As a debt restructuring specialist, I spend all my days working with and for Canadian consumer debtors facing insolvency. When you approach insolvency, you are basically seeking to negotiate with your creditors to relieve or eliminate your debt, and our job is to help our clients understand this process and make the best decisions possible...Continue reading

20-year financial veteran Paul Murphy breaks down a common question from our clients: should you use things like consumer proposals bankruptcy or debt consolidation or preserve your credit score? I recently sat down with David Moffatt from 4 Pillars’ Halifax office and Ryan Brown from 4 Pillars’ Muskoka & Parry Sound offices on our 4 Pillars’ podcast Beating the Debt Game....Continue reading

20-year financial veteran Paul Murphy breaks down how the major credit bureaus work, showing how your credit score is calculated in Canada.  Five major factors go into how your credit score is calculated in Canada. 1. Your payment history 2 . Amount of utilization 3. Length of time of credit history 4. New credit 5. Maturity...Continue reading

“Well, I got a job and tried to put my money away. But I got debts that no honest man can pay.” — Bruce Springsteen It was June. I was attending a wedding of a friend and I met a man in his late 20’s, who had recently fallen into debt. It began with a...Continue reading

4 Pillars urges House of Commons Finance Committee to review Canada’s insolvency legislation: Be more debtor-centered. Reg Rocha December 4, 2020 I have written on many occasions about the rising levels of household debt in Canada. As a nation, we hold one of the highest consumer debt levels in the G20. Just prior to the...Continue reading

  On July 7, the House of Commons FINA Committee called the Superintendent of Bankruptcy and Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada as witnesses to discuss their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their testimonies revealed the extent to which key Federal regulators know (and don’t know) about what’s to come for Canadians during...Continue reading

Join financial expert Paul Murphy for an insider’s tour of the belly of the debt machine in Canada.  “Paul Murphy arms readers with his unique perspective of the consumer credit and debt industry.” – Henrietta E. Ross, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Debtors Association The stakes are high. The table is rigged....Continue reading

Like so many of you, I follow the news and trends related to COVID-19 and the financial health of Canadians very closely. Recently, I’ve found three loosely related government reports that when combined paint a concerning picture of what might be coming our way as a country:  In December of 2019, the Office of the...Continue reading

CERB has been extended….now what? Introduce the extension and highlight the fact that millions of Canadians are still on it. There is a huge challenge ahead for the early applicants of the CERB benefit.  It was clear that the benefits would run for a maximum of 16 weeks.  The benefit program runs from March 15...Continue reading

The Pending financial Storm. The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating the Canadian economy and people’s financial stability. The rebuilding of the economy is going to take a long time.  The phased reopening means this is not a quick fix for those whose financial lives have been destroyed.  After the dust settles, the payment deferral programs are...Continue reading