Professional Athletes With Tax Debt Problems

Darryl Strawberry
Dodgers star, Darryl Strawberry first got in to trouble with the IRS in 1994 when he was put under investigation for tax fraud. The IRS tacked him with tax evasion, and he had to pay back $350,000 in back taxes, serve 3 years of probation, six years of home confinement, and complete 100 hours of community service.

2. Lawrence Taylor
Former Giants linebacker, Lawrence Taylor filed an incorrect federal income tax return back in 1990. Taylor pleaded guilty to the tax charges in 1997, and was punished with three months house arrest, five years probation and 500 hours of community service for income tax evasion.

3. Pete Rose
Baseball favorite, Pete Rose, also got in to some trouble with the government in 1990, when he filed a false income tax return. Despite his celebrity status, Rose was sentenced to five months in a correctional facility, three months in a community treatment center, 1,000 hours of community service and a $50,000 fine.

4. Helio Castroneves
The recent controversy around Indy 500 racer Helio Castroneves and his supposed $5 million tax debt has shed light on the tax problems sports stars can get in to. He is currently being tried for evading taxes on a licensing deal that he claims to never have received a dime from. Only time will tell whether the Indy 500 and dancing with the stars celebrity actually committed the tax crime.

5. Willie McCovey
Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, like many other athletes who ran in to tax trouble, did so by forgetting to claim cash made during autograph signing. While McCovey pleaded guilty to the crime, he also claimed to have committed it unknowingly, since he had a professional handle his accounting. He was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $5,000.

6. O.J. Simpson
Although infamous for more than his athletic abilities, O.J. Simpson upset the IRS enough to be put on the California tax shame list. His tax debt was over $1.5 million, and he stayed on the list for more than a year.

7. Jesse Owens
The late 1930s Olympic winner Jesse Owens got himself into trouble with the IRS. After the Olympics, Owens tried multiple business ventures in the United States to profit off his newly found fame. However, one of his ventures lost Owens a fortune and rendered him unable to pay his full tax liability. As a result, Owens was forced to declare bankruptcy.

8. Boris Becker
Famed tennis player and bad boy, Boris Becker, ran right in to tax trouble when it was discovered his apartment was not his priority residence, as previously claimed. As a result, he was given two years probation, fined $500,000, and ordered to pay expensive court fees.

Take Advantage Of Debt Help To Make Your Life Prosperous

Every body wants to be financially secured. Debt help can put an end to all your financial crisis. It gives solution for all of your debt consolidation needs. If you’re in debt, you probably need to get debt help to get yourself debt free and have a balance financial repute. However you can avail services beginning from debt consolidation loans to credit counseling to debt settlement. There are so many people who dont get insistent about getting debt free. to get your finances back in order and your creditors off your back, you have to follow certain guidelines. First you have to set up a plan, know your options, start paying off your debt and get a debt help savings quote.

You can get debt help like consolidation loan, credit counseling, or simply to eliminate your debt quickly. Mortgaging your home and your property to lock a consolidation loan can be one of the fast and safest ways to reduce high interest debt. You also can borrow more than you would be able to through a personal loan. You can avail second mortgages, refinances, and home equity loans to become debt free.

There are several ways to manage your debt. If you possess many debts across a few credit cards, you should take the help of consolidation loan or a balance transfer to a lower rate credit card. To get rid of the creditors sign up the services of a credit counselor or debt settlement firm who will negotiate with your creditors and help you establish a payment plan. If you really want to get out of debt and staying there, one permanent debt solution can be suggested to you. Dont spend more than your necessity. Obviously most people cant expect to buy a house or go to college without incurring debt, which is why those debts are considered good. But if you make saving you can avoid bad debt. You should first judge your necessity categories like food, housing, transportation, and childcare. Even though you cant cut those expenses, you can make better choices. Although sometimes a strict home budget can’t help you in your debt. It is perhaps due to your monthly income just isn’t large enough to cover your expenses.

There is no exact time-span it takes to pay off debt. It all relies on how much you have a loan from, the interest rate attached to your dent, and how much you pay each month. A usual hypothesis, yet, is that just making minimum payments on your credit cards could result in paying off your debts for over 15 years.

Don’t Be Fooled By Common Debt Help Myths

Debt is easy to get into, but very difficult to get out of. This is because it is easy to accumulate large amounts of debt without even really being conscious of it. But once consumers are confronted by the severity of their financial situation, they often make rash decisions and choose the wrong debt resolution. Getting out of debt requires research, and a well thought out plan. There are many debt help myths that deceive consumers, so here are the critical facts about debt help.

Myth: “The only way to get out of debt is the traditional way–slowly paying it off”. Many people think that the best way to eliminate debt is to just follow a strict budget and struggle to make the payments over the course of years. But if you are struggling or can no longer make the payments on your bills now, there is no way that you can get out of debt the ‘traditional’ way. Even for people who can make the monthly payments, it can take ten to twenty years to become debt free using this method, making it a good idea to research debt resolutions that offer faster debt relief.

Myth: “Because you don’t have to pay the debt back, bankruptcy is the ultimate solution to debt.” Bankruptcy may eliminate debt quicker than just paying off the loan over the course of many years, but it surely isn’t the right debt help option for everyone. Consumers often declare bankruptcy without doing the research, and they aren’t aware of the consequences it can have. Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 are the two types of bankruptcy. Chapter seven resolves unsecured debts; chapter thirteen includes a short term repayment plan. It is important to know that filing for bankruptcy is stressful and can be expensive. Bankruptcy can also damage your credit score and stay as a negative item on your report for up to ten years.

Myth: “Debt Settlement companies are really just illegal scams.” Some people think that debt settlement is illegal, but the truth is that debt settlement is both a legal and effective way to become debt free. Unfortunately, some debt settlement companies are illegitimate and scam consumers, which has led to the belief that debt settlement in general is illegal.

Myth: “Debt consolidation loans offer significant debt relief”. Debt consolidation, although a popular debt help option, isn’t the best one for people who need real debt relief. This is because debt consolidation loans combine unsecured debts and make paying off your debt easier, but they don’t necessarily reduce or help eliminate the debt.

Myth: “Debt Settlement ruins your credit.” Not paying your bills and accumulating debt is what ruins your credit. Some debt help options may cause further damage to your credit score. But because debt settlement is the fastest way to eliminate debt, it is the least likely to do damage to your credit history. Debt settlement can allow you to become debt free quickly, and start rebuilding your credit.

Bank write-offs double for bad credit card debt

The Bank of England has reported a significant rise in the amount of money that banks have written off as bad debts on their credit cards.

The Bank figures show that the total value of the write-offs doubled to 1.6bn in the third quarter of 2009.

In the first and second quarter, the figure had been around 800m. The total amount of credit card related write-offs totalled 3.2bn during 2008.08.

These unusually high figures are largely due to the recession and are an acknowledgement by the banks that defaulting borrowers will never repay the outstanding debts.

In comparison, the total amount of mortgages written off in 2008 was just 408m, while averaging 260m in each of the first three quarters of 2009.

Banks and other lenders put much larger sums, running into several billions of pounds, aside each year to cover potential losses on credit cards, mortgages, overdrafts, and personal loans.

“There was a one-off write-off of impaired credit card balances by one of the banking groups,” said a spokesman for the British Bankers’ Association.

David Black of the financial consultancy Defaqto, said that over the last four years, banks have been much more careful about who they will lend to.

“HSBC, NatWest and RBS will only offer new credit cards or unsecured loans to their current account customers,” he said.

“Banks also want to sweep bad news into one year’s accounts to make future years look better,” he added.

How Debt Help Can help You Stay Afloat!

If you are drowning in debts and dont know how to cope with the situation, there is no need to fret because numerous options of debt help are available for debtors, which can help them to handle the issue in a suitable manner. But you need to review and assess your financial condition, the debts you owe and the in-and-out of the various sources that can provide you with debt help, before you approach one. A wise way to start would be to being by taking the help of a consumer debt counseling service. This is a usually a free service that is generally provided by many money lending resources like banks and financial institutions. Based on your financial conditions, the counselor can help to design a debt management plan to resolve all your debt problems.

Besides benefiting from a debt counseling service, you also have the option of debt consolidation. It not only gives you the ease of consolidating all your small payments into one monthly payment but also the rate of interest is normally, comparatively lower. Usually, the process may require a collateral security of a fixed asset like a house but you can also try to get an unsecured debt consolidation loan. The latter, however, may not prove to be very advantageous as the loan amount is generally very small and to a great extent will be influenced by several factors like your credit score and history as well as your income and financial status. Shop to find a competent and trustworthy debt consolidation company and before signing, read all the documents carefully.

Yet another way to avail of a debt help relief, which may people are unaware of would be to apply for a government grant. Every year the government allots money specifically for this very purpose and frequently offers grants as debt help, so that you can pay off small debts like your credit card bill. Compared to conventional loans, government grants are easier to acquire and do not require any collateral security, unlike traiditonal loans. However, you have to match their eligibility criteria in order to take advantage of this solution. The government will first verify your financial status to ascertain whether or not you are in the position to pay the debt. Then, they will review the amount of debt you owe and consider various other factors, before accepting the application.

If all the above alternatives to debt help fail, then your last hope would be to declare and file a bankruptcy. The consequences of such an extreme step can undeniably be negative and bother you for years to come but you always have the option of rebuilding your credit. But before choosing all these alternatives, you can try to pay for all your multiple debts with the help of lower rate credit card. Instead of picking dire strategies like filing a bankruptcy, you can first try to negotiate with the creditors. If you are not good at making negotiations, then it would be advisable take professional help from credit counselors or debt settlement companies, who are skilled and trained in this aspect. They can even help you to come up with an appropriate payment plan.

Of all these debt help options, obtaining a government grant makes more sense, since you not only become debt free instantaneously, but also there is no repayment to be made, nor is there any tax or intruders rate charged. They are an easy way of paying off your debts without having to pledge any type of security. Moreover, you can avoid the embarrassment of declaring and filing a bankruptcy.