Archives for February, 2009

On Saturday February 7, Richard Quinney and I (Benny Mendlowitz, on the left in the picture) appeared on AM 640 in Toronto to talk about consumer proposals. Rick, on the right in the picture, is the trustee in charge of our Vaughan (Woodbridge) and Barrie offices, and I am the trustee in charge of our offices in North York and Scarborough.

The timing of this show couldn’t have been more appropriate. Unemployment statistics for January, 2009 were just announced: 129,000 jobs were lost in Canada last month. This means that 213,000 jobs have been lost since October. January’s jobless rate in Toronto was 8.5%. The U.S. government reported that 598,000 jobs were lost in January in that country, so we are truly in a North American wide recession.

These numbers don’t even take into consideration some recent announcements. Bombardier, Canada’s only aircraft manufacturer, has announced 1,360 job cuts. Chrysler announced that 4 plants, including 1 in Brampton, will shut down for 1 full week because demand for vehicles is weak.

What does all this mean? It means the average Canadian will somehow be affected by these job losses. Whether it is the double income family, or worse, single income family, they will be faced with getting by and paying their bills with less money.

This became clear as our show went on. A lot of our discussion focused on people being pro-active and tackling their financial problems before it became too late. The time to act and get advice is when you hear and see the train coming, not after it has past. Too many people call us for help after the unpaid bills stack up on the kitchen table and after they have spent many a stressful evening, and sleepless night, at home ignoring the telephone calls for fear that they are bill collectors.

One of our calls came from a lady named Cathy. Now she is the type of client I like to meet with. She had already done her homework; she identified the options available to her as a debt management plan, a consumer proposal and a bankruptcy (though she didn’t get the terminology perfect, she did understand the big picture). The next step was for her to meet with a professional to review her specific financial situation and come up with a plan that was right for her. I invited her to call our office and schedule a no cost consultation, which she said she would do.

The idea behind a consumer proposal is fairly simple: the individual, or family, do not have enough cash at the end of the month to make all their minimum payments in full, but they do have the ability to make some payments to their creditors, and settle their debts without filing for bankruptcy.

For anyone finding themselves in this situation, I invite you to call us at 310-PLAN (310-7526), no area code required, or email us to schedule an initial consultation. There is no charge for this meeting, and I am sure that we can develop a plan to deal with your finances.