Boston Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Clients and potential clients in Massachusetts sometimes ask us if filing for a Chapter 7 Personal Bankruptcy will have any adverse effect on their employment status. The answer is fairly clear: no.

In 1978, Congress passed a law which prevented various types of discrimination against folks who filed for bankruptcy protection. With respect to denying employment, that law states that an employer cannot "deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against" anyone simply because he or she has filed for personal bankruptcy.

Continue reading "Can Massachusetts Employers Fire You for Filing for Bankruptcy?" »

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" »

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" »

Our clients often ask us about their credit scores before and after bankruptcy. We are compiling a survey of clients following bankruptcy to see what practical tips they can provide. In general it works like ABC:

Annualcreditreport.com: Go to that website which will provide you with information to get free credit reports from the three main credit reporting companies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. You can also get your FICO score, named for the Fair Isaac Company, by going to MyFico.com; this only helps if you undertake this exercise regularly to make comparisons.

Continue reading "Massachusetts Credit Score Notes" »