A bankruptcy will have a negative effect on your credit report, but chances are that your credit was already bad before filing. However, this is your opportunity to start fresh and rebuild your credit to where you want it! How? Through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can completely discharge your debts without paying them back. This means if you’ve reached the point in your life where you simply cannot pay all of the money you owe, the law allows you to have a fresh start! Or… Through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, all of your debts can be combined into one affordable payment. In this process, all creditor and collection harassment must stop. To reiterate, a bankruptcy: frees you of all
By: Darrell Castle While your bankruptcy will be public record, the likelihood of many people seeing that record is slim to none. Do you read The Daily News? I didn’t think so. Many people don’t (no offense to the publication, it’s informative). The Daily News is a small newspaper that circulates around to lawyers and businesspeople. And somewhere in that paper (INSIDE, not on the front page) there’s a list of bankruptcy filings. The listing provides your name, case number and attorney. But again, not many people read The Daily News, and those that do will probably skip right over the bankruptcy listings. No one really cares anymore about whether or not you’ve filed for bankruptcy. It’s not as big
Will Chapter 7 hurt my credit? How long will a Chapter 7 bankruptcy stay on my credit report? Check out this video, in which Memphis bankruptcy attorney Darrell Castle answers some of your questions about filing Chapter 7 and what it might mean for your credit in the future. If you have any more questions about filing for bankruptcy and what it might mean for you, feel free to contact us and talk with one of our attorneys at no charge. We’re here to help. **UPDATE 06/12/13** Darrell Castle & Associates is pleased to announce a new credit program for our bankruptcy clients. This system teaches you, step by step, how to improve your credit score to a 720, or
By: Darrell Castle Your employer can NOT fire you because you filed for bankruptcy. If you’re having nightmares of Donald Trump walking into your work space and bellowing, “YOU’RE FIRED!,” then you’ll enjoy what I’m about to say. As a bankruptcy attorney, my desire is to see debt-struggling people become debt-free people and enjoy the fresh start that comes along with the title. However, I come across many roadblocks while driving towards that goal. Often, those roadblocks are misconceptions people have about bankruptcy and mistaken effects it will have on their lives. These are typically misconceptions that friends, family members or society has ingrained in them. For example, “Someone told me my boss can fire me if I file for
A bankruptcy can help you keep your home By: Darrell Castle A bankruptcy CAN save your house – a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, that is. There are two chapters in bankruptcy we deal with here at Darrell Castle & Associates – Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Both chapters come with their own advantages and qualifications. By filing for a Chapter 7, you can discharge all of your dischargeable debt and not be required to make any payments on it. This process takes a few months to completely process. By filing for a Chapter 13, you can lump all of your debt into a payment plan. This payment plan, which is a 3-5 year plan, is calculated into an affordable one based
By: Darrell Castle You may be struggling with debt and considering filing for bankruptcy. But something’s stopping you. And I think I know what it is. If you’re like the people I’ve met who are focused on retiring to enjoy the late years of life, you may be concerned about losing your retirement money. You may have a lot of money stored away and you’re just waiting to hit the “retirement button.” Despite your fears, a bankruptcy won’t hinder that! Your IRA is exempt in a bankruptcy. That means your retirement money — if it’s a qualified retirement plan — can’t be touched when you file for bankruptcy. That’s true for both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. And an IRA
Perhaps you’ve seen this video making its way around the internet and news shows. William Shatner has teamed up with State Farm to raise awareness, however dramatically, of the proper way to deep fry a turkey. Leading up to Thanksgiving, this one is a must-see. The last thing you want is a serious injury while preparing your family feast! Stay safe this holiday season.
According to a comprehensive survey on nursing home and elder abuse, older women are far more likely to suffer from abuse in a care-giving setting than their male counterparts. The 2004 Survey of Adult Protective Services shows that roughly 2/3 of elder abuse victims are women. At the same time, over half of the perpetrators of elder abuse are also female. Women are particularly vulnerable to abuse for a variety of reasons. In the United States and around the world, women live longer than men and thus often spend longer periods under the care of someone else than men do. In addition, they often enter a care-giving situation with not only muscle weakness due to age, but smaller physical frames
If you’re a woman who’s taken Lipitor for high cholesterol, read carefully. There has been no scientific proof that high cholesterol is actually an issue for woman. Pfizer, the drug manufacturer of Lipitor, has allegedly fabricated this false disease in order to make and sell this drug. They’ve done a pretty decent job too as Lipitor is now the highest-prescribed drug in pharmaceutical history, in large part due to high cholesterol problems in men. However, Lipitor has now been linked to diabetes in woman and if you’re someone who has diabetes or knows someone who does, you know good and well it’s a life-changing illness, even if it’s not deadly. That’s why if you’re a woman with no history of
Work history and disability benefits go hand in hand. How long you’ve worked, and in what capacity, plays an important part in any Social Security Disability (SSDI) claim. Here’s how the two issues relate. How Work History Affects Disability Benefits First, your work history helps the SSA establish you’re insured by SSDI in the first place. SSDI is an insurance program you pay into with every paycheck. If you work for yourself, you pay into it with your quarterly taxes. As a result, when you apply for SSDI, you have to show how much you’ve paid into the insurance program. Your work history also helps determine the degree of disability you have. You may think, “My back hurts so much