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Recent Blog Posts
Protecting Your Pandemic Relief Payment from Your Bank
If you owe money to the bank or credit union where your $1,200 relief payment is being deposited, can it take that money to pay itself first?
Our last blog post was about whether your creditors can seize the $1,200 (or so) pandemic relief payments. Today’s is about one specific class of creditors: your own bank or credit union. What if you have a debt to the financial institution where your relief money is being direct-deposited? Can it pay itself to cover your debt instead of paying you? Would you only get whatever’s left, if any?
The Banker’s Powerful Right of Setoff
To force payment from your bank account, most creditors must sue and get a judgment against you first. So the big focus in last week’s blog post was on determining whether you had a judgment against you, and a resulting garnishment order on the bank account where your coronavirus relief payment was arriving. If no judgment, than no garnishment, and the relief payment is safe from creditors.
What Is an Automatic Stay in a Texas Bankruptcy?
For most people, filing for bankruptcy is a last resort. It can be easy to dig yourself into a pit of debt that you are unable to climb out of. Once the bills start becoming due, it can feel like an ocean wave washing over you, with you struggling to stay above water. Not paying your bills can cause creditors to resort to collections actions, such as wage garnishment and repossession. Once you file for bankruptcy, however, all of those collections actions must stop. This is what is known as the automatic stay.
Understanding the Automatic Stay
The automatic stay is a provision in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that temporarily halts collections attempts from all creditors. The automatic stay goes into effect immediately after you file for bankruptcy and prevents any and all creditors from contacting you about debts you may have with them. The automatic stay does not last forever. As soon as your bankruptcy case is finished, the automatic stay is lifted.
Protecting Your Pandemic Relief Payment from Creditors
Your $1,200 or so coronavirus relief payment is subject to seizure by your creditors, if they have a garnishment order on your bank account.
Our blog post four weeks ago was about the $1,200 pandemic relief payments going out to most U.S. adults. The CARES Act explicitly protected these payments from seizure for certain governmental debts. Generally, the payments can’t be reduced or taken to pay past-due federal taxes and student loans. They can be for past-due child support obligations.
But the CARES Act made no mention of protection from debts owed to non-governmental creditors. So the relief payments are generally subject to possible seizure by your creditors. Today we address this concern about private creditors’ access to these payments.
There are two classes of creditors at play:
1) Setoffs by your own bank or credit union for a debt you owe to it
2) Garnishment by other creditors which have a judgment against you
Student Loan Changes in the CARES Act
The recent coronavirus relief law includes help for some student loan borrowers—suspending payments, interest, collections, credit reporting.
The 880-page Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES”) has 4 pages of help for certain student loan borrowers. Section 3513 of CARES. It provides meaningful albeit temporary help, for those who qualify by having the right kind of student loan.
The Kinds of Student Loans Covered
First, the relief applies only to federal student loans, not to private student loans. The private loan portion of student loans has been growing but still only consists of about 8% of student loans. Nevertheless, private student loans total about $125 billion. The CARES Act does not help if you owe any of this.
How Do I Know When Filing for Bankruptcy Is My Best Option?
Bankruptcy can be a scary word and it can be even scarier if it is something you have been considering. Bankruptcy is still considered by some to be a taboo or something to be avoided at all costs. In reality, bankruptcy can be the best option for some people who are drowning in debt. Filing for bankruptcy does come with a few unfavorable consequences, which should be factored into any consideration when determining whether or not to file for bankruptcy. Speaking with a skilled Texas bankruptcy lawyer can help you understand your situation a little better.
To File Or Not to File?
It can be confusing to know whether or not you should file for bankruptcy. Every person’s situation is different, which is why every decision to file for bankruptcy is different. For the most part, you should consider filing for bankruptcy if you are unable to repay your debts after you have paid for necessities such as food, living expenses, and healthcare. However, there are a few other situations in which you may also want to consider filing for bankruptcy:
Consumer Bankruptcy Changes in the CARES Act
The massive $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief law also includes some legal relief for both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 consumer debtors.
If you’re thinking about filing a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” case, the new CARES law may help, at least slightly. If instead you’re thinking about a Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” case, the new law helps in more significant ways. That’s also true if you already are in a Chapter 13 case.
$1,200 Relief Checks Excluded as Income for the Means Test
To qualify to file a consumer Chapter 7 case you have to pass the “means test.” Part of that test is a rather complicated calculation of your “current monthly income.” That’s essentially the average of the last 6 full calendar months of income from virtually all sources. A single large payment—such as a $1,200 coronavirus relief payment—could pump up your “current monthly income” and make you fail the “means test.” Then you could be forced to file a multi-year Chapter 13 case instead of a 3-4 month Chapter 7 one.
Enhanced Unemployment Benefits Under the CARES Act
The greatly enhanced unemployment benefits mean much more money each week, for longer, for many more kinds of workers, and for many others.
Our blog post last week was about the emergency $1,200 Economic Impact Payment that’s “rapidly” coming to most American adults. (Plus $500 for each qualifying dependent child.) For updates on this payment since then, see the IRS’ special “Coronavirus Tax Relief” webpage. That links you to its News Release IR-2020-61, which came out on March 30, 2020. It was modified and updated on April 1, specifically about Social Security recipients.
Today’s blog post is about the new greatly enhanced unemployment benefits provided by the same law. The $2.2 Trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES”) includes about $260 Billion for expanded unemployment benefits. Although that’s only about one-eighth of the whole package, it’s still a huge amount of money. By way of comparison, $260 Billion is almost 40% of last year’s entire defense budget.
Does Filing for Bankruptcy Affect Employment?
There are many situations in which a person might resort to filing for bankruptcy. Maybe they or a family member was severely ill and they have tons of medical bills that they cannot afford to pay. Maybe they lost their job and are now getting behind on payments for their bills. Whatever the reason, bankruptcy is usually entered into by individuals who no longer can keep up with their monthly bills because their income is greatly surpassed by their debts. Filing for bankruptcy is often a person’s last chance at trying to reconcile their finances. Most people understand that a bankruptcy affects many areas of their life. What they might not realize, however, is how their bankruptcy could affect their professional life and career.
Can I Lose My Job if I File for Bankruptcy?
The simple answer to this question is no, your employer cannot fire you solely for filing for bankruptcy. According to the United States’ Bankruptcy Code, neither governmental or private employers are permitted to, “terminate the employment of or discriminate...against an individual who has been a debtor or bankrupt under the Bankruptcy Act.”
Tax Filing and Payment Extended to July 15
The federal April 15, 2020 tax filing and payment deadlines have been postponed to July 15, 2020. Also, no interest or penalties accrue.
Federal Income Tax Return Deadline Postponed
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS has postponed the deadline to file federal income tax returns by 3 months. This was announced (on Twitter, no less!) on Friday, March 20, and then explained in more detail on Saturday.
This tax return postponement applies to all individuals, but also more broadly. It includes every legal “person”: “an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation.” IRS Notice 2020-18. So it covers all individuals and businesses.
Federal Income Tax Payment Due Date Postponed
Priority Debt for Intoxicated Driving
If you injured someone by unlawfully driving while intoxicated, the resulting personal injury debt would be a priority debt in bankruptcy.
Priority Debts
For many weeks our blog posts have been considering how bankruptcy deals with “priority” debts. Examples of these special debts that we’ve covered include child/spousal support, income taxes, and wages owed employees. Sections 507(a)(1),(4), and (8) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
There’s one more kind of priority debt. It does not come up often but if it affects you, you need to know about it.
Priority Debts vs. Non-Dischargeable Debts
But first we need to clear up something that could be quite confusing.
Some debts cannot be discharged (legally written off) in bankruptcy, or can’t in certain circumstances. For example, bankruptcy never discharges child/spousal support debt, and discharges income taxes only under certain conditions. So the issue is whether or not you will owe the debt after the bankruptcy case is over. See Sections 523 and 524 of the Bankruptcy Code.
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