A major goal for people who file for bankruptcy is protection from payment obligations that have become severely burdensome. Bankruptcy may not eliminate a debt entirely, but it suspends debt collection in the short run and monitors it carefully as the bankruptcy progresses, so the debtor can pay back some or all of the debt without a form of debtor’s prison. That’s why our Chino consumer bankruptcy lawyers were interested to see a case drawing a sharp distinction between interest owed on a loan before the bankruptcy plan was confirmed and afterward. In First United Security Bank v. Garner, Daniel Garner of Alabama took out a loan from FUSB with an interest rate of 10.5 percent a year, but his confirmed Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan called for a rate of 4.25 percent.

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The continuing debate over the Affordable Care Act and the commentary on this blog have convinced me that nothing can ever unite Americans on their vision of an ideal health system.

We need different health insurance systems for different Americans. I mean by this not Americans who differ by age or ability to pay but Americans with different notions of a just society.

This is where Germany’s approach to a health insurance system can serve as an inspiration.

Germany’s population of close to 82 million is served by two distinct health insurance systems:

1. The Statutory Health Insurance System, founded in 1883 by Otto von Bismarck and constantly amended over the ensuing century.

2. A p

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A while back, I wrote about whether it was a good time to buy real estate.

While I argued that it certainly wasn’t a bad time, thanks to the reduced home prices and rock-bottom mortgage rates, I didn’t really touch on why one would buy now.

Back during the housing boom, the trend was clear. Buy as much as you can now and flip it in six months, a year, etc.

After all, home prices will definitively be much higher in a few months. And can you imagine how high they’ll be a year from now?

Well, we all know where that mentality got us…in this huge mess we’re in now, because after everyone and their mother got in, scores of homeowners got burned as unsustainable home prices plummeted back to earth.

So if we can no longer expect home prices to rise exponentially, what’s the motivation behind buying a piece of property now?

Isn’t that the point of owning real estate? To experience

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Do you have a question about consumer credit? You may find an immediate answer by using the search engine. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please fill out the form, being as specific as possible.

Please note: The Ask Experian team cannot respond to each question individually. However, if your question is of interest to a wide audience of consumers, the Experian team will include it in a future column.

Someone is using my five-year-old daughter’s Social Security number. They already have two credit cards open under her number. What should I do?

Just because someone has used your daughter’s Social Security number does not necessarily mean that they have stolen her entire identity or that she will have a credit report in her name. How

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Im one of a handful of lawyers in the country who promises to fight the credit bureaussue them if necessaryafter your bankruptcy is over.

I want to make sure that all the debts discharged in your bankruptcy are reported by the credit bureaus as discharged in bankruptcy.  That should be automatic, but its not.  Let me tell you how I found out.

This young couple drove up from North Carolina, sat in front of me, and pounded on my desk.   It was 1999, but I still remember.  We filed bankruptcy with you in 1996; our credit report still isnt right.  You

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