Virtual versus In-Person Bankruptcy Consultation
Pre-pandemic Consultations Pre-pandemic, a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (“LIT”) was required to see all debtors in person prior to them filing a bankruptcy or proposal. The LIT had to perform an in-person assessment of the debtor’s financial situation and discuss the merits and consequences of possible solutions, the rights and responsibilities of the debtor, surplus income requirements, discharge, etc. Post-pandemic Consultations When COVID hit, the Office [...]
Why it’s important to be discharged from a bankruptcy
Filing an assignment in bankruptcy legally stays (stops) your unsecured creditors from pursuing you for collection until your trustee is discharged. Your discharge from bankruptcy relieves you from your responsibility to pay your unsecured creditors (other than those that survive a bankruptcy like support, alimony, fraud, etc.). Surprisingly, some people take the hard step of filing a bankruptcy and then don’t complete their statutory duties [...]
Settling debts on your own versus filing a consumer proposal
If you have fallen a couple of months behind on your minimum monthly payments, your creditors have likely sent your debt to a collection agency. The collection agency will make every attempt to get you to pay the debt, with multiple telephone calls trying to convince you to get the money from family or a loan from another source. Collection agencies get paid if they [...]
What happens if I can no longer pay my consumer proposal?
When you filed your consumer proposal to your creditors, you couldn’t possibly have imagined the world would be affected by a pandemic, followed by rising interest rates and increased cost of living. The reason you filed the proposal was to enable you to compromise your debt at a monthly amount you could afford. If circumstances have resulted in you being unable to continue your monthly [...]
What happens to debts that have been co-signed in a bankruptcy or proposal?
The purpose of filing an assignment in bankruptcy or consumer proposal is to provide you relief from your overwhelming debt. On filing statutory documents, a stay of proceedings kicks in that stops unsecured creditors from continuing any action to collect their debt. A garnishment of wages will stop and collection calls will cease. On completing your bankruptcy or proposal, you are then relieved from [...]
Check Your Credit Report with These Credit Reporting Agencies in Ontario
It is recommended that you check your credit report at least once a year for accuracy and to identify any fraudulent activity. There are two major credit reporting agencies in Ontario – Equifax Canada and Trans Union Canada. Checking one agency and then following up with the other after six months will enable you to detect any fraudulent activity more quickly. You can obtain a [...]