519-646-2222Blog Articles
THE 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. […]
Read moreBANKRUPTCY VERSUS PROPOSAL – WRITS TREATED DIFFERENTLY
The earlier you talk to a trustee the more options are available for you. If a creditor had registered a judicial lien on your property (writ of execution) and you filed a bankruptcy the writ is removed by the Stay of Proceedings right away. This is because your interest in the property now vests in […]
Read moreGET OUT OF DEBT
and avoid making a bad situation version worse 10 mistakes people make when they are in debt and scared of what will happen to them: Avoid meeting with a bankruptcy trustee Stress, lose sleep and act irrationally – before meeting with a trustee Make big payments to only one creditor – before meeting with a […]
Read moreYOU REALLY SHOULD PLAN FOR BANKRUPTCY
Regardless of whether you are a lender or a borrower remember the old maxim “those who fail to plan, plan to fail.” Now let’s be absolutely clear we are not making the suggesting that you should plan to go bankrupt but should be thinking about the consequences if you are exposed to a bankruptcy whether […]
Read moreONTARIO HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION
Ontario doesn’t have one – but perhaps it should. It may be long past time for Ontario to contemplate revisions to the Execution Act, which provides exemptions for property seizable by creditor, to include a homestead exemption. Other provinces do have such exemptions that provide an element of security to families faced with financial difficulty. […]
Read moreELDER ABUSE AND DEBT ISSUES;
Elder abuse is a sad reality of our time. People looking after a parent or grandparent have been known to abuse their elder in a physical or emotional manner. On occasion the abuse can be financial or even a combination of all three types of abuse. Financial abuse can take many forms: borrowing money without […]
Read moreSHOULD I GO BANKRUPT BEFORE I GET SUED?
That is a question that often comes up after people have been served with a Statement of Claim. The answer is that it really doesn’t matter, a bankruptcy will stop the action even if it has already been commenced or a judgement has been obtained. Bankruptcy and Proposal filings create an automatic Stay of Proceedings […]
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