Seniors With Overwhelming Debt – Is There a Way Out? Insights From a Toronto Bankruptcy Trustee
One trend in the world of debt solutions that is more and more common is the number of seniors who either cannot afford to retire due to debt or are forced to retire and faced with servicing debt without the income that previously allowed them to service the debt.
As a result of this trend, we have met numerous seniors over the years with nowhere to turn for debt relief.
Many of these seniors have not shared their debt problem with their immediate family or closest friends.
The reasons for not sharing their secret is understandable- sharing their secret debt problem would mean embarrassment and the feeling that their dignity has been lost by not being able to maintain financial independence without assistance from others.
We are often the first to hear that a senior is getting collection calls and is being threatened with being taken to court or have their pensions seized.
While pensions are typically exempt from seizure, and seniors who are living on pensions with no seizeable assets do not normally get sued for debt as much as working individuals with assets, being subject to the language that comes with collection calls and letters is very damaging psychologically, especially at a time in a person’s life that is supposed to be the time to reward oneself for many years of hard work and live relatively stress-free.
We also do meet seniors who have had their pensions reduced by Canada Revenue Agency because they owe taxes or HST, which we often can address and get full pension entitlement restored.
So if you are a senior or know a senior that might have a “dirty little financial secret” as described above, please contact us to arrange for a free initial consultation with no obligation to see if we can assist.
We can meet in one of our Greater Toronto offices to see what options make sense including filing a consumer proposal or declaring bankruptcy depending on the situation.
Just send us your contact information or call the number below and take the next step to finding the answers you need.
Howard Landau is a licensed trustee in Toronto specializing in bankruptcy, consumer proposals, personal income tax debt and other CRA debt that individuals are faced with.