If you are living in Wisconsin and need help saving your home due to a foreclosure, call Miller and Miller today. With offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha our attorneys are close by for everyone in the Milwaukee metro area.  And if you don’t live in Southeastern Wisconsin, call us anyway as we serve all of Wisconsin.

If you live in Wisconsin and need advice on how to handle a foreclosure, call Miller and Miller today. With offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha, our attorneys are close by whether you live in Waukesha, Racine, or another part of Wisconsin.

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!

Question: Three years ago — fresh out of grad school, with new jobs and lots of optimism — my husband and I bought a beautiful house that we love. Trouble is, we spent too much money. Now, our mortgage consumes nearly all of our monthly income, leaving us very little to save for retirement, our kids’ college funds or do the things we love such as traveling. We both work for non-profits and like our jobs, so the prospect of increasing our incomes significantly isn’t really there. We’re quite frugal, so there aren’t too many places to cut back. The good news is: We’re not underwater (according to our tax assessment) and we can make our mortgage payments and pay our bills. That said, if we had an emergency, lost a job or had a big home repair, we’d be in trouble.

The question, then, is: Should we cut our losses, try to sell and buy something cheaper? In our accounting, after the realtor fees, etc., we’d probably end up netting about what we owe and lose the about 10 percent equity we have. Is that crazy? Over the long-term, we think about all we could do with the difference between our current mortgage payment and what we’d pay on a house that was, say, $100,000 cheaper, and it seems to make sense. We’d love to hear your advice. Thank you! Julia, St. Paul, MN

Answer: In reading your email, I think you’ve already answered your question: You’re going to move into a cheaper place. It isn’t a crazy move at all. It’s a smart long-term move. House-poor is no way to live. A lesson of the turbulent economy of the past several years is everyone needs to create a margin of financial safety for their household. I applaud what you’re doing, and if I were in your circumstances, I’d be thinking along the same lines.

When it comes to homes, small(er) is financially beautiful. The mortgage is less. So are insurance, taxes, heating, cooling bills and other costs of ownership. These cost savings compound over time.

To me, the real issue you face is timing. When do you make your move?

What I would do to concretely grapple with that question is to start a serious look for the kind of home you’d like in your new price range and in neighborhoods you want to live in. Go to open houses. Hire a real estate agent. Visit homes for sale. You want to see what you can really get in the current market for the amount of money you’re thinking of investing. I would also see what you need to do to get your place ready for sale. What are homes like yours going for in the market?

You can then run actual numbers to see how you’ll stack up financially moving from where you are and into a cheaper place. You can see whether you might lose your down payment. You can weigh short-term costs vs. the long-term gains. And so on.

At the end of this research and number-crunching exercise, you might decide to wait another year. Then again, you might find the right place at a great price and the trade-offs to get there are worth it. With research, you’ll make an informed decision about the timing.

If you live in Southeastern Wisconsin, feel free to visit us for a free consultation at one of our offices in Milwaukee, Kenosha, or Germantown. We can help you to understand your options if you are looking for ways to save your home in Wisconsin.  Call us today at 414-277-7742!

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But in the modern world of finance, it is possible to get post-bankruptcy loans to repair credit ratings and begin the rebuilding process to a stronger financial status. In fact, it is that the credit rating improvement is the purpose of the loan that can lead to approval.

Still, there remains an acute risk to lenders that approval unsecured loans after bankruptcy, and for that reason the term can sometimes be debilitating. Higher interest rates may be expected, but with the advent of the internet, and the online lenders that can be found on it, the heavily increased rates do not need to be accepted.

Strategies To Recover After Bankruptcy

While bankruptcy might not be the end of the road, recovering from it does require starting again. This is where a small unsecured personal loan can come in so useful. However a loan is not the only strategy to choose, with low interest credit cards and dedicated saving helping the cause also.

Getting post-bankruptcy loans to repair credit ratings is admirable, but often the starting point is actually in building a savings account. In getting together a lump sum, a lender can see a committed attitude when a loan is finally applied for.

It can also help in securing a low interest secured credit card, with a small credit limit. This is necessary mainly due to the fact that our society is credit card orientated, but by making credit card repayments on time, a history of repayment is built up. So when it comes to applying for unsecured loans after bankruptcy, there is an indication of good financial habits.

If you need to file bankruptcy and you want honest answers please call Attorney James Miller at 414-277-7742 to discuss your bankruptcy options.  The Law Firm of Miller and Miller serves all Wisconsin communities including those in Kenosha, West Bend, Germantown, Waukesha, Racine, Brookfield, Ozaukee, Mequon, Menomonee Falls, West Allis, South Milwaukee, Okauchee and Madison.

 
Section 523 of the Bankruptcy Code sets out a number of situations in which credit card debt will not be discharged. Section 523(a)(2)( c) makes non-dischargeable consumer debt totaling more than $500 for luxury goods and services owed to any one creditor that are incurred within 90 days of filing, or cash advances totaling $750 or more owed to any one creditor made within 70 days of filing.

 
Section 523(a)(2) makes non-dischargeable debt owed to a creditor that was incurred by false pretenses or by fraud.

 
So to sum it up, Section 523 gives credit cards at least two arguments to challenge a Debtor:
1. Recent credit card use (within 3 months) for anything but necessities like food, clothing and shelter
2. Any credit card use in the recent past (up to a year prior to filing) if a Debtor makes charges where there is no reasonable expectation of repayment.

 
Here’s another way to think about it: If you have lost your job, and for the last year your only source of support are credit cards and cash advances, you should not expect to avoid a challenge by the credit card issuer just because you wait 91 days after your last use of your cards.

 
What, then, should you do if you need to buy food or gasoline in the weeks before you actually file?

You should recognize that shortly after you file, there is a very good chance that your credit cards will all be canceled and you are going to have to find another way to pay for your food and gasoline. A bankruptcy may eliminate old debt but it will not help you pay your current or on-going bills.

 
As a practical matter you are not going to want to spend the money litigating Section 523 dischargeability actions. Bankruptcy litigation is expensive and if you are scraping to buy food and gasoline, you will not be able to afford litigation. The fee you pay your bankruptcy lawyer will almost never include litigation.

 
If you are in Southeastern Wisconsin and are having trouble with your credit card debt, contact Miller and Miller today. We have offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha, making sure that whether you live in Racine or Waukesha, you have a office close to home.

Over at the MintLife Blog they recently had a great article on overpriced children’s items. After getting a fresh start through bankruptcy it is important to look for ways to keep costs down so that you are able to build a strong financial future. We all want to give the world to our children, but if you can do that while saving a buck it’s even better.

Read that article here.

Everyday people in the Milwaukee area are learning how to get out of financial trouble by meeting with one of our attorneys.  Miller and Miller has offices in Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Germantown to ensure that wherever you are in Southeastern Wisconsin, we’re close. 

Call us today at 414-277-7742 and schedule your free consultation!