Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Americans spent more - but earned less - in January, say Chicago bankruptcy attorneys.

Personal spending was up 0.5 percent in the first month of 2010, according to The Commerce Department. That would seem to bode well for economic recovery, except that incomes in January rose by just 0.1 percent, much less than what economists had predicted - and the worst rate in four months.

There's good and bad news. First, the bad. As a result of more spending and less money, the savings rate has dropped. Last year Americans saved 4.3 of our incomes - the highest rate in over 10 years - but in January we only saved 3.3 percent. We might be spending more now, but without raises (and in some cases, jobs) we could eventually run out of steam, stifling economic recovery. But here's the happy news. Our savings rate is still a huge improvement over the negative rate we had before the Great Recession. And hopefully we can keep it up by slowing our spending to match our incomes.

I know it's not easy, especially when the recession - and the threat of layoffs and foreclosure - drags on. But there are ways to make saving money a little easier.

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Say Americans Spend More But Earn Less" »

So you lost your job last year and picked up some unemployment benefits. Once you find employment, you're out of the woods, right?

Not necessarily, say Chicago bankruptcy attorneys. Unemployment benefits sure come in handy when you need to put food on the table. But they can also cost you. As it turns out, unemployment benefits are taxable after the first $2,400 - or $4,800 per married couple. After that amount, you'd better start treating those payments as income, because they'll be taxed that way. Not sure how much you received last year? You should receive a Form 1099-G in the mail, which you'll need to report on your 1040.

Fortunately, there are ways to offset some of the damage - and not just of unemployment benefits, but of any surprise tax.

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Recommend Cash Cushion For Tax Season" »

If you look hard enough, you can always find some good news to temper the bad.

This week's depressing newsflash informed us that employers cut 20,000 jobs last month - more than economists expected, and enough to threaten a recent dip in unemployment and shake up the stock market, according to Chicago bankruptcy attorneys.

The good news? Getting that loan might not be so difficult. Banks have are finally stopped tightening the standards they've been placing on most loans - a sign that credit woes might finally be easing. And according to the Fed, far fewer banks believe the value of the loans they hold will continue to deteriorate. Of course, this doesn't mean banks are easing up on any of the restrictions already put in place - but you can't win them all.

Economic recovery might not be happening overnight, though it is likely in the works. But you can use this time to your advantage. Why not get your finances back in shape so when the economy does pick up, your luck will, too?

Continue reading "Layoffs Increase While Credit Troubles Improve, Say Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys" »

Remember the days when lenders would look at your credit score to determine whether you were a risk? It was so much simpler back then.

So what's changed? Social networking was invented. By now, most us use - or are at least familiar with - Facebook. And so are lenders, creditors and employers, who are increasingly looking up applicants online to see what comes up, according to Chicago bankruptcy attorneys.

Obviously, it's not going to bode well for you if they see photos of you kicking back cocktails and dancing on tables at your favorite club. You say it's unfair to judge you for what you do on your own time? You have a point, but wait, it gets worse. They also check out your friends. The idea is, responsible people might choose responsible pals. That means whether or not you get that loan might rest not just on the level of your debt, but on whether or not your best friend forever posted those pics from her bachelorette party.

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Warn Social Networking Could Affect Your Credit" »

Bad news for married women (or good news for men): wives are no longer seeing the economic returns that they once did from marriage, Chicago bankruptcy attorneys say.

On the upside, women have come a lot way since 1970 and earlier, back when marriage meant a significant boost in income courtesy of their husband. We've surpassed our male counterparts in both education and salary over the past four decades. More men than ever are married to women who earn more than they do and, vice versa, more women are married to men who earn less. In fact, nearly one-quarter of women earn more than their husbands today, compared to a measly 4 percent in 1970, according to the Associated Press.

But there's still a major inequity. Though we've been increasing our earning power, women are still earning just 78 cents for every dollar a man takes home. And much of that hard-earned income is going to bills for debt.

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Say Marriage No Longer Means Economic Benefits for Women" »

The recent recession did more than change our finances - it also changed out attitudes, according to Chicago bankruptcy attorneys. And that's a good thing.

Many of us are vowing to make 2010 the year we finally find freedom from debt. And our new treatment of money means some of us have a head start we didn't even know about. How did it happen? Many Americans lost work hours or changed jobs in the past year or so. But instead of simply cutting back by the amount we gave up in salary, we've been changing our lifestyles. We're doing more with less.

Yes, some of us are working longer hours to make ends meet, but the vast majority are filling some of that extra time with not looking for new work, but finding new hobbies - cooking more at home, starting a backyard garden, taking classes at the local community college, reading books, checking out museums and other cool stuff in our hometowns, getting outside or - here's a novel idea - actually spending quality time with our families. Crazy, I know. Fortunately, there's a way to balance our new lease on life with debt-free future - bankruptcy.

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Explain How the Recession Is Helping Us Live Better with Less Money" »

Good news on the job front. With the economy picking up steam, employers are again warming up to the idea of raises, bonuses and 401k matches, according to USA Today.

It's a welcome change going into the new year. But it also brings up a couple good points.

First, getting a boost from your boss is not a given. As the article pointed out, 40 percent of employers said they plan to review salaries based on employee performance next year, according to a Towers Perrin survey. You might already know this, but a poor economy is no time to be slacking off. Nor is an improving economy, as businesses might be preparing to hire again - and there are plenty of experienced, educated and job-hungry candidates flooding the market.

Second, and maybe most important, a raise doesn't necessarily mean more money. As a wise old man once said, it's not the size of your wallet that counts, but the way you spend it.

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyers Say Workers Could See Rise in Raises and Benefits" »

Remember that stimulus package the government enacted back in February? Well, apparently Uncle Sam got a little too generous.

It's just been announced that up to 15 million taxpayers could owe some of that stimulus money back next year. Why? Under the Making Work Pay tax credit, most working Americans had less withheld on their paychecks, resulting in extra take-home pay of about $60 a month. But when the government changed its withholding tables for the new system, it didn't factor in things like whether someone was married to a working spouse, held more than one job, was retired with income taxes withheld on their pension or was a college student still being claimed as a dependent on their parents' taxes.

So let's say you have two jobs, each one earning at least $20,000. That means you could have been credited twice - and will owe half of that money back to the government on your income taxes. If you're owed a tax refund, that refund will simply be reduced. But if you owe taxes, you'll also have to pay all that stimulus money back to Uncle Sam come April. Fortunately, there's a way to help ease the pain of such nasty surprises.

Continue reading "Some Employees May Have to Pay Stimulus Money Back" »

It's official. For the first time since maybe the Great Depression, a generation is making less than our parents.

People 54 and younger have seen their incomes decline since 2000, leaving the age group the poorest it's been since the 1970s, according to a report by USA Today. And it's not fresh-faced college grads facing the worst of the pay hurdle. Surprisingly, the hardest hit seem to be folks in their late 20s, early 30s, and 40s - people who have a little to a lot of experience under their belts.

Older workers are actually seeing an increase in earnings, but not because they've somehow managed to escape the effects of the recession. Instead, it's assumed that hard times are forcing older generations to put a hold on retirement. So they continue working into their golden years, and push us younger folks out of the workplace while they're at it.

Combine all this with the latest unemployment rates and you get a pretty depressing picture. But there are two sides to every story.

Continue reading "Younger Generation Sees Smaller Paychecks" »

Labor Day weekend is fast approaching but, for many of us, labor has already been on the brain for months. Nearly 10% of Americans are unemployed. Many more are worried we could become unemployed. Some of us are working more than one job just to make ends meet. And I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that nearly all of us are feeling underappreciated in terms of payment.

Despite the fact that labor productivity - the amount of work output employees provide per hour - rose at the fastest pace in six years, employers just aren't ready to start giving raises. Instead, they're pumping that extra money back into their suffering businesses. But while you can't really blame a business owner for trying to survive right now, the lack of income takes a toll on the economy. Without higher pay in return for that higher productivity, consumer spending won't be able to increase - making recovery slower and more difficult. It's an unfortunate cycle.

But just because your boss isn't giving you a raise any time soon doesn't mean you have to go without. Why not reward yourself this Labor Day? Give yourself a raise.

Continue reading "Give Yourself a Raise This Labor Day By Reducing Your Debts" »

The foreclosure saga continues. This week, the Washington Post reported that unemployment has officially overtaken subprime mortgages as the leading cause of foreclosure. An estimated 1.8 million homeowners could lose their house to the bank this year, compared to last year's 1.4 million.

Folks without jobs have an extra hard time qualifying for loan modification (so much for the federal government's modification program). As if that's not bad enough, lenders like to tack on late fees for delinquent borrowers - so that when they do find work again, they have to pay a lot more than just their missed mortgages.

But that's enough negativity for one post. How about some good news? Here it goes - even if you're dealing with unemployment, you still don't have to give up your house!

What's the catch? You need to act fast.

Continue reading "Bankruptcy Can Protect the Unemployed From Foreclosure, Advise Chicago Attorneys" »

Become a mystery shopper and earn $7,000 a month! Work from home doing data entry for $10,000 a month! If you believed everything you read in the classifieds, you'd think that our economy has more jobs that it can fill. Not only that, but we'd all be stinkin' rich because everything pays so well.

Unfortunately, what sounds too good to be true usually is. Most work-from-home advertisements are actually scams set to take advantage of a workforce already reeling from furloughs and layoffs, lost retirement funds, rising prices and decreasing home values. These tricksters know you're looking for ways to make ends meet and they're betting that your desperation will outweigh your good judgment.

So how can you tell the legit offers from the fishy ones? Watch out for any job that requires money or personal information upfront.

Continue reading "Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyers Caution Against Work From Home Scams" »

The recent economic news seems to be straight out of a movie - the good, the bad and the ugly.

This morning, for instance, I read about soaring stocks, falling jobless claims and the Fed's prediction that the economy could start to recover by the end of the year. Ah, things must be getting better, I thought. Finally!

Minutes later, I noticed headlines about growing unemployment - Illinois, for instance, just hit 10.3 percent in June, more than 3 percent higher than June 2008 and larger than the current national average of 9.5 percent. OK, I thought, so maybe things aren't looking up quite yet. Because of this unemployment (which, according to another article, is actually higher than reported because it doesn't take into account furloughs, people who have given up looking for work and lack of raises) the housing market - and thus the economy - seems unlikely to make a comeback anytime soon.

Who do you believe?

Continue reading "Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Recommend Taking Action to Stop Debt" »

An air of fear has permeated workplaces across the country in recent months as rumors of downsizing and layoffs put workers on edge. It's hard not to question your job stability when you see the jobs of family, friends and maybe even co-workers falling like dominoes all around you.

But if you're worried about losing your job, this isn't the time to cower in your cubicle. Layoffs might be likely, but they are not inevitable. While you should still be prepared for the worst-case scenario, don't give up and expect it. If you want your job, be prepared to fight for it.

Get noticed...in a good way
Some of us - maybe women especially - are masters at flying under the radar. We do our job - and we do it well - but we don't shine. I'm guilty as anyone. Left to my natural instincts, I'll share credit with my co-workers, stay quiet in meetings and let my self-consciousness get in the way of asking for a raise. It's something that I've worked hard to overcome my entire career. I think awareness is key. Remind yourself that your boss manages more than just you. If you want her to realize you're an asset, you might have to hit her over the head (figuratively speaking, of course).

Continue reading "Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyers Offer Tips for Keeping Your Job in a Recession" »