519-646-2222Blog Articles
WHAT HAPPENS TO STATUTE BARRED DEBTS
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 moreWHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF BANKRUPTCY?
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 moreLiving without debt is possible
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 moreHAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF “WHY DID I SIGN THAT?”
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 moreWHAT IS AN AVERAGE INCOME?
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 moreIS A PROPOSAL BETTER THAN A BANKRUPTCY?
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 moreTHE TEN TOP REASONS PEOPLE GO BANKRUPT
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 moreCHRISTMAS SHOPPING = CHRISTMAS DEBT
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 moreRebuilding Credit
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 morePOVERTY AND FOOD BANKS:
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 moreINVESTMENTS THAT ARE CREDITOR PROOF
Plan to succeed but prepare to fail! When investing talk to your financial advisor about creditor proofing investments. Canadians are amongst the most in debt people in the world today. We carry more consumer debt per capita than probably anyone else and we are not terribly money savvy. Few have a viable financial plan and not […]
Read moreOWING OR OWNING – HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?
Canadians on average owe $1.63 for every $1.00 they earn – or so we are told – could it be more? Let’s take that statistic just a little further – the top 10% of (wealthy) Canadians owns more than 90% of all the assets in Canada. According to Statistics Canada if you earn $80,000 or […]
Read moreMany loans are secured against your home
A lot of consumers are unaware of the liens registered against their homes. O.K. fair enough you were fully aware of the mortgages registered but did you know that the gas company registers liens for overpriced furnace, air conditioner and water heater instalations? Utility companies are not alone though, sometimes they fall in line behind […]
Read moreCANADIAN DEBT STATISTICS
The following information is derived from Statistics Canada information as reported on CBC online news media. Canadians owe about $1.92 trillion in consumer debt. Canadians, on average, owe 1.65 times annual, gross, income in debt. There are approximately 36 million people living in Canada. Statistics Canada reports that there about 13 million households. Most Canadian […]
Read moreNO ONE LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOUR BANKER
Well, at least as long as you are solvent Last year Locke Consulting Inc. assisted a particularly well paid professional who was having debt issues. This person had a private banker at a major Canadian bank – which means that she was paying hundreds of dollars each month to have the banker attend to her […]
Read moreWAGE DECLINES, TAX INCREASES = MORE DEBT
Is there any end in sight to a grossly unbalanced economy? Since the 1970s the so called “middle class” has been in steady decline. Incomes have been going down in real terms and taxes, since 1970, have almost doubled. Bank profits have soared to incredible numbers and the value of a dollar drops with every […]
Read moreDON’T LET DEBT DEFINE YOU
Debt is Canadian national obsession – it is costly and damages many relationships. Debt damages finaincial relationships of all kinds – spouses fight over debt, even children argue with the parents about money and ultimately debt required to fund ther lifestyle choices. The largest single industry in Canada is undoubtedly that of finance and many […]
Read moreTHINKING ABOUT BANKRUPTCY OR A PROPOSAL
If you live in or near London, Sarnia, Chatham, Woodstock or Windsor call us for a free consultation. Bankruptcies are more immediate than proposals, they come off your credit report faster and cost less money. Proposals are no panacea but they are great solutions for people with surplus income and difficulty cash flowing large monthly […]
Read moreHARPER GOVERNMENT PLAN TO ENRICH THE WEALTHY
The idea was proposed in a hotter real-estate market than we are experiencing London, Ontario, but the effect will be the same. The federal government’s latest scheme to enrich the wealthy at the expense of the poor is to encourage and facilitate the liquidation of RSP savings, in larger amounts than is currently permitted, to […]
Read moreARE YOU IN PERPETUAL DEBT?
Make no mistake, lenders make money from indebtedness – your indebtedness. When you are in debt you pay regular monthly residuals to the bank in the form of interest – which is fair enough after all you borrowed money and you should expect to not only pay it back but pay some interest on it. […]
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