Category: Insolvency News

COLLECTION CALLS CAN BE VERY ANNOYING

September 5, 2017

Proposals or bankruptcies can help stop them. We service London, Chatham, Sarnia, Woodstock and Windsor – when you need help we are there! Even though Collection Agencies are regulated some seem to play close to the line with the frequency of telephone calls and the volume of demand letters. It’s hard to go it alone, […]

Read more

IMAGINE HOW SOCIETY WOULD CHANGE

September 5, 2017

If 70% of Canadian families could be supported on one income It’s not an unrealistic ideal in the early 1970s at least 70% of Canadian families were supported on a single income.  Women had been in the workforce right up until the end of the second world war then during the baby-boom years of the […]

Read more

RSPs, Investments and Debts

September 5, 2017

Strange bedfellows on the face of it but there is a strong adverse relationship between savings and debt. For several decades Canadians had great retirement opportunities through many larger employers, mostly manufacturing and other industrial companies with union negotiated pensions. Unfortunately, during the past 2-3 decades those opportunities have been eroded at an alarming rate. […]

Read more

Canadians struggle to live without debt

September 5, 2017

Job stability and income are both in decline but the use of debt continues to increase. A saving grace for some Canadians has been the recent surge in real estate values, but that value increase can create a deeper debt problem for many others. Moving unsecured debt from credit cards and lines of credit to […]

Read more

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO GO BANKRUPT?

September 5, 2017

And why should I pay anyway? One of the primary considerations for people contemplating bankruptcy is cost.  If you call around it seems that trustee fees are all very similar but are they? The average cost for a (no-asset and no-surplus income) bankruptcy seems to range between $1,800 -$2,400 but that is not always the […]

Read more

BANKRUPTCY – THE PROCESS

September 5, 2017

This blog provides you with a quick overview of the process of bankruptcy – what to expect. SEEKING HELP Only a Licensed Insolvency Trustee can file a bankruptcy – credit counsellors or debt consultants can only help you to find a trustee.  Sometimes they will charge you a fee for the referral.  You can find […]

Read more

TOO MUCH DEBT

September 5, 2017

How do you know when you have too much debt, and what are you going to do about it? There are many clues to having too much debt (credit) some of which seem obvious but others are not so clear. According to recent statistical reports the average Canadian owes about 1.7 times annual income in […]

Read more

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY HOUSE IN A BANKRUPTCY?

September 5, 2017

Without knowing the specifics of your situation the answer is not entirely clear but let us lay out some possible scenarios for you.   First of all the underlying purpose of the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act is to help an honest person find relief from the burden of debt so that they may continue to […]

Read more

TARGET STORE – CCAA FILING

September 5, 2017

The Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) provisions are facilitated by a trustee in bankruptcy working in conjunction with lawyers and the courts. In layman’s terms a CCAA is essentially a large dollar value proposal filed as an adjunctive provision of the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act (“BIA”) through a bankruptcy trustee.   Some trustee’s specialize in filing […]

Read more

DO YOU RENT YOUR HOUSE FROM THE CRA?

September 5, 2017

Some people do and don’t even realize it! The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is notorious for its sometimes seemingly draconian collection abilities.  They can garnishee incomes and accounts and register on title of property with the need for Court Orders.  When the Agency makes mistakes, and they do, there is little recourse unless it is […]

Read more

WHAT HAPPENS TO STATUTE BARRED DEBTS

September 5, 2017

IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS? The Limitations Act of Ontario sets the basic limitation period at two years.  Accordingly, if you owe a debt, that you have stopped making payments on for a period of two years or more the creditor is “barred” from resorting to legal proceedings to collect the obligation.   In other words the creditor […]

Read more

WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF BANKRUPTCY?

September 5, 2017

Would you be surprised if I said “too much debt”? It goes without saying that having too much debt is the main reason that anyone would consider filing for bankruptcy but when is too much debt really too much? If you are reading this post you most likely have debts – very few people are […]

Read more

Living without debt is possible

September 5, 2017

We just need to change our expectations Canadians, of all income levels, have developed an unprecedented dependency on debt. Contrary to widely held views, most people struggling with debt are middle and high-income earners. People with low or no income simply do not qualify for loans or credit cards. Interestingly, very few Canadians have a […]

Read more

HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF “WHY DID I SIGN THAT?”

September 5, 2017

I’ll bet that many people have, and usually right after something they co-signed for has gone awry.   Most people seem not to think of it this way – when they hear about loan refusals or people not qualifying for a mortgage and so on – but banks are in the business of lending money. Banks […]

Read more

WHAT IS AN AVERAGE INCOME?

September 5, 2017

Statistics Canada compiles oddly confusing information that seems to suggest that average Canadian income levels are higher than they really are.  Part of the problem is that in their calculations they factor high income earners into the averages.    Of an estimated 25.5 million people – from the 2011 calculations – we find that the average […]

Read more

IS A PROPOSAL BETTER THAN A BANKRUPTCY?

September 5, 2017

The answer depends who you ask and for whose benefit. Many trustee firms prefer consumer proposals to bankruptcy filings as they tend to be less (cost and) labour intensive.  Proposals have the advantage to trustees of paying more fees over a longer period of time and the fees, unlike with bankruptcies, can be taken at […]

Read more

THE TEN TOP REASONS PEOPLE GO BANKRUPT

September 5, 2017

The top two may seem may seem obvious but as you dig behind the causes of those two situations you will find that many of the other causes interplay. In any event although listed numerically, except for the first two, these are not necessarily in prior order. 1. Low Income2. Excess of Debt3. Marital Breakdown […]

Read more

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING = CHRISTMAS DEBT

September 5, 2017

Christmas is the busiest retail season of the year and it is competitive on many levels. We all know that the term Christmas has its roots in Catholicism being the time of a Mass for Christ – to celebrate the supposed birth of Jesus – but these days less and less people see it as […]

Read more

Rebuilding Credit

September 5, 2017

Many people are interested in a rebuilding credit – think of it as a process. Credit (or debt) is available in many forms and to most people. Sometimes the credit you can get is not the credit you want. Your eligibility to access to new debt may be impacted by a variety of issues: Loss […]

Read more

POVERTY AND FOOD BANKS:

September 5, 2017

Poverty although not officially acknowledged by the Canadian government is one of the greatest problems facing our country.  An increasing number of families are living below the governments LICO (Low Income Cut Off) and many working people are lining up at food banks in order to survive.  In the USA the government issues food stamps […]

Read more