The Office of the Superintendant of Bankruptcy, recently released the statistics for the first 6 months of 2011. In Vaughan there were 253 consumer insolvencies (personal bankruptcies and consumer proposals). There were 277 filings in the first 6 months of 2010, which represents a 9 % decline in consumer insolvencies filings.
What is interesting about these numbers is the number of consumer proposals are still on the rise. Of the 253 filings, 151 were consumer proposals. This represents 60% of the filings. This is mostly due to the new bankruptcy rules that came into effect on September 18, 2009. These changes have increased the length of time and costs for some bankruptcy filings. I noticed this trend last year and I discussed it in more detail in a pervious blog. If you would like to read it please see this blog link.
Rather then bore you with more statistics, and analysis I want to talk to you about something that might be of more use to you. I want to talk about a woman I met about a year ago. I do not want to use her real name, so I will call her Mary. When Mary came into my office, after our brief introductions she said, “I need to go bankrupt I don’t have any other options”
Well I said to Mary, “You may decide your best option is bankruptcy, but it is not your only option. Even doing nothing is an option.” I then started to gather her information together. Mary had recently been through a divorce and had two children who were 7 years and 9 years old. She and her ex-spouse recently lost their home to the bank. The bank sold the house but there was a shortfall of $14,000. She also had line of credit which was joint with her spouse. They owed $20,000. She also had a credit card from her bank and some department store cards which represented another $5,000 in debt.
Mary said when she was with her ex, money was tight but they could manage. However after they separated they could no longer make ends meet and in fact her husband had filed bankruptcy. She said that is when the bank called about the line of credit that she had co-signed with her ex. She said “I owe $40,000 in total and there is no way I can pay it back, I need to go bankrupt just like my ex”.
I let Mary know there were other options but I would need some more information about her assets and income. After looking into her situation further, we determined that her older vehicle was worth less than $5,650 which means she would keep it if she filed bankruptcy as certain assets are exempt. She had no other significant assets which she could use to help eliminate the debt.
Finally after working on her budget we determined that she had $4,100 in monthly income (Employment income, support and child tax benefit) she had monthly child care expenses of $800 per month. All her other expenses such as rent, insurance, groceries and utilities were about $3,000 per month. That left about $300 a month to service her debt.
That’s when I said she may want to consider a consumer proposal. I explained that a consumer proposal is a formal process in which you make a legal settlement with creditors and avoid bankruptcy. I suggested trying a proposal that would pay the creditors $15,000. ($250 per month over 60 months) which would like be accepted by the majority of her creditors because it would be more then they would get in a bankruptcy.
It is now a year later and Mary’s proposal has been accepted and she has been doing great. She even recently sent me an email thanking the Vaughan office for our friendly service and expertise. She said “she didn’t know anything about a consumer proposal prior to our meeting, but is now sure that it was the right option for her.”
I never expect an email thanking me for doing my job, but I must admit it did make my day. If you are in financial trouble and would like someone to sit down with you and explain all your options including a consumer proposal, someone at our office would be more than happy to do so. You can send us an email or you can fill out our online evaluation. And you can always give us a call at 310-7526 (no area code required) or 905-856-2930.
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So i’m unsure as to why but this specific website is reloading incredibly sluggish to me. Is everybody else having this particular trouble or possibly has it been a trouble on my computer? I’ll try to look at it at a later time and then determine if your problem continues to occur.
You are first to comment on this issue, but I will look into it. Thank you for reading.
You have to pay them off. You will need to write a letter if you are being sued and tell them how [usually a money order so they dont have acsces to your account info] and when you will pay. As far as them being in collections you can make arrangements if you desire but be sure to stick to them or you will be sued again
if you have never filed bankrupcy you can file but its very bad to do cause your cirdet is ruined for life ,you should look around and get one co to put them all together and make one pyt. they will work with you and give you a low pyt that you can afford.
A bankruptcy is on your credit report for 7 years after you have been discharged. Bankruptcy is never your first option. However if you are overextend and cannot afford to pay back your creditors, Bankruptcy is a good way to clean up your debts and get a fresh start.