, the 2010 gold sales are no so weak.

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