Hoglund Law Blog

Despite all the negative headlines, debt is not always bad. Good debt can allow people to do what they otherwise could not, including, going to college, or buying a house or car. Bad debt is used to make purchases that are not necessary and purchases the borrower cannot afford. One way to determine if something [...]

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New research conducted at Ohio State University indicates that 18 to 27 year olds feel empowered by their debt. The study found that a greater amount of education loan and credit card debt corresponded to higher self-esteem. Additionally, young people with high debt feel more in control of their lives. (Anand) The study compared information [...]

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Will Social Security Checks Be Paid If Debt Ceiling Is Not Raised Around 28 million Americans are expecting to receive their Social Security checks on August 3, and 27 million are expecting their checks later in August. However, if Congress does not reach a deal to raise the national debt ceiling by the deadline of [...]

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Many Americans are facing difficult financial situations. Results from a new Harris study show how consumers are reducing their expenses. (Today) The survey asked consumers to respond to whether they had thought about using different methods of saving money in the past six months. The results are listed below, along with the percentage of those [...]

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The Supreme Court recently ruled against the estate of the late model Anna Nicole Smith. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that Smith was wrongly awarded $400 million from the estate of her late husband by a bankruptcy court. When she was 26, Smith married wealthy oil executive J. Howard Marshall, who was 89. [...]

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According to new research, popular food chains Denny’s, Wendy’s and Domino’s may be in danger of going bankrupt. TheStreet.com ranked restaurants’ chances of going bankrupt by their Altman Z-Score. The score is based on financial information from each company, and predicts the likelihood of bankruptcy within two years. TheStreet has been using their scoring system [...]

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Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, recently suggested a change in the U.S. tax system to discourage debt growth. High consumer and bank debt lowers the stability of the economy. This makes economic trouble, like what occurred in 2007 through 2009, more likely. Currently, the tax code encourages debt by allowing [...]

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt was relying on a TV deal worth billions to help ease financial troubles. However, Major League Baseball did not approve the deal. McCourt is asking for time to secure another media deal, and he is seeking $150 million [...]

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Beware of credit repair scams. There are many credit repair companies that are essentially scams. They take your money and they do not improve your credit or they only temporarily improve it. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers this advice for avoiding credit repair scams: Do not work with a company that wants you to [...]

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The simple answer to this is “no, there are no debtor’s prisons.” Unfortunately, despite the lack of debtor’s prisons, some people are ending up in jail because of bad debt. Minnesota law does not impose prison sentences because of bad debt, but Minnesota law which is rather pro-creditor provides a mechanism which allows a creditor [...]

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