I feel terrible for people suffering from overwhelming debt. Every single one of us wants to pay our bills. I have never met a single person who did not want to pay their bills. Paying our bills is not the question. It is the lack of an ability to pay our bills that we are really discussing. And what it all comes down to is this very relevant question: Should you protect your family over your creditors or not?

In a word? Wonderful! Why? How can that be? What about my credit? What about my assets in bankruptcy? What about my pride? What if monkeys fly out of my butt? The reason I raise all these questions for you is I have high anxiety. There would be a never ending stream of questions and “what ifs” if I were considering filing bankruptcy. So, we totally understand how you feel right now. All of our current and former clients felt the same way. But what they found is that life on the other side of bankruptcy is wonderful.

I remember hiring a lawyer one time. He was juggling many cases. We needed him to represent us in a legal matter that was not overly complicated but we did not have time to do it ourselves. Besides, we learned in law school, that a client who represents themselves has a fool for a client. It is hard to be emotionally detached from a matter and hand the legal matter yourself. That is why even lawyers hire lawyers to represent them.

A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is sometimes referred to as a “fresh start” bankruptcy. It’s like hitting the reset button and starting over again or taking a mulligan in golf. It is a wonderful tool that can be used by residents in and around Duluth, MN to get rid of unwanted debt. Each year many Duluth residents opt to get their lives back quickly and are now living without overwhelming debt.

Unfortunately, we see situations like this all too frequently. We get people who call us up and say basically, can you help us with our bankruptcy? The attorney we hired goofed up and now will not call us back. You would be shocked at how many times Kain & Scott gets this type of phone call. I feel bad for these people but I also wonder, had these good people spent a few more minutes researching Minnesota bankruptcy attorneys, could they have found someone better?

Raise your hand if you have been affected in some way by the Coronavirus? That will be all of us. Now raise your hand if you have been financially devastated by the Coronavirus? That is a lot of us. Now, raise your hand if you wanted to be negatively financially impacted by the Coronavirus? Of course you did not.

Cross-collateralization is a common practice used by credit unions, where one piece of collateral—such as your vehicle—secures multiple loans. This means if you have a car loan and later take out a personal loan from the same credit union, your car could be used as collateral for both debts. As a result, even if you pay off your car loan, the credit union may still hold the title to your vehicle until all other loans are repaid.

On March 27, 2020 the CARES Act was signed into law, which among many things, provided temporary student loan relief. This relief is only for federal student loan borrowers whose loans are held by the US Department of Education. This is an important point. Any private student loans are not affected by this Act, and continue to remain collectable.

Your credit score is a number that measures how likely you are to repay loans on time. It essentially assesses the risk of an individual not being able to pay back that loan.

The US Constitution authorizes Congress to enact uniform laws regarding bankruptcy. Congress created the Bankruptcy Code and the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. The Code and Rules set forth the formal procedures and legal processes for individuals and entities experiencing debt.

Debt smothers the life out of you. Everything is dependent upon how much debt you have. Think about it, the kind of vehicle you drive, the kind of home you live in, and even the quality of food you eat is determined by the amount of debt you have. No wonder thousands of Minnesotans each year decide to get their lives back by ridding themselves of debt and repairing their credit using Kain & Scott’s FREE 90 Day Credit Repair Program.

I wonder about this question a lot. If you think it doesn’t take courage to file bankruptcy, you have never done it. My mom used to say that about raising children. She would say, “if you think raising children is easy, you have never done it.” My mom was right about that! Let me ask you a question. When you go to the doctor, and get a physical, do you like doing so? Of course not. We humans are private people and we would prefer not to be exposed. And yet we still go to the doctor. Why? Because we want to protect our health.

We know you would rather be fishing, going to the park, or spending time with your family rather than filing bankruptcy. Having debt problems cripples your life. Everything is seen through the prism of the debt you have. Can you purchase this? No, you have too much debt. Can you buy a house? No, you have too much debt. And so the story goes.

At Kain & Scott, we have two jobs. One is to help our guests eliminate debt using either Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Once the debt is eliminated, we do not leave our guests hanging. We go the distance with our guests.

On March 27, 2020, Congress passed, and the President signed into law the CARES Act, designed by Congress to address the pressing financial concerns facing Americans in light of the  Coronavirus pandemic.

The preparation of bankruptcy petitions, schedules and statements, whether for a chapter 7 or a chapter 13 case involves an analysis of how much income is earned by the bankruptcy debtor or debtors.  It’s a factor in the determination of monthly income (the means test) and it’s a factor in scheduling an accurate budget in the bankruptcy schedules.