Bankruptcy - Your Fresh Start

Written by Chris Cooper


Most American consumers are living too close torepparttar edge. They are carrying too much credit card and mortgage debt and have too little inrepparttar 111768 way of savings. Whenrepparttar 111769 inevitable unexpected crisis comes along, they have little left to handle it and quickly slip into a critical financial state.

According to many bankruptcy experts, most people file for bankruptcy due to life-changing experiences, such as a job loss, divorce or serious illness. Uninsured medical expenses are supposedlyrepparttar 111770 cause of about 20% of bankruptcy filings. But excessive debt also plays a very large role.

If you are drowning in debt with little realistic hope of paying off your bills, bankruptcy is your only real option. Although far from pleasant, bankruptcy can be easier to handle thanrepparttar 111771 constant pressure put on a debtor by lenders and collection agencies. You can immediately stop all harassment and legal actions, wipe out a good deal of your debt and get a new start on life.

The anomalies of credit scoring also work against debtors struggling to pay off debt. Your score will be low because of excessive use of debt and missed payments. You’re unlikely to get new credit andrepparttar 111772 interest rates on your credit cards might be raised to usurious levels. You are likely to have a better credit score and find it easier to get credit – very expensive credit - after bankruptcy than before.

Alsorepparttar 111773 stigma and embarrassment that used to accompany bankruptcy has largely disappeared. To many, it has become just another financial planning tool.

The Bankruptcy Procedure

Bankruptcy courts are part ofrepparttar 111774 Federal court system. The bankruptcy law itself is a Federal law, althoughrepparttar 111775 states can have their own laws, which govern such things as exemptions. Federal bankruptcy judges apply bothrepparttar 111776 Federal and state laws inrepparttar 111777 jurisdiction where they sit. Debtors sometimes have a choice of which law should apply.

Bankruptcy proceedings are commenced by filing certain required forms and paying a fee. Filling automatically stays all legal proceedings against you as well as all debt collection actions. Fees can be paid in installments, but must be completely paid beforerepparttar 111778 dischare will be granted.

A trustee will be appointed. His job is to review your financial affairs, collect and sell assets, if necessary, and distributerepparttar 111779 proceeds to your creditors. If you are setting up a repayment plan, he will be responsible for seeing it implemented. He will even pursue your debtors to collect money owed you that can be used to pay off your creditors.

The trustee’s powers includerepparttar 111780 power to set aside preferential transfers made to creditors within 90 days beforerepparttar 111781 filing ofrepparttar 111782 bankruptcy petition,repparttar 111783 power to undo security interests and other transfers of property that were not properly recorded under non-bankruptcy law atrepparttar 111784 timerepparttar 111785 petition was filed andrepparttar 111786 power to pursue claims such as fraudulent conveyance and bulk transfer remedies available under state law.

SBA Loans: Qualifying and Applying Part 1 of 2

Written by Cameron Brown


Untitled Document

SBA Loans: Qualifying and Applying

In this first segment of this two-part article we will discuss some ofrepparttar general requirements and application procedures involved in acquiring an SBA loan.

According to federal government research, small businesses provide about 75% ofrepparttar 111767 net new jobs added to America's economy. They also employ fully one-half of America's private sector workforce. 99.7% of all employers inrepparttar 111768 U.S. are small business owners. These statistics make a strong case forrepparttar 111769 existence of a federal organization dedicated torepparttar 111770 promotion and proliferation of small businesses in this country.

In 1953repparttar 111771 United States government establishedrepparttar 111772 Small Business Administration (SBA) as a way of assisting entrepreneurs in forming successful small businesses through government guaranteed loans. Whilerepparttar 111773 SBA does make many small-business loans itself, its primary function is to guaranteerepparttar 111774 small-business loans made by private lenders.

Most SBA loans are secured through any one ofrepparttar 111775 SBA's many licensed partners nationwide. Besides establishing lending guidelines for their partners,repparttar 111776 SBA also ensures reasonable loan terms by guaranteeing major portions ofrepparttar 111777 loan inrepparttar 111778 event of a borrower default. Because ofrepparttar 111779 decreased liability provided byrepparttar 111780 SBA,repparttar 111781 lender is able to offer better interest rates and options to businesses inrepparttar 111782 early stages of development.

Before we get too excited aboutrepparttar 111783 potential benefits of SBA loans, it may be a good idea to first talk about who can potentially qualify. The size of your company obviously plays a large role in securing an SBA loan; after all, this is about 'small business'.

If you run a manufacturing company, its possible to have up to 1,500 employees working for you and still qualify for an SBA loan. Onrepparttar 111784 other hand, depending onrepparttar 111785 type of manufacturing you do, it may be more likely that you'll be limited to 500 employees in order to qualify for loan consideration.



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