Written by MDRF’s own Founding Director and Chairman Richard Ravosa, Mommy, Are We Poor? is the story of Chelsea, a widowed single mom with two jobs, two kids, too many bills, with Christmas approaching and no money for presents. Her boss offers to help, but it’s not the kind of help she had in mind. Can this struggling family get…
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and John Cornyn (R-TX) have introduced the “Fresh Start Through Bankruptcy Act,” the first bipartisan bankruptcy legislation to come through the Senate in years. The Act also has the endorsement of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. The Act would allow student borrowers to discharge federal student loans, something that has not been possible since before 1998. The Act however, does not alter the dischargeability of private student loans.
Consumer Protection enforcement is about to come back in a big way, just in time to deal with the economic fallout we all face from the Pandemic. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in 2010 to deal with the aftermath of the 2008 recession, but a lot of its powers and effectiveness were reduced under the guidance of the previous president. This CNBC article provides an overview of what we can expect from CFPB under President Biden’s term.
Is there going to be an overwhelming onslaught of consumer bankruptcy filings? Many experts are predicting an incredible surge in personal bankruptcy filings, caused by the economic disaster resulting from the Coronavirus Pandemic. When the shutdown began bankruptcy filings sharply decreased. The Executive Director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, Amy Quackenboss predicted a surge, perhaps in May and June[1], but…
Under the CARES Act, many Americans will be receiving a stimulus payment very soon. The IRS started distributing the money last week. Who will get the check, and how much will you get? US Citizens and Residents with a social security number, who earned less than $75,000 in 2018 and 2019, and head of househoolds who earned less thank $112,500…
Instead of paying legal fees, people can come to the MDRF for legal advice and free legal representation through bankruptcy proceedings as well as other debt matters. By providing these two aspects of financial and legal help, we are able to help people across the board.
However, again, we are not able to provide any of these much-needed services to the community without donations. A $200 donation pays for us to walk a client through creating a budget, a $350 donation pays for a comprehensive one-hour legal consultation, $400 covers assisting a client with obtaining the optimal student loan repayment option, and so on up to a $1,500 donation covering an entire legal representation for a client in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.
“My name is Richard Ravosa and I have been helping people get out of debt for almost 22 years! I was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and have an office right in my hometown as well as several other offices across Massachusetts so we can help the greatest number of people possible. While we always explore alternatives to filing bankruptcy,…
With the Fourth of July coming up it is time to take a look back at what our Founding Fathers thought of bankruptcy and just how much bankruptcy has changed since then. The national holiday celebrates the passage of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson himself had seen financial struggles first hand. A Virginia planter, it…
Join us on August 3rd at Grill on the Hill, located in Worcester, from 6PM to 9PM. The night will consist of an assortment of games, a variety of food, and a DJ! All proceeds from the night will go directly to support our organization so that we can continue our efforts to help families across Massachusetts recover from debt…
At MDRF we work hard to ensure that every client is receiving the best possible representation, which includes filing the correct Chapter. ProPublica and The Atlantic published an eye-opening article about the practice in Memphis, of filing Chapter 13 bankruptcies when the client would have qualified for a Chapter 7, all to get paid. There are two main Chapters for…