Posts Tagged ‘Debts’
It can be a daunting task to right the ship when faced with a foreclosure, however, there are options for those of you in this situation. Miller & Miller has helped thousands of Wisconsin families save their homes and get a financial fresh start. Click on this link to read a story from Yahoo! Finance on how three families fought to save their homes.
With offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha, our attorneys are close by if you live in Wisconsin and need advice you can count on. Call us today!
All too often, clients come into our office, review their credit report, and are shocked to see what is listed. Sometimes this is because there are old items that have been forgotten, but another culprit is identity theft.
As the web has evolved, so have criminals and their tactics. With websites that look similar to name brand sites, con artists can pluck information as consumers enter what they believe is a legitimate site. Once someone has stolen your identity and injured your credit score, it can be challenging to repair the damage.
“Everything is done online these days,” says Identity Theft Resource Center Social Media Coordinator Nicki Junker. “Most of the time the victims of cyber-savvy criminals won’t be able to trace where the identity theft — a crime that has seen double-digit increases in the last five years — happened.”
Identity theft often goes unnoticed until it’s too late and the damage has already been done. In 2010, around 8.6 million households had at least one person who was a victim of identity theft, up from 6.4 million households in 2005, according to a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Identity theft cost U.S. households about $13.3 billion in 2010, with the average loss being about $2,200.
Consumers can, however, take precautions to safeguard themselves and their identities while shopping online. Junker offers five ways to protect yourself online:
1. Confirm the site is legit: Before giving any personal information, check the URL to make sure that you’re still on the same site where you plan to make your purchases and that you haven’t been moved over to a fake one. Junker said sometimes consumers are switched over to a “cyber squatter’s” site that looks similar to a retailer’s site. It’s easy to be tricked into giving up credit card and other personal information.
2. Shop securely: When you start to check out and get ready to pay for your purchases, the URL should start with “https,” which means the site is secure. A secure site uses security technology to encrypt the information you send to the site, meaning computer hackers are stopped from collecting the data as it crosses the Web. You can also look for a closed yellow padlock at the bottom of the screen. If you see an open lock, you can assume that the site is not secure.
3. Use credit cards: Federal credit laws limit the amount a con artist can take on a credit card. Debit cards don’t have the same protections. “If they have a debit card, they can clear you out,” Junker explains. “You’re much better protected using a credit card than a debit card.”
4. Google the retailer: Before buying from a website, type in the retailer’s name and the word “scam” or “complaint” into a search engine. It’s a way to check out a retailer to see if the business is legit or not.
5. Explore the site: Can you find where the company’s office is located? Does the site clearly state a refund policy? Does it promise too much? “If it sounds too good to be true, it isn’t,” Junker warns. Take your time and make sure nothing seems out of whack or iffy.
Shopping online is a convenient way to avoid store crowds and traffic. By following these web-savvy tips, your shopping experience can be safe and convenient. If you are living in Milwaukee-Waukesha-Racine area, the attorneys at Miller and Miller can help you to repair and rebuild your credit if you think there are errors. Call us at 414-277-7742 today!
Bankruptcy doesn’t usually happen in a vacuum. There is usually some type of personal crisis going on when folks enter into bankruptcy, something that tips them over the edge and makes bankruptcy unavoidable.
While many bankruptcies are caused by uncontrolled spending, divorce, job loss, or unexpected disasters, probably the biggest cause of bankruptcy is burdensome medical expenses, according to a Harvard University study. Another recent study by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which examined data from a Washington state bankruptcy court records and a National Cancer Institute registry over a 14-year period, found that bankruptcy rates among those diagnosed with cancer were almost twice as high after one year than they were among the general population.
According to the study, 2.1 percent of individual cancer patients sought personal bankruptcy protection in the years following a cancer diagnosis. Those diagnosed with lung and thyroid cancers, and leukemia and lymphoma were most likely to file for bankruptcy one year, two years, or five years after their diagnosis. 7.7 percent of lung cancer patients eventually filed for bankruptcy, according to the study. Cancer patients least likely to file for bankruptcy were those over 65, who typically have Medicare coverage.
The recent study was not the only one to have looked at the connection between According to a Harvard study of personal bankruptcies filed in 2007, 62 percent of filings are caused by costly medical problems. Perhaps more interesting, though, is that 78 percent of filers in 2007 had medical insurance at the beginning of their illness, 60 percent being covered by private coverage.
Bankruptcy is an all-or-nothing proposition. That is to say, you don’t file bankruptcy on any particular debt, you file bankruptcy on all the debts you owe at the point in time that you are filing. You may reaffirm on certain secured debts, but for the most part you may not pick and choose the debts you keep and the debts that are discharged. If you must pick and choose, there are other options available, such as Chapter 128.