Bankruptcy case in news

Riches to rags: A family made homeless from a credit card debt | theage.com.au

Ok im scratching my head thinking wtf were the two thinking? Whats the point of this article? Whats the author trying to get at?

 

Wow. What happened there?? It was mentioned he cannot read and cannot write, but know about the problem and choose to ignore?

 

This is just the media trying to write a story. The couple knew what they where doing

 

From the results, I conclude they don't really know what they were doing at all

 

I am pretty sure they had no idea they were heading down a road leading to the loss of their house and bankruptcy.

I feel bad for this family, especially the young kids. It baffles my mind how people can't understand that they need to repay debt as per the agreement and why they wouldn't if they had the capacity.

It would appear that the debt collection process has been excessive for an initial debt of $20k, there was no need to bankrupt these people a more reasonable and ethical solution should have been found and the debt collection process needs to be modified. The couple, debt collectors, credit card company and courts all have some level of blame on this front.

Having said all that the article does state they also fell behind on their mortgage repayments so this story doesn't present all the facts that may have led to the bankruptcy.

Finally I'll say most of the blame does lay at the feet of the people who took on the debt. Companies do have the right to collect what they are owed, I'm not saying they don't, just some level of ethical framework and human decency should be involved.

 

That story doesn't add up to me.

Mr Szepesvary cannot read or write. He thinks, and talks, with his hands. He loves high-end audio gear. He does not know anything about the bankruptcy process.
He did not, he says, understand what was happening to him. He couldn't read the letters that kept getting delivered to court. He could not afford a lawyer."

Ms Ozdil.
"Our own fault. We don't know what's happening. I'm writing to the court asking how can we contest our bankruptcy, because I don't have a lawyer."

His partner was writing letters to the court and they had 20k in cash at the time but couldnt afford lawyers. He was running a high end audio business but cant read nor could his partner read for him?

I'm not fan of debt collection agencies but there is more to this story.

 

This is thenostrict sydnrome. I have seen it several times. Bury your head in the sand and hope your problems go away.

Then there are the 'its the principle' type people who dispute somethig because it is wrong.

There was a ss forum member who refused to pay a strata bill because of some silly dispute. She was bankrupted and lost her unit.

Ive seen 2 or 3 people bankrupted because of credit cards too. One had about 10 cards all fully drawn. I helped her refinance her house to pay them out and made her promise to cancel them aĺl. 6 months later she called and i went over and she had refurnished the house by using them again. She lost her half of the house.

 

Not a fan of debt collectors either, but at the end of the day they brought this on themselves.

Family member worked in bankruptcy industry, both private and public sectors. They can be vultures too especially if they smell there is equity up for grabs. They charge those hours like there is no tomorrow!

When I asked why are there so many personal bankruptcies the answer i got surprised me. Some people are financially "stupid", other(s) ignore it until its too late (which is what happened in this article). Only a small number of people are bankrupt because of failed business etc...

Sadly most people don't understand what impact bankruptcy might have and most don't get the right advice.

There is more to this story and they are not saying everything....

 

The way i see it there are two types of credit card debt

1. Those that have no finanvial control or discipline. For those that let the debt and 10 cards snowball thays pure bad management and you only have yourself to blame

2. Those that have used cards to try and manage cashflow for a business. Its no different to a business loan. In which case I have a lot of sympathy for. Business is tough. You have to sometimes use all the options available to you to stay afloat

 

And 2 types of people.
Those that realise debt has to be repaid at some point
And
Those that think it doesnt.

Ive lent money to friends at times and getting it back is extremely hard in some cases.

 

I've been to a couple of Bailiff auctions run by Baycorp, where the outstanding debt was relatively small (<$50k) and they've put the house up for auction to reclaim the debt.

The owners were inside peeking through the window as the auction was run. A bit sad.

 

Are you talking about lending to family or friends or when a bank lends to you?

Sometimes my jaw drops open when I listen to someone who seriously believes that they dont have to pay back their credit cards because the bank shouldnt have lent them the money in the first place (or similar excuse) when they have been on a few international trips, leased new car when they clearly couldnt afford it

 

I'm currently advising a person with a house, mortgage and multiple credit card debts. He read on the internet that as long as you pay your mortgage they can't touch your house. This article will make my job a lot easier to explain the awful truth.
Silly people think it doesn't have to be repaid.
Stupid people- who hold assets (especially real estate) think it doesn't have to be repaid.

 

How does that even happen?!

They knew that they were going to take action, I'm sure they were given plenty of notices and if he truly couldn't read I'm sure someone could've done it for him.

They had some cash and equity. Easily could've settled it before this.

Their own fault IMO. Those poor children.

There's got to be more to the story.

 

Looking at the video she made of the sherif eviction, there was a bench full of documents. She knew what was happening, she knew what was coming. As the article states (several times), she just hoped it would all go away.

People's financial illiteracy is astounding. Even on this site I'm often surprised by the assumptions people make but the general population is much, much worse (who here thinks a line of credit is not a real mortgage, it's amazing how many people fail to mention a LOC when we ask about their existing loans).

At the end of the day if you owe someone a substantial amount of money, they will come after you, they will ruin your life to recover their costs and there's a lot of sharks who will help them for a very large piece of the pie.

I'm happy to see an article like this in the paper. Hopefully it will give some people a wake up call to manage their debt rather than to hope it will magically disappear.

 

What about the situation of a part IX debt agreement where it's still an act of bankruptcy but from what I understand it's only the unsecured debts that get defaulted and secured debts continue on as per usual?

 

This just reads as a pathetic sob story after a pair of morons did something incredibly stupid.

It genuinely is the financial version of "guy jumps in front of train and it ends badly".

 

The trouble is credit cards are classed as 'consumer debt' and the government has gone a long way regulating them and protecting consumers. Somehow they forgot to check the consumer understands the contract, or even reads English....

These consumer protections are somehow lost when it comes to recoveries.

IMO either we scrap the consumer protections we have currently or fix these sorts of loopholes. as the article said, the debt collector could have made an order to recover costs from the equity in the house without forcing bankruptcy.

Another alternative might be for the government to cap costs on such recovery actions to something like 3 times the limit for credit cards, and 30% for residential mortgages etc.

Recovery agencies and lenders would change their processes to accommodate the new rules and it would save a lot of problems, no doubt uncovering new ones too however.

 

The trouble with liquidators and trustees in these situations is the outragous fees. I recall one newspaper article where they were charging the bankrupt an hourly rate for the tea lady to serve.tim tams and there. They are worse than lawyers.