The atitude that "Prince George have experienced ups and downs in the past and are well seasoned when it comes to knowing what they need to do to weather any economic storm." will rear its ugly head someday. I hear way to often that PG is not feeling the pinch yet. lol Yet look how many are losing their homes, jobs and security. It will only get worse as time goes by. Sorry for those who had to go bankrupt, I hope it helped you to move on debt and worry free. :}

Can the financial institutions not help? I find it rather draconian for them to sit back and say "sorry" can't help, even though there is an economic crisis going on. They know it, they see it, yet they won't help the man in the street keep his home, his car, etc.. its all fine and well to say go bankrupt, but then that person gets affected for years.

I guess when they get their slice of the economic bailout from the govt. they don't have to worry, they are going to meet their targets for the month. while in the meantime families are losing everything.

I think its time banks "human up" and start to help the people in their community and work towards their future, instead of ruining it with stand offish service and ostrich thinking.

I have a freind that went bankrupt and even the trustee was treating him like a second class citizen. these people don't seem to want to help, they want to place you in the bad debt column and keep you there. they don't care, they are budgeted for bad debt ie: bankruptcies. so there is no reason for them to treat people like dirt because of economic situations or occurances beyond their control.

If someone loses their job because the company went out of business it is not their fault that they can't meet their bills, yet society reacts on a age old misconception based on misguided opinions from people in the financial industry, and the person is black balled and branded a loser, someone who is not able to keep up with the joneses. what a crock. If the banks would allow people to actually pay off thier debts in a way they could afford for the short time that they will be in their situation, we could avoid headlines like "bankruptcies up 47.5 %".

We are in charge of the banks ad the government, not the other way around. I challenge any bank to operate without customers. and any government to run a country without citizens.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Happy Wed.

My son and his girlfriend both went bankrupt in the last two years Highlander and one was still in the process of paying back for a year. The other actually got a loan for a 25,000.00 truck within a month of finishing the bankruptcy process. Things have changed oviously, there is not that 7 years of punishment for bankruptcy. It is a prime example of the small finance companies giving out loans to people of high risk. There lies the problem and the Americans proved that two fold. I was actually in shock and disbelief for days that they actually bought that truck! Years ago my husband and I were stuck with a mortgage and had to move elsewhere to work. We paid rent where we went and payed our mortgage. Obviously things got really tight for us and if things were as they are now with how easy it is to just let it all go through bankruptcy ..I would have. At the time we were mortified at the thought of being marked like you described financially so we struggled through it and eventually sold the house. Things have changed.

I myself have to declare bankruptcy both in business and personal. I have avoided talking about it but when i have, i have found that there are more people out there that have or will be. Pride keeps some from admitting it, but in the times we are in, some have no choice. its not that we are losers who racked up debt that we couldnt pay off, some have lost jobs, some have had to close their business because of the economy, it wasnt that they were making bad calls or doing anything right. for myself, i wouldnt change anything i did, i think personally, this all has to do with circumstances, not the person. To those who look down on the ones who have to file - shame on you.

For the persons going into foreclosure and running out of EI with no hope to find a job in the near future. Be prepared to be treated poorly,like the lowest of low life out there. I know not why, but this seems to be the way people have been taught how to treat the less fortunate.
You know, you could be "Wayne Gretzky" after loosing his billions of dollars, dressed in tattered clothes and covered in road grim trying to find a job because you are over the hill and can't play or coach hockey anymore and people would treat you the same way if they did not know who you were. In other words, if people happened to know you were important at one time you may matter, if you look important you must be important, and if you present yourself as being important then again you must be important. Pretty sad hey....the real individual seldom gets seen because people are to focused on the surface stuff rather than looking for the real person within all of us. If people would try to find the real person within us all we might be a happier more loving race.
It is my experience that most people work hard and they want to do a good job. They get up between 3:00 am and 8:00 am every day and go to work. The hours worked are between 2 to 18 hours per day and they do it without complaining. Every persons job in it's own way is challenging. It matters not, what they do to contribute to our so called world economy, just that those who can, try to contribute and manage to make a decent wage to support their families. When they lose their job people like you and I (I'm using you and I as a generalization)look down on them because they are now lazy, uncaring, poorly dressed, dirty and less important than you or I. Unless we know the individual personally we do not know the circumstances or the situation but we treat them like dirt because of a misconceived perception that we have formed of them.
Every human being has earned the right to be treated with dignity, honesty, integrity and respect, not because they are richer or stronger that you or I but because they were born with that right and it is not right for this to be taken away just because we think it should be. Most people are not strong enough to hold on to these rights for themselves even at the best of times never mind when they are down and out. We then must pick up the ball, it becomes our responsibility to help them hang on to these precious principles by continuing to treat them with dignity, honesty, integrity and respect even when they themselves feel they don't deserve it. We do not even consider for an instant that they may not have the strength emotionally or physically to fight for their rights anymore. I do not view Foreclosures or Bankruptcy as a failure of the individual, I view it as a failure of our financial institutions, the society we live in today and the culture we have created over time.
By talking about it we can make change.

I feel for all of you who are going through this and wish you well in the future. Remember, hold your heads high, you have done nothing to be ashamed of, it is our system and the people charged with running our system that should be ashamed of themselves, not you they have failed.

Well, if you have been living high on the hog the past few years because of the rising value of your homes and having good prosperity and currently still employed.

Take a good hard long look at what your doing. This is your time to look at where your after tax dollars are going. Find out what it takes to run the household, set up a budget. Stick to your budget. The most important thing is to reduce your debt load. This is the time to do it. Your job can disappear tomorrow.

Have a plan if you become a single income family. Build up a reserve of 15% of your total income. What ever you have after that reduce your debt. Don't pay by visa or debit. Its cash or nothing. This way it will control your spending. Do you really need that extra pair of shoes. Do you really need that 2nd flat screen TV. Sure it was on special, but was it a need or a want.

Stick to a budget, and reward yourself when you meet your household budget.

You said it Hespeaks.
Windigo, your words make sense, and I agree with much of what you said, but I fear that too many folks will lean on a crutch of blame,
i.e. "it's all their fault" It is true that todays financial institutions have created the crisis we are all in today, but it all starts somewhere, and that is when you borrow the money for whatever it is that you want/need. I think it is encumbent upon the individual to look after their own finances, just as much as I believe that financial institutions should not take advantage of the uninformed by allowing such easy terms. Declaring bankruptcy used to be a bad thing, there was a stigma attached to the person who did, now it is so commonplace and excusable, it is a wonder more people don't do it.
metalman.

Who wrote this article and where did they get their stats from? Of particular concern to me is the statment of the number of active residential foreclosures.

That is nearly 50% higher than figures from MLS.....

What`s up?

Are their private foreclosures or what?

To go bankrupt in Canada, a person must be INSOLVENT. To be insolvent means

1. To owe at least $1,000

2. Not to be able to meet our debts as they are due to be paid.

Some debts are not erased. Bankruptcy only deals with unsecued debts-things like credit cards, personal loans, income tases, overdrafts, etc;

A secured debt, such as a car loan or mortgage, is not included. Since you have given an asset as collateral, your creditor does not need the bankruptcy process to recover the amount owing to them.

Personal bankruptcy is a legal process, governed by federal law. The law is designed to permit an honest but unfortunate debtor to obtain relief from his or her debts while treating creditors equally and fairly.

You are allowed to keep some assets in order to survive. In Ontario as an example you can keep a car worth less than $5600.00, personal items worth less than $5,600.00 and household items worth less than $11,300.00.

For most people the assets they must surrender include their investments, RRSPs, and RESPs, as well as their house.

The object of bankruptcy is to get debts out of the way, pay as much as possible to your creditors, and get your life back to-gether.

You may be entitled to an automatic discharge from bankruptcy in 9 months, the minimum time set by the court to be bankrupt, provided you have not been bankrupt before and you complete various duties and responsibilities.

Going bankrupt is not the fault of the banks,finiance companies, credit card companies, etc; it is a direct result of poor money management by the individual. The bankrupt proceeding is a way for people to start over. What is the alternative???? The longer you stay in debt and pay interest etc, the farther you go into the hole. If you are in fact bankrupt as per the above definition, then perhaps that is the way to go.