My wife has made a huge mistake
This was a post in the Personal Finance Canada sub in Reddit about a gentleman whose wife (unbeknownst to him) had been secretly accumulating credit card debt for the last 5 years. Here is the solution given to him by Victor Fong, our Licensed Insolvency Trustee.
Submitting a consumer proposal to your creditors (Video)
Summary A Licensed Insolvency Trustee explains to Mary and Paul that a consumer proposal might be the way to resolve their financial situation. The trustee tells them how a consumer proposal is different from bankruptcy and what they need to do. Meet Mary. Mary took a job right out of college but recently she has had to take a lot of time off to care for her sick husband, Paul. With reduced income and their debts mounting, they are now considering bankruptcy. Their first step was to visit a Licensed Insolvency Trustee, a professional who is licensed by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada. To their surprise, the…
How To Deal with Credit Card Debt
In theory, the process for paying off your credit card debt is rather simple: Review the annual interest rates on all of your credit cards. Focus your financial resources on paying off the credit card balance with the highest rate of interest while maintaining the minimum payments on your other credit card balances. Once the credit card balance with highest interest rate has been paid in full, repeat step 2 for the credit card balance with the next highest interest rate. Repeat this process until all your credit card balances are paid in full. What if you don’t have the financial resources to do this because your income is too…
Consumer Proposal or Home Equity Loan – Which is Better?
If you are struggling with high interest credit card debt or balancing multiple loan payments every month you may be looking for a way to consolidate your debt into your home mortgage, a second mortgage or a home equity loan. This assumes that the equity in your home is greater than what you owe. But you need to ask yourself, is this the best option or are there other options that are better? Before going to your bank, mortgage broker or a credit counsellor, you should consider seeing a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (“LIT”) to talk about a consumer proposal. A consumer proposal is a way to combine your unsecured debts…
Replacing your Licensed Insolvency Trustee
So you’ve filed your personal bankruptcy or consumer proposal with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee but for whatever reason, you haven’t been happy with the service you’ve received. Is it possible to replace your Trustee? This will depend on the type of engagement you’re currently undergoing. CONSUMER PROPOSAL Your proposal hasn’t yet been approved If you’ve filed a consumer proposal and it’s been deemed approved by your creditors and the bankruptcy court (i.e., it’s been more than 60 days since the day your proposal was filed and no meeting of creditors has been called), then you’re stuck with your Trustee. However, if your consumer proposal has not yet been deemed approved…
How will a Trump Presidency affect you? A guide for Canadians
TRUMP PRESIDENCY – INTRODUCTION As we head into the year 2017, we are faced with the possible consequences of a Trump Presidency; consequences that will reverberate throughout the world. Trump will certainly have an impact of the geopolitical landscape, but the economic impact of his administration will be even more acute, particularly within countries with high levels of household debt. One of the most significant impacts of “Trumponomics” will be on interest rates. President Trump has promised a massive infrastructure rebuilding program in the United States of $1 Trillion dollars. This has already had an impact on the bond market – yields have increased due to expectations of inflation. This…
How creditors approve consumer proposals
When a consumer proposal is filed by a Licensed Insolvency Trustee with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (“OSB”), the trustee will send a copy of the proposal to your creditors for their review and evaluation. Your creditors have 45 days from the date your proposal was filed with the OSB to contact your trustee and file the following legal documents: a proof of claim – this a statement signed by the creditor (and witnessed) with supporting documentation indicating that the creditor is owed money by you. a voting letter – this is a document indicating that the creditor shall be : voting in favour of the consumer proposal…
The Flexibility of Consumer Proposals
Yesterday, I met with a lady by the name of Dawn (not her real name). Dawn is a single mother of two daughters – 14 years and 18 years old respectively. She earns a salary of $40,000 per year and has about $60,000 in credit card debt. Dawn considered filing for personal bankruptcy, however, the problem was that she had a Registered Education Savings Plan with a balance of about $8,000. If she were to file for bankruptcy, she would lose the RESP in the bankruptcy proceedings. So in the alternative, she wanted to facilitate a debt settlement with her creditors through a consumer proposal. The problem was that Dawn…
Who is eligible to file a consumer proposal or personal bankruptcy?
To answer your question: who is eligible to file a consumer proposal or personal bankruptcy? Let’s look at a case study – I just met with a very nice gentleman today in our Brampton location – let’s call him Jake (not his real name). Jake had $12,000 in credit card debt and he was unable to make his monthly minimum payments because he just lost his job. He is now self-employed selling scrap metal, but this does not provide him with a steady income. Jake contacted our office to inquire about filing a consumer proposal so he can make a settlement with the credit card companies. Upon inquiring him further,…
Case Study: the Student
Kerri (not her real name) was a third-year student enrolled at York University working towards the completion of her psychology degree. She had accumulated credit card debt since her first year of university after applying for a credit card on campus. She had $12,000 in credit card debt. In addition to this, she also had $10,000 in government student loan debts under OSAP. As Kerri was still a student, she was well aware that there was nothing we can do about her student loan debt. Under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, student loans granted under a provincial or federal program cannot be extinguished unless a debtor has been out of…
