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Author: Brian Barta

Bankruptcy Attorney Brian Barta > Articles posted by Brian Barta (Page 4)

Stop Creditor Harassment After Bankruptcy

Stop creditors from continuing to harass after bankruptcy.

When your bankruptcy is completed and you have discharged all of your debt, it is a tremendous relief. You have a fresh start, you can rebuild credit and move on with a new financial life. It’s a great feeling. However, one thing that can really cause upset and distress is a collection attempt from a creditor that tries to collect after the case is done. A telephone call, collection letter, or worse, a lawsuit served on you can shatter the new-found sense of peace provided by the bankruptcy. Until recently, your lawyer could usually stop the prohibited collection. But making...

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How to Get Free of Credit Card Debt

Become free of credit card debt!

A new study released Wednesday, June 22nd found that Americans are saddled with ballooning credit card debt and are likely to end 2016 with a record high $1 trillion in outstanding balances. That will be the highest amount of credit card debt on record, surpassing even the years during and before the Great Recession. The record high was in 2008, when people owed $984.2 billion on their credit cards.  So after a couple of years in which consumers were being more frugal and working on paying off credit card balances, they have used cards at an ever-increasing rate.  Importantly, people have...

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Strip Second Mortgage

Strip a second mortgage

The ability to strip off a second mortgage in bankruptcy is one of the most powerful tools bankruptcy law provides. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy you can strip off, or avoid, a second mortgage, home equity line of credit, or other junior lien and never owe a penny on that debt again. That means your obligation to pay back that second mortgage is permanently discharged, i.e. wiped out. The second mortgage lender can never try to collect from you after the Chapter 13 case is done. Also, and equally important, the lender must re-convey the second deed of trust...

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Mortgage Modification In Bankruptcy

Mortgage modifications in bankruptcy at Law Offices of Brian Barta

For several years now, at least since the real estate market downturn in 2006, homeowners have struggled to modify their underwater mortgages. Most homeowners have failed at successfully obtaining a modification because home loan lenders initially weren’t set up to do modifications. Mortgage lenders would represent to borrowers that the various programs were available, but in fact getting a modification was nearly impossible. Borrowers applied through the Keep Your Home California program, the HAMP program, the HARP program, and other government sponsored or instituted modification systems, but the lenders did not have the staff, resources, or desire to actually modify...

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Inherited IRA Retirement Account Could Be Exempt From Bankruptcy

Many people fear losing everything they own if they pursue bankruptcy, but that is not the case. As just one example, federal law generally provides for the exemption of retirement funds from bankruptcy proceedings, if the funds meet the applicable requirements under the law. This exemption may apply even if those retirement funds were inherited from a parent, as demonstrated when the United States Bankruptcy Court discussed the issue in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case of In re Trawick. A retirement account ...

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