Hunting for that Elusive Summer Job?

Financial Tips | Posted by Jacob ONeill
Jun 22 2011

Once upon a time, hunting for a summer job was as easy as a walk on the beach. The problem was less about finding work than about which opportunity to choose. Now, as the economy continues to struggle, it’s not quite as easy, but with a little diligence and creative thinking, you can find the perfect gig for extra spending cash this summer.

Do friends and family know you are looking for a job? If they don’t know you are searching, they won’t know to tell you when they see a “Help Wanted” sign or hear of the perfect opening. Do you have an uncle that owns a landscaping business or a second cousin who runs a summer camp? Don’t be shy about asking folks you know if they will hire you for the summer – they may be looking for seasonal help.

You need to do more than pound the pavement to find a summer job. While you should be looking for “Help Wanted” signs while you’re out and about, the Internet is full of resources. Your city’s Craigslist can be a great place to start, though be extra careful to avoid scams and shady job listings. Also, monitor social media sites like Twitter or Facebook, since many local companies turn there first when listing a job.

Of course, there are the usual tips, such as dressing the part for the interview and having your resume and references lined up. You may also want to be prepared for a credit check. Employers often check

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Tags: Job, Summer Job
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Best Way For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Debtor To List His Interest In His Insolvent Business

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Jun 22 2011

Many self-employed debtors file bankruptcy because they have personally guaranteed debt of their failing business. Some of these debtors want to discharge their guarantees of business bank loans or credit cards used for the business, and they want to try to resurrect the business after they have been cleared of personal liability. In such cases, the debtor has to value his interest in the business. The debtor must value his stock, membership interest, or other form of ownership in his business. Where the business had assets, but the business also has liabilities in excess of business assets the value of the debtor’s interest is probably zero because he could not sell to an unrelated third party his interest in his insolvent business. The business value is further reduced by the business’ dependence upon the debtor’s personal labor because a new buyer would have to pay someone to replace the debtor’s labor contribution.

There are two ways to list this type of insolvent business in the debtor’s personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. The debtor could value his stock (or other interest) at zero, or he could value the stock at $1 and claim an exemption for the $1 interest as part of the debtor’s personal property exemption. The question is which is the best way to defend against a trustee challenge that the business interest is worth more money and is part of the debtor’s non-exempt bankruptcy estate.

I suggest that it may be better to value the business at a dollar and claim the exemption. The trustee h Read more…

Tags: Business
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Five Things you Need to Know About Home Foreclosure

Finance News | Posted by admin
Jun 21 2011

When you take out a loan for a home, the mortgage lender considers your home to be collateral for that loan. That is why the lender can foreclose if you default on your payments. There are five things you must know about home foreclosures.

First, you should know when your lender plans to begin the home foreclosure process. Each bank or lending institution has its own procedure, so give them a call and find out the particulars.

Second, you should find out how long the foreclosure process takes. Again, each lender works differently. In some cases, it will take six months or less. Other lenders might take up to a year to process a foreclosure.

Third, you should understand your alternatives. You may be able to work out a compromise with your lender that will allow you to remain in your home.

Fourth, you should have a personal contact at the lender’s office. There are several departments involved throughout the home foreclosure process, so it helps to have someone in-house to help you keep track of where you are in that process.

Fifth, you must review and understand any paperwork that you receive. Consult your own attorney who is experienced in foreclosures.

Tags: Five Things, Home
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Credit report errors and its effect on consumer’s creditworthiness

Financial Tips | Posted by Jacob ONeill
Jun 20 2011

According to the reports of the new study that was released today by the Policy and Economic Research Council (PERC), consumers can now rest easy and they need not be too concerned if there is a possibility of errors occurring in their credit reports, which could be negatively affecting their creditworthiness.

The PERC research is a statistically sound and comprehensive study that is performed under rigorous peer review. The accuracy of the data that has been collected and maintained by the three major credit reporting agencies – Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, and the impact of the outcome of the credit report disputes, has been studied in great detail. More than 2000 consumers were engaged in the study in order to examine their credit report entries, spot inaccuracies, and file disputes wherever necessary, as well as to discuss their satisfaction levels candidly with regard to the outcomes.

The study revealed the following:

  • At least 0.93% of the credit reports that were examined by the consumers had prompted a dispute which resulted in a correction in the credit score which resulted in an increase in the credit score of 25 points or more.
  • After the completion of the dispute process, 0.50% of the credit reports that were examined by consumers had scores that moved to the high-risk tier due to the consumer dispute.
  • 95% of the consumers who were part of the study were satisfied with the outcome of the dispute process.

Dr. M

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Tags: Report, Report Errors
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How Does Mortgage Delinquency Affect Your Credit Score?

Financial Tips | Posted by Jacob ONeill
Jun 19 2011

Many people, many more than usual and many more than in past years, have recently experienced the trauma of not being able to make the house payment, not being able to catch up after delinquencies and the horror of foreclosure, not to mention the people who never really missed a payment but were completely unable to sell the home for as much as they owed when they needed to move, thereby resulting in a “short sale” on their credit report.

And all of these problems affect your credit scores and your credit reports. The question is how much? And how long? And what can I do to improve now that the crisis has past?

Well the people at FICO, the credit score people, have long been tight-lipped about how much these types and even other types of problems can affect you. You can check out this article on Mintlife, “How Mortgage Delinquencies Affect Your Credit Scores” to see some of the worst details.

Apparently, it has much to do with how high your credit score was in the first place. If you had a score of 680 there is no difference between a 30 day late and a 90 day late (except of course, it is much easier to pull out of a 30 day late and if you havent been able to make payments for as long as 90 days, you may find that nasty foreclosure to be inevitable).

But if you had a 780 score to start there is a difference between the 30 and 90 day delinquency.

An interesting note is that if you had a 680 score, a short sale would negatively affect your score as much as a foreclosure. Rather

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Debtor Forfeits IRA Exemption

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Jun 17 2011

How to mess up a bankruptcy exemption. I happened upon a Florida bankruptcy case decided in 2010 wherein a court held that a debtor’s self-directed IRA was not exempt. The debtor’s had a securities account that clearly was titled as an IRA account. The IRS approved the securities account as a proper self-directed IRA account as to its form. The problem was that our debtor used his IRA money improperly and in violation of IRS rules for self-directed IRAs. The debtor borrowed money from the IRA, pledged his IRA account as security for a loan, and commingled IRA funds with his other money. The debtor’s misuse of the IRA disqualified the IRA under IRS regulations. Even though the IRS had not investigated or independently disqualified the IRA the bankruptcy court held that the money in this debtor’s IRA lost its exemption.

The court pointed out that a bankruptcy court may reach an independent decision regarding the qualification of a debtor’s IRA when the IRS had not considered the debtors abuse of plan assets or audited the IRA’s operations. A debtor may forfeit his IRA exemption if he uses IRA funds in violation of IRA rules. If it looks like duck and is called a duck it is not a duck if it does not quack. Relax debtors- I have never seen a bankruptcy trustee investigate how a debtor managed his self-directed IRA. The case is 2010 WL 1408343.

Tags: Exemption
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