Camden NJ Bankruptcy Law Blog

Anyone in New Jersey who has recently paid for college knows that the cost can be very high. Many times when students are unable to fund their education, they seek loans to help. After graduation, repaying those loans can become a burden for many, especially with the rapidly rising cost of tuition.

When faced with unmanageable debt from student loans, a person might consider a filing for personal bankruptcy, however, many may be surprised to learn that their student loan debt is generally not dischargeable in personal bankruptcy under current law.

Yesterday was tax day, and many people in New Jersey and across the United States are certainly looking forward to receiving their tax refunds. While everyone probably has different plans for how to use it, some may be planning to use their tax refunds to pay for a personal bankruptcy filing. According to a new study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, this may hold true for more than 200,000 households nationwide.

Although it may surprise some, filing for bankruptcy can be somewhat expensive, especially due to reforms to U.S. bankruptcy laws passed in 2005, which were meant to deter people who could afford to pay their debt off from filing for bankruptcy. Before the reforms, the average cost of filing was $921. That covered legal and administrative fees. However, by 2007, the cost jumped to $1,477.

New Jersey citizens should not have to deal with unfair or illegal debt collection practices from major banks and creditors. A bankruptcy judge recently handed down a verdict that essentially told Bank of America to be more mindful of those consumers who file a debtor's discharge.

Normally, a debtor's discharge is issued during the course of a personal bankruptcy. The judge recently fined Bank of America $12,500 for legal fees and emotional distress, which a consumer incurred because Bank of America failed to adhere to the rules regarding a debtor's discharge when they called him 38 times after the bank was legally prohibited from doing so.

As the Great Recession has continued to affect people and businesses in New Jersey and elsewhere, foreclosures are increasing in not only personal residences, but also for commercial property as well. Just like many home mortgage holders who increased their loans during the boom years for home improvements, businesses took on increased burdens to expand or pay for property renovations. Now, much like some homeowners, some companies are forced to consider the difficult choice of commercial bankruptcy to stop foreclosure.

Churches in particular are finding that it has become difficult to make mortgage payments, according to reports. Many of the loans taken out by congregations for expansion in the years prior to the recession are now coming due. Unfortunately, many of the members of the church are also suffering economic losses, and churches are finding that donations are down.