Showing posts with label bankruptcy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bankruptcy. Show all posts

Friday, December 7, 2012

Insolvency, Bankruptcy And Liquidation Concepts Defined

These three concepts are often used as synonyms but they are not. Though the common use of these words may lead to confusion, these are financial and legal terms and thus, they should be used properly and with caution. There are various related concepts needed to explain the above three: personal financial failure, business financial failure, cash flow, and several more.

Financial Failure

When a business or a person can no longer cope with ordinary expenses and exactable debt is higher than liquid assets, then this state is known as financial failure. But this is a financial concept. There are also legal concepts related to this financial concept. Bankruptcy for example is a legal concept that reflects the state of financial failure and rules its consequences. In certain countries, the term bankruptcy is only reserved for individuals while other terms are used for businesses (insolvency, liquidation, etc.). In any case, bankruptcy implies a financial failure where the debtor cannot afford to repay debt any longer.

Cash Flow

The cash flow is the movement of money, the transactions that a company or an individual make every day, month and year. Cash flow implies income and spending. Under a normal cash flow income is expected to provide the necessary funds to cope with the company's or individual's obligations (payment of services, debt payments, etc.). But, most importantly, this has to be done in a timely fashion. If for any reason the company or individual get behind on payments, it is imperative to catch up. This can be done by increasing income or using savings (selling assets, renting, additional jobs, etc.) or by reducing spending (closing accounts, cancelling services, reducing staff, consolidating debt, etc.). If for some reason, none of these solutions can be achieved, the unavoidable resolution would be a bankruptcy.

Insolvency, Bankruptcy, Liquidation

These concepts are used often both on the financial field and on the legal field. Truth is that bankruptcy is a legal concept well defined by the law and requires no clarification. Bankruptcy is the financial failure of an individual (or company in most countries). Under bankruptcy, debts are discharged by selling the debtor's assets (certain assets may be left aside) and transferring the amounts produced with those sales to the creditors proportionally to the amounts owed (as required by law certain debts are privileged).

Insolvency is the inability of an individual or company to cope with debt payments with current liquid assets. This can be solved by selling non-liquid assets, by borrowing money, by negotiating new terms with creditors, etc. If no solution is achieved, insolvency will probably lead to bankruptcy but these concepts are most certainly not synonyms. Truth is that insolvency is commonly applied to businesses and seldom to individuals (due to a British heritage). As regards to liquidation, it refers to the sell of the debtor's assets to cover the debts. It is also mainly used with companies but sometimes it can also be applied to the process within a bankruptcy that consists on selling in public auctions the debtor's assets.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Buying a home after bankruptcy

Experienced bankruptcy lately? You may wonder if you will still will be able to get a home loan. You may also be wondering if buying home after bankruptcy is a good idea for you.

While bankruptcy can make your mortgage loan approval difficult, it is still possible to get approved. In fact there have been more and more, bad credit loans coming out all the time.

They are called the Subprime lenders; they are focusing more on helping individuals with poor credit in buying home after bankruptcy.

This is happening mostly because bankruptcies are still on the rise and there is an increasing number of people with bad credit who are looking for home financing.

Just to give you a bit of an overview here are some very good reasons to consider after bankruptcy buying home:

Increase your credit rating. When you make your payments on a regular basis, you will be able to develop your credit rating. Once your pre-payment penalty is done, you should be able to refinance your credit loan for a much lesser interest rate.

After your bankruptcy has been for ended 2-3 years, you ought to have a much easier time qualifying for a lesser interest rate mortgage loan.

You will be able to own an asset. If you are just renting a home then you are absolutely throwing your monthly payments away. Why not just buy a home, over time, its value will increase and you are working you way towards owing an asset.

Once you have bought your house, as soon as 6 months or so later, you might be able to take out an equity loan on your home and consolidate any other debt that you might have since your bankruptcy or debt that could not be included in your bankruptcy.

Taxes and student loans will not be discharged in a bankruptcy. You may also want to use the extra cash to invest in a business venture or for needed home improvement.

It is very tempting to buy an new home, new car, do some renovations, etc., after bankruptcy discharge you have no debt left. You will probably feel like you can afford a larger house payment due to the financial experience that you have.

But it is not that easy so here are some factors to consider before committing yourself to a new house payment.

The Pre-payment penalty. This penalty is usually about 6 months worth of house payments. And usually lasts from 2-3years. Once you sign those mortgage papers you absolutely have to make those payments. If you don't have the amount of the pre-payment penalty in savings, you are locked into making the payments or losing the house.

The Two Year Mark. Keep in mind that after 2-3 years from the date of the bankruptcy discharge, mortgage loans will be much easier to get. With a small down payment, you might even be able to get a mortgage loan without a pre-payment penalty.

So, if you are within 6 months or so from the 2 year mark. It would be smart to wait it out and have more mortgage loan options.

Borrowing Too Much. This is the most common mistake that we usually get into. If you do decide to buy a house, buy one that you know you will be able to afford. Don't max yourself out on credit, living right up to the edge of your income.

If your income suddenly drops, you'll want to make sure that you can still afford your house payment. Be conservative with how much home you need to buy.

Most of us always think that bankruptcy is the end of our credit life. But don not despair because I know some people that have been in to bankruptcy but has been able to get up again and rebuild there credit quickly most of them has even been able to buy a new house.

Bankruptcy will show up on your credit report for 10 years. That means that every mortgage lender will certainly see that fact when evaluating your mortgage application.

Although it may be difficult to find a bank to give you a mortgage it's certainly not impossible. Banks want to make money and you may find one that's willing to take the risk.