Tag: fresh start

A Resolution

in Bankruptcy, Credit and Credit Cards

The new year always brings new challenges, fresh hopes and resolutions to make life better and more fulfilling. Life comes at you fast as these last two years of living under a global pandemic have taught us.  Things change fast and often for unexpected reasons.  One thing that we all know about life is that we need to face our challenges head on and take control of the situation.  

Make a Resolution

One of the most troubling situations we find ourselves in is debt.  We have repeatedly discussed the harmful effect debt can have on our physical and mental health. Debt also keeps us from getting ahead in life.  If you’re constantly scraping and clawing to make minimum payments on credit cards or you’re in over your head on auto, boat or RV payments, you’re never going to be able to save for retirement or leave a nest egg for your loved ones when the time comes.  

More Americans got into debt this holiday season than in previous years.  Nearly 1 in 3 Americans spent an average of more than $1,200 more than they could afford.  Most of that spending was covered by credit card usage.  

The Reality of Debt

What does that mean for the 33% that spent that much more than they could afford?  First of all, in the short term, it means struggling to make higher payments. In the long term, it means less money to save for the future.  

The average American household carries around $6,100 in revolving (credit card) debt.  Add to that an extra $1,200 and suddenly an average monthly minimum goes from around $250 a month to nearly $300.  Add to that the nearly 1 extra year of payments and nearly $2,000 more in finance charges and you have a real problem on your hands.  

If you invested that same $2,000 in finance charges and the $50 a month payment increase in an interest bearing account, over the same amount of time, you’d have over $12,000 in savings. If you took that same $7,300 and invested it and made a $300 a month contribution to your savings, you’d have 67,000 over the same time period.  

Now What?

So, Amanda, what’s your point? 

My point is this.  

Make a resolution to do something about your debt.  

Bankruptcy is the most absolute way to rid yourself of debt that’s ruining your life and keeping you from saving for the future.  

Bankruptcy stops the phone calls, harassing letters and lawsuits. 

It eliminates debts either through a Chapter 7 fresh start or a Chapter 13 consolidation plan. 

If you take control now, you’ll have more time to save for the future, lead a less stressful life and have more security. 

When you’re ready to keep that new year’s resolution, call us.  We’re here to help.

New Year, New You!

in Bankruptcy

New Year, New You! It’s a cliche really.  Every year we all make those ridiculous new year’s resolutions.  I’m going to lose weight, I’m going to get in shape, I’m going to eat better, I’m going back to school.  We all want to better ourselves in the new year because we view it as a fresh start, an opportunity to change our lives for the better.  Most of us don’t change our habits unfortunately and because of that we just fall back into the same old routine that we’ve lived in for the better part of our lives.  We don’t go back to school, we join the gym but we stop going after three weeks, we go out and buy the health food and it ends up rotting in our fridge.  We are, unfortunately, creatures of habit.  But we don’t have to be.  

189,000,000.  That’s a large number.  That’s more than half of the United States.  That’s also the number of people who have a credit card in the United States. The average person carries more than $8,000 in credit card debt alone and as a whole, consumers in the U.S. have more than 13 TRILLION dollars of consumer debt.  While the majority of that debt is tied up in our homes via mortgages, credit card debt and auto loans total nearly 3 Trillion dollars.  That’s almost enough to run the entire government of the United States of America for a year.  With all that debt floating around out there, it’s no wonder people find themselves in trouble and find their nest eggs shrinking and their ability to fund even basic life expenses severely limited. 

New Year, New You can apply to a lot of things in your life.  One thing that people often put off is a change in their financial habits. Money is hard and like anything that’s hard, most people just want to keep the status quo.  We go along, making our minimum payments to keep people off our backs.  By doing that though, we never really get ahead.  We keep trudging along with the heavy weight of debt tied around our necks.  Keeping us up at night, keeping us stressed, keeping us unhealthy and keeping us from bettering ourselves.  

We want to help.  The attorneys at Harmon and Gorove have decades of experience using the bankruptcy laws to help people clean up their finances and get their lives back on track.  If you really are all about the New Year, New You, start with your wallet.  It’s a step in the right direction and it isn’t nearly as painful as that stairmaster at the gym.