But if you can’t make it to the presentation, you can download the paper here: History and Function of Oklahoma bankruptcy exemptions 2012 edition (PDF download, 39 pages)

Here’s a short teaser from the article:

I. Note for the 2012 Revision of this article

I wrote this paper originally as a directed research project during my last semester of law school, a short time after the enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). At that time, I believed that the fallout out of the passage of BAPCPA would be the central issue for policymakers when it came to bankruptcy exemption laws. What I did not foresee then, was that the world was about to enter a financial crisis that bore many similarities to the economic turmoil of early Oklahoma history. It is because of these current issues that I decided to rewrite this article. My hope is that by understanding our history (both what has worked and what has not worked), we will better understand what changes could and should be made in our current exemption laws.

Amazed to hear about the 7 people on the list: Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Milton Hershey, Burt Reynolds, H.J. Heinz and P.T. Barnum.

Also amazed to hear that actually 4 US presidents had to deal with bankruptcy/insolvency: Lincoln, Jefferson, McKinley and Grant.

If these folks can survive bankruptcy, so can you. Call me for a free consultation at 405-494-0562.

Medical debt is increasingly a factor in personal bankruptcy filings, an analysis of data at a large credit-counseling agency finds.

Roughly 20 percent of those seeking financial counseling this year and last cited medical debt as the primary cause of their decision to seek bankruptcy protection, according to CredAbility, an Atlanta-based nonprofit credit counseling agency that serves clients nationally. That’s up from about 12 to 13 percent in the prior two years.

This news doesn’t surprise me at all. Medical bills are often a major reason why people have to file bankruptcy.

What was especially interesting in this article was this part that talks about why specifically medical bills can be more difficult to deal with than other kinds of debt:

One reason people tend to get into trouble with medical debt is that they are reluctant to default on health care payments, Ms. Jones said. So, rather than not pay their doctor, they take out a new credit card — often with high interest rates, if their credit is less than stellar– and run up debt on their credit cards to cover health care costs. The short-term problem is alleviated, but the interest begins to compound and in short order they’re in trouble.

“With medical bills, people are very compelled to make good on those debts,” she said. “If you’re sick, it’s the person taking care of you. So they feel bad about not making the payment. People take extraordinary steps to pay them.”

It’s a tough issue for sure.

More discussion on this article can be found on the Huffington Post.

If you are struggling to pay medical bills and just can’t keep your head above water, it may be time to consider bankruptcy. For a free consultation, call 405-494-0562.

Here’s an interesting part from this article:

Now, consumer credit has just begun to post year-over-year growth again, and the slack may be buying struggling households extra time, helping to sustain the decline in bankruptcy filings, at least for a while.

“People can finance current consumption on their credit card and other borrowing” and avoid seeking bankruptcy protection, said Robert Lawless, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law who specializes in consumer credit issues. “What drives people into bankruptcy court is they run out of options.”

“You can become no more bankrupt,” he added. “If you’re insolvent, you’re insolvent, and if someone will continue lending to you, you might as well continue borrowing in the hopes that things will turn around.”

It is common sense that desperate consumers would do this, but it does not make financial sense to delay an inevitable bankruptcy. Items remain on a person’s credit report for 7 years from the last activity on the account, and a bankruptcy will be on one’s credit report for 10 years. Filing now rather than waiting to file later, means that one’s credit score will likely be better sooner. Filing bankruptcy now will also mean that you will have the protection of the automatic stay immediately, which could mean that you are able to get the breathing room to be able to get caught up on your mortgage, your car loan or other debt that you do want to keep post-bankruptcy.

Every situation is different. I would be glad to help you to consider your options. Call me today for a free consultation at 405-494-0562.

NACBA urges the Administration to take on the bigger challenge of finding ways of avoiding preventable foreclosures in the first place, rather than just cleaning up the mess after the fact. Toward that end, we have presented the Administration with one possible option, the so-called “Principal Paydown Plan,” under which an undersecured mortgage would be restructured in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy so that the homeowner would immediately start paying down the loan principal and reduce negative equity by reducing the interest rate to zero percent for five years. At the end of this five-year period, the remaining principal balance would be amortized over 25 years at the Freddie Mac survey rate. Leading housing economists have consistently cited the problem of negative home equity as a key factor pushing up the foreclosure numbers.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

By the time the foreclosure notice arrives, most struggling homeowners figure they are out of options. But there is one more step, often overlooked but sometimes effective: bankruptcy.

It’s not a move to be taken lightly. But the impact — especially on your chances of getting a loan — may not be as dire as many consumers assume. In fact, homeowners facing foreclosure may be able to improve their credit with a bankruptcy filing.

Find out if you can be benefitted by bankruptcy. Contact us today for a free initial consultation at lawyer4brokepeople@gmail.com.

Here’s an excerpt (emphasis added is my own):

In 2009, nearly 1.4 million bankruptcies were filed nationally by people with nonbusiness debt. That was up 32 percent over the previous year.

In Oklahoma, 17,787 consumer bankruptcies were filed last year, a 44 percent increase over 2008.

I think these numbers are important, as they remind us all that if we feel underwater with debt, we are not alone. Many others are in the same boat.

If you are in need of help with your debts and want to explore the option of bankruptcy, call me today for a free consultation.

This interview is from 2007 but is still very potent and relevant.

Here’s one part that jumped out at me from the interview:

Some economist estimate that for every family that goes bankrupt there are about 15 more who are in the same amount of financial trouble and would profit from bankruptcy but just haven’t filed.

Don’t be one of the 15 who need bankruptcy but don’t seek out the needed relief. Call me today for a free consultation.