Debt Free in 30

The Hoyes Michalos Team is working from home, so today's podcast was recorded yesterday morning in my guest boardroom, so the sound quality isn't studio quality, but we wanted to get the information out to you; here's the rundown of today's show, with time stamps:

Dealing with Creditors during Coronavirus: https://www.hoyes.com/blog/dealing-with-creditors-during-a-financial-crisis-like-the-coronavirus/

1:15 All HMA offices closed to in person meetings, but we are working from home by phone or video

2:25 Limitations Act of Ontario suspended – creditors have more time to sue you

3:40 Right of offset – don't bank where you owe money

5:30 How to deal with your landlord if you can't pay your rent

6:22 Mortgage deferral – what it really means

7:24 Should I worry about my credit score? – Equifax and TransUnion offering free credit reports

Links: https://www.consumer.equifax.ca/personal/products/credit-report/ and https://secure-ocs.transunion.ca/secureocs/credit-agree.html

10:58 Canada Emergency Response Benefit – CERB - $2,000 per month four months https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-individuals.html

15:00 CERB can't be given as security – will Payday loans – using

Tom Cooper's Twitter: @tomcoopster

20:39 Six month suspension on student loans and four month deferral on taxes

22:30 What are lenders doing? My discussions with senior lenders – will they give you a break?

25:13 Proposal Amendments – help if you are in a consumer proposal and can't make the payments

28:10 Stories from clients – many people have gone from a good income to zero

Final Comments

43:00 Don't Panic with respect to your debt – the courts are closed, no-one will sue you this week

We normally record Debt Free in 30 weeks in advance, but today, given the rapidly changing situation, we decided to record a special COVID-19 episode. We discuss what is happening right now (all 22 Hoyes Michalos offices are closed for in person meetings, but our full team is available by phone and video conference), how COVID-19 will impact the finances of Canadians ("public facing" workers for small businesses will be hardest hit), we predict how this will impact the number of bankruptcy filings, we give our practical advice for dealing with collection calls, and we end the show with why, after we get through the next few months, we are optimistic for the future.

Beau Humphreys appeared on episode 147 back in June, 2017; he shared his struggle with a gambling addiction, and that episode is one of our most downloaded episodes ever.

Beau filed a consumer proposal with us in 2009, paid it off in three years, became a financial coach, and is now a fully accredited credit counsellor here at Hoyes Michalos.

On today's show Beau explains his approach to credit counselling, and he gives lots of practical advice on how he uses insolvency counselling to give our clients a fresh financial start.

Have you ever made a decision that seemed like a good idea at the time, but ended up backfiring?

Today credit counsellor Diane Cunha returns, and she's got lots of examples of bad credit decisions that can backfire, including debt consolidation loans (that don't actually reduce your debt), high car payments, "do not pay for 24 months" deals, making multiple loan applications in a short period of time, and many more.

Should you pay someone to do your taxes, or should you just do them yourself?

Simple question; what's the answer? Scott Schaefer is here, and we'll discuss four factors to consider: Complexity, expertise, time, and who you hire. There is a lot of practical advice on this episode, and we end with a warning NOT to use cash back (it's too expensive in most cases).

How do you strike a balance between your finances and your personal happiness? Enter Melissa Leong – financial expert and author of Happy Go Money. In her latest book, Melissa combines psychology and personal finance to provide an easily digestible guide to spending, budgeting, and investing. On today's podcast, she joins Doug Hoyes to discuss why more money in the bank doesn't correlate with happiness, how you can revamp your relationship with money, and other practical financial advice for listeners.

This is a "must listen" podcast. Enjoy!

Once a year we crunch the numbers and release our annual Hoyes Michalos Joe Debtor Bankruptcy Study. It's the only study that exists that looks at real numbers from actual people (it's a study, not a survey) so every year it generates a lot of media attention. Today's podcast is the only interview Ted and I do together on Joe Debtor, and we explain the four key trends we identified this year:

Income are up (but not because our clients are getting big pay increases).

Expenses are also up, so there is less cash available to pay debt.

As a result the credit profile of our clients is deteriorating, leading to more payday loans and high interest instalment loans.

The student loan crises is leading to more younger people going bankrupt or filing a consumer proposal.

Full explanations and more on today's show.

Full details with all of the charts can be found here: https://www.hoyes.com/press/joe-debtor/

On today's show we have a first time guest, Richard Moxley, who explains how to win at the credit game. He explains why the credit score you buy is not the same one your lender uses, why age matters, and what practical steps you can take to rebuild or improve your credit.

I have no idea whether or not we will have a recession soon, but whether we do or not, there are some steps you can take to prepare. On today's show Scott Terrio returns to discuss what causes a "personal recession", and what steps you can take to prepare for whatever happens.

Ted Michalos returns to discuss loan scams, including advance fee loans, savings loans, and "pay off your consumer proposal" loans. Listeners may quibble with our characterization of these loans as "scams", but we explain why we believe they should be avoided, and we give our suggestions on better alternatives for people who want to improve their credit and are tempted to get these types of loans.