Bankruptcy Article of the Week
Impact of Updated Median Income Figures Varies Across the Country
New median income figures took effect on Monday, with significant adjustments in some states. Though we didn't see any radical drops like those that impacted prospective Chapter 7 filers in some states a year ago, the median income for single-earner households dropped in 17 states. Family-of-four medians declined in 13 states.
The largest decrease was in Alaska, where the median income for a single earner dropped from $47,538 to $43,766 (-$3,772) and the median for a family of four in Alaska declined by $7,252, from $79,033 to $71,781.
The District of Columbia posted the largest increase in any category, with its family-of-four median jumping $15,179. That increase finally corrects for the dramatic decline in median income last October. In 2006, D.C. medians declined by more than $10,000 for a family of two, with similar decreases in the three and four person categories.
The absurd effect of the rapidly shifting numbers in D.C. is that a significant slice of wage earners were effectively disqualified from filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for a period of a year and two weeks, but will now find themselves eligible again. It will be interesting to see how the change impacts the number of filings. In the first two quarters after the median income figures dropped, while bankruptcy filings were slowly but steadily climbing across the country, only 166 Chapter 7 cases were filed in the District.
New Hampshire and Idaho, also hit hard by the October 2006 updates, both rebounded as well.
Overall, most states posted modest increases in most categories and the overall impact will likely be moderately positive in terms of Chapter 7 eligibility. The upward adjustment was far from universal, however. Outside Alaska, some of the most significant declines occurred in Delaware and Wyoming, where the median income for a single earner dropped by more than $3,000. Family-of-four medians declined significantly in Vermont (-$5,804) and Maine (-$3,398).
Only Delaware and Michigan saw declines for every household size.
Median Income Decreases
| Single Earner |
2-Person |
3-Person |
4-Person |
| Alaska |
Alaska |
Arkansas |
Connecticut |
| Arkansas |
Arkansas |
Colorado |
Delaware |
| Delaware |
Connecticut |
Delaware |
Hawaii |
| Hawaii |
Delaware |
Georgia |
Indiana |
| Indiana |
Maine |
Idaho |
Iowa |
| Iowa |
Michigan |
Iowa |
Kentucky |
| Kansas |
Missouri |
Maine |
Maine |
| Massachusetts |
Ohio |
Michigan |
Maryland |
| Michigan |
Rhode Island |
Mississippi |
Michigan |
| Minnesota |
South Carolina |
New Jersey |
Minnesota |
| Nebraska |
Vermont |
North Dakota |
Mississippi |
| North Dakota |
Virginia |
Tennessee |
Missouri |
| Ohio |
Wisconsin |
West Virginia |
Nebraska |
| Oklahoma |
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New Hampshire |
| Oregon |
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Oklahoma |
| Virginia |
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Ohio |
| Wyoming |
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Pennsylvania |
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Rhode Island |
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Tennessee |
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Vermont |
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Virginia |
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Wyoming |
On the Bankruptcy Calendar
The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) is holding its Members-Only workshop next weekend from October 26-27 at the JW Marriott in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada.
Please note that SFT will be holding live demos of its products at the workshop. If you'll be attending the workshop, be sure to check out one of the demos.
Visit the Bankruptcy Lawyers Blog for detailed information about the demos and Start Fresh Today's fundraising party at the NACBA workshop.
Ordering More Client Inserts
Do you need more credit counseling and debtor education inserts for your client intake folders?
If so, simply call (800) 435-9138 with your request for more inserts or rather send an email to info@startfreshtoday.com. Upon receiving your request, we will ship your new client inserts free of any shipping charges.
All that we ask is you include your new inserts in your client intake folders. Thanks again for your cooperation and orders thus far.
Kevin's Corner
Practice Management Tip of the Week:
"Underpromise to your clients and then overdeliver with your services.
"Too many attorneys—and other professionals—make the mistake of making grandiose representations up front and setting client expectations sky-high in an effort to win a potential client's business. Often, those expectations are unrealistically high, especially when you factor in the human tendency of our clients to hear what they want to hear and weed out what's less promising.
"Overpromising will leave your client disappointed, even if you've done a great job for him.
"On the other hand, if you manage expectations from the outset, making sure that your client is aware of potential complications and limitations in the legal process, and then do the same great job for him, you'll have exceeded his expectations. Having produced more than he expected, or made the process run more smoothly than he expected, you'll leave him with a very positive impression of your skills and your services.
"And, of course, a satisfied client with an excellent impression of your abilities and your customer service is a great source of future business through word-of-mouth referrals."
- Kevin Chern
President, Start Fresh Today
The Numbers Game
In its September 2007 US Foreclosure Market Report, California-based RealtyTrac detailed that there were 223,538 foreclosure filings last month.
When broken down, there was a foreclosure filing per every 557 households in the United States last month.
September's foreclosure total was down eight percent from the 32-month high in August. However, September foreclosure filings were still 99 percent higher than the totals for that month in 2006; once again revealing the need for bankruptcy legislation to help address this current crisis in the United States.
Did You Know...
that you can save time for yourself in the future by updating the "Billing Details" in your SFT account?
When purchasing courses or Due Diligence items on behalf of your clients, you can actually save your credit card information into your account. When you come to the "Shopping Cart," you"ll have the option to choose the appropriate credit card from a drop-down menu. This action will get rid of the need for you to enter all of your credit card information each time you purchase something for a client.
Simply begin by logging in to your SFT account and clicking on the "Account" button. You will quickly see a "Billing Details" tab on the left-hand side of your "Account" page.
Clicking on this tab will allow you to add a new credit card to your "Billing Details" or edit the current card listed by clicking in the box next to it. Once you have saved the billing detail revisions, the new credit card and/or changes will show up in the "Shopping Cart" for you.
Got questions? Simply call (800) 435-9138 or feel free to take the time to send us an email at info@startfreshtoday.com. We're more than glad to help out in any way possible.