Boston Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Clients regularly ask us about their credit score. We are always on the lookout for information that will help our clients understand and upgrade their score. Recently, we have learned of new websites that may be useful to determine your credit scores. The following are a few we have found:

Credit Karma, owned by TransUnion, provides a credit score which is NOT your actual FICO score, but claims to be an indication of your FICO score. For no cost, the website provides helpful information for increasing your score. A nice feature is that you can check your scores as often as you wish. The fun part of this site is that you can simulate future events to determine how they would effect your credit score.

Continue reading "Credit Report Check Ups for Massachusetts Bankruptcy Clients" »

Many of our clients are worried about their retirement, their 401k accounts, and, of course, what to do about future investing. They are not alone. In a study undertaken by Wells Fargo, it was shown that workers are not saving sufficiently. Notwithstanding the significant loss of value of retirement accounts following the "crash" in 2008, according to their survey, only 23% of workers are saving more than they were a year ago, 57% are saving the same amount and 20% are saving less. On the other hand, 56% of pre-retirees are planning to work more years.

Continue reading "2010 Retirement News for Massachusetts Clients" »

A client of ours had her wallet stolen recently on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts. After commiserating with her and then looking around the web, we have come up with a few suggestions should the same happen to you.

1. Use only initials on your printed checks so a thief will not know how you sign your name. Do not have your phone number on your check. Never put your social security number on your checks.

2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Write "photographic identification required" in the signature spot.

3. When paying a credit card bill, only write the last four numbers of the credit card on the check.

4. Make a copy of each and every document in your wallet (front and back) and keep it in a safe place. You can also make a PDF file of these documents and have them available in a web based storage account. Be careful with passwords for that account, however. You can do the same with your passport.

Continue reading "Stolen Wallet Tips" »

While it still feels like Massachusetts consumers are filing bankruptcies at record rates, the statistics may be encouraging right now.

Consumers filed 112,152 personal bankruptcies in November, 2009. This was a decrease of 18% from the October 2009 numbers. Nevertheless, the numbers are up 12% from the previous year. These figures are from the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Continue reading "Surprising Drop in Consumer Bankruptcies November 2009" »