The U.S. Trustee Program announced new median income figures effective for those filing bankruptcy on or after November 15, 2013. The figures are as follows:
Household of one: $39,301; household of two: $48,891; household of three: $54,010; household of four: $62,490.
Okay, there’s nothing terribly noteworthy about these changes but…
I confess, I made a mistake checking the U.S. Trustee’s website for these figures and got excited. I accidentally checked income figures for back in 2009. And they were as follows:
Household of one: $38,728; household of two: $50,823; household of three: $54,834; household of four: $65,974.
What this means is that, except for a household of one, filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or filing a three-year Chapter 13 (those under median income are only required to make Chapter 13 plan payments for three years, rather than five), is more difficult now than in 2009. As the economy gets worse, median incomes fall, and bankruptcy relief gets more difficult to obtain. Look at the family of four figures in bold above.
And yet again this proves we have the dumbest politicians in the world (in case you hadn’t already figured that out watching the recent government shut down drama).
And just in case you’re not following this, let me explain it further: The government has run the economy into the toilet and has now made it harder for its citizens to get debt relief–particularly for a middle income family of four. The lower that median incomes become the more Visa and MasterCard get paid.
Talk about a dumb system…
Postscript: Yes, that’s my dog in the picture. Isn’t she adorable? She has expressed no opinions about the subject of this post but was happy to sit with me as I wrote.
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