Debt Services

Visit Richard Killen & Associates located at 11 offices across the Greater Toronto Area or give us a call at 1-888-545-5365 for Toronto debt relief services such as debt consolidation programs, money management advice, consumer proposal and personal bankruptcy.

Richard Killen and Associates is a Licensed Insolvency Trustee in Scarborough that offer clients a free in-depth financial assessment to resolve their debt problems.

As a Licensed Insolvency Trustee in Scarborough, Richard Killen and Associates has helped thousands of people get a fresh start and become debt free.

A reliable Licensed Insolvency Trustee in Toronto that provides a free consultation and offers up solutions on the best way to get rid of debt concerns.

Toronto Licensed Insolvency Trustee, Richard Killen and Associates work with clients dealing with debt by supplying them with information and debt relief solutions

This article explains reasons why consumers in Toronto seeking a debt relief solution choose a Consumer Proposal to reduce their debt versus a bankruptcy.

If you are considering filing for personal bankruptcy, find out what is included from a Toronto Licensed Bankruptcy Trustee (LIT) along with most FAQ's.

If your debt stress is taking its toll on your health, family and career, we are here to help you get back on track financially. Put an end to sleepless nights and wondering how you’re going to make this month’s payments.

Debt counselling can help you identify your best debt reduction strategy. Only licensed insolvency trustees are qualified to offer all debt relief solutions.

Applying for a consolidation loan may not always be the wisest choice to deal with debt. Consider these facts from a Licenced Insolvency Trustee in Toronto.

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In this video, a Licensed Insolvency Trustee with offices in Durham, and Greater Toronto area talks about alternatives to bankruptcy for an insolvent person.

There are a number of circumstances that determine when bankruptcy in Toronto is not the best solution. If your income is sufficient to manage your debt over a given period of time you may be able to renegotiate an arrangement with your creditors. Counseling may be helpful to determine if you can change anything in your financial situation that would allow you to come up with a solution. Alternatives to bankruptcy may involve an Informal or Consumer Proposal.

How to Save Water at Home and Save Money on Bills This Summer

We’re now just getting into the start of summer and hot, humid summer days are coming. With the rising temperatures comes an increase in water use for most Canadian households, which in turn means a spike in your monthly water bill. So we thought we’d take this time to share some ways to save water at home this summer so you don’t get punched in the wallet with a huge water bill.

Many households experience a dramatic increase in water usage during the summer. Maybe it’s because we take more showers to avoid getting sweaty and smelly. And yes, also the lawn sprinkling, garden watering, car washing, and other yard and garden activities where we use a lot of water. Of course, when we use more water we can expect to see our water bill go up. Now, for a homeowner with lots of debt to pay off and a very tight household budget to manage, a huge spike in your water bill is the last thing you want to see. You have to save money in the budget wherever you can, and reducing water usage, especially during the summer months when you use up more than usual can go a long way in helping to save money on bills.

These tips will greatly help save water usage at home this summer.

Let’s start indoors.

Repair water leaks

The City of Toronto has confirmed to residents that leaky faucets or toilets attribute to higher bills. It is best, therefore, to regularly check if you have any water leak issues in your house that you need to attend to and fast so you don’t waste thousands of litres of water and end up with a massive water bill.

You can do DIY repair on many water leak issues in the home. If you have faucets that are leaking, all you have to do is replace worn-out washers. To check if you have leaky toilets, just do the toilet test. Put a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank or drop a dye tablet into the toilet tank and lightly stir it. After a few minutes, if the water in your bowl turns color, then your toilet is leaking. You can fix this yourself by replacing with an inexpensive rubber flapper. However, if the toilet is leaking around the base, you will need some professional help to fix this.

Adjust the flow
An easy fix that will save you money and reduce your water use is to regulate the amount of water flowing out of the tap. One effective way is to install low-flow faucet aerators in your kitchen or bathroom sinks. Aerators are inexpensive devices and they can reduce water flow by 25 to 50 per cent. Another way that can save you much in water costs is to use low-flow showerheads, which can reduce water use by about half the amount of water as with a standard flow rate shower head.

Retrofit your toilet

About 30% of water use in the home is caused by toilet flushing. Now, if you really think about it, you don’t need that much to cleanly flush your toilet. A full-flush toilet uses about 18 litres of water per flush, but if you use a low-flow toilet, you can lower water use to just six litres per flush.

Before buying a new toilet, check first if you already have a low flow toilet. Look between the seat and tank for a flush volume stamp. You might find this on the walls of the tank or on the lid itself. There might also be a date stamp inside the tank. If you see a “1.6 gpf or 1.28 gpf,” your toilet is already a low-flow model. If you can’t afford to buy a new toilet just yet, you can simply buy a $10 water retention, displacement or alternative flushing device which you can find at most hardware stores to reduce the water flow of your current toilet.

Now, let’s go outside your home.

Outdoor water use during the summer months can spike consumption by as much as 50%. So, here’s what you can do to save water at home this summer when you are out on your garden or yard.

Garden smarter

One easy tip to follow is to water your lawn at night or early in the morning, ideally before 9:00 am. This way you avoid the heat of the day and reduce evaporation, allowing water to properly sink into the ground. Also, avoid overwatering. Generally, lawns need only about 2.5 cm of water every week. If you have a sprinkler system, you can plan a watering schedule by setting up the timer and making sure that the water comes on at the exact time you’ve scheduled it, and that it does turn off accordingly so that you avoid wasting water on your yard.

Deep watering
Another simple way to help reduce evaporation and thus use less water is to set your lawnmower to maximum height. This way when you cut the grass you leave it just a little taller so that it shades the soil and prevents water to evaporate giving time for the water to soak below the soil surface. The deep watering method lets you use less water because you only need to deep water once a week while at the same time you ensure that water gets to the roots of plants and trees.

Landscape using native and drought-resistant plants

Another advise that the City of Toronto would like residents to follow is to plant native plants and trees in your garden or yard. Common plants and trees like Sugar maple, Red maple, Canada anemone, Cinnamon fern, Lowbush blueberry, Balsam firs, Manzanitas, Black-eyed susan, Red osier dogwood are low maintenance and naturally drought-tolerant which means they will need less water to thrive in the local environment. Not only that, they’ll also help give shade, privacy, color to your property and will help keep your home and yard cooler in the summer – which will help lower your air conditioning costs, too! 😉

It’s really worth it to make the effort to save water at home especially during the summertime because it’s one of the best ways you can save money on your utility bills. It may not seem like a lot of money to save each month, but if you can maintain regular savings in this way every month it can add up significantly over the course of a year.

If you use credit with good judgment and with a solid plan to pay it off, you stand a good chance of profiting from the funds you borrowed. It’s important to remember that when it comes to taking on debt, you should approach the decision carefully and only take on debts that will grow your financial worth and/or positively affect your life. The best way to know how to control debt — along with most things in our lives — is to look before you leap. Be sure to ask yourself if the credit is necessary, what will it involve, is there a better way to get what you want than by incurring this debt and how fast will you be able to get rid of it. For example, ask yourself:

What is its purpose, i.e. the long-term goals and benefits you will achieve as a result of taking on the debt?
How you will pay it back?
And, where it fits within your cash-flow budget?
One way to ensure that taking on new debt won’t be an issue for you is to understand the difference between good debt and not-so-good debt.

Good debt generally has the following qualities:

It is taken on for something that will likely not lose value over time
It will leave us better off in the long-term and provide us with lasting and, with luck, ever-increasing benefits
The debt will not have negative consequences on our present and near-future overall financial position
It will help us manage our finances more effectively
It will help leverage your wealth
The debt is used in a responsible way, with details carefully thought out and with the long- term view in mind
There is a clear and specific reason for taking out the debt
There is a realistic plan for paying back the debt as quickly as possible
The debt was obtained through the cheapest and most effective borrowing method available, with the most reasonable interest rate, term and charges
Not-so-good debt has the following features:

It feels like free money
It often provides some form of instant gratification
It will not provide some increase in value to us over time
It reduces your wealth or offers no opportunities to grow wealth
It keeps growing, because of the interest rate and supplementary charges
It seems like it will never be paid off
It may have an unrealistic repayment plan
How to stay out of debt

The fact is that no matter how much our financial life may have jumped the rails, you always have the power to get it back on track and regain control. You’ve also seen how much of a role our attitude plays in grasping that empowerment. Seeing the glass to be half-full rather than half-empty can make all the difference in the world. If you can manage your credit wisely, you can enjoy the many benefits it offers. As you know, it can be a very useful tool by helping you accomplish important life goals, boost your net worth over time and enhance your quality of life, just so long as you remain the one in charge.

The next logical question likely is: “What can I do to make sure that I do remain the one in control of my debt?” Of course, the short flippant answer is: don’t borrow. But as we’ve already seen, there are times that taking on debt will be necessary. The majority of us may see abstention as too lofty a goal. It can be done, but very few of us will be in the envious financial position of having the money to satisfy all our needs, and our wants, without borrowing. The trick will be to manage it properly and not allow it to take control.

Consider sticking the following reminders to your fridge to help keep you on the straight and narrow in 2019:

Best way is to stay out of debt completely, don’t borrow full stop. But some are not avoidable:
Mortgages
Car loans
Student Loans
Impulse — clothing, food, entertainment
f you actually need to take on some debt, what is it that you are trying to accomplish?
Have a plan – this is the goal of how you’ll pay of the debt
Develop good habits and stick to positive financial routines
Most important, learn to manage your cash flow
Create a simple cash flow spreadsheet or table; this can also be done through money management software like Intuit Quicken or MS Money
Make tracking your money an automatic process; enter and update your transactions regularly
Remember, when it comes to tackling your debt:
Be honest with yourself about what went wrong
Make a decision to tackle the problem
Seek professional advice to understand your options; remember, you’re not alone, keep your pride in check
Accept the reality of the situation and stay positive

In this video, Richard Killen, a Toronto-based Licensed Insolvency Trustee talks about, What Are The Different Types Of Creditors.

There is a simple way to avoid taking on personal debt: never take out a loan without first knowing its purpose, the long-term goals and benefits it will achieve, and the plan to pay it back. Simply put, use credit with good judgment ideally to profit from your borrowing. But as we all know, we often borrow without considering the consequences, and then we find that our debts pile up quickly, resulting in an overall negative impact on our financial position.

Is it possible to save money when you are broke and a big chunk of your income goes towards paying monthly expenses and dealing with debt? Saving money even while you are getting out of debt and have a low income should not be as difficult as many people think. Of course, you will need to make a few changes to how you currently do things, like following a strict budget and really making an effort to live within your means, but those changes don’t have to be overly radical in that you deprive your family and yourself too much that you can no longer live a decent lifestyle.

Finding the best digital printing company all depends on your needs. Xtreme Printing offers the leading printing services in Toronto that's within your budget and requirements.

Building a lucrative side hustle that can let you make extra income can really be a lifesaver. For one, it can let you earn unlimited income. With a traditional job you have your regular income, now if you augment that with a side business that literally does not limit you to how much you can earn.

Many residents of Scarborough have suddenly found themselves insolvent as a result of many reasons, job loss, marital breakdown, business failure, poor budgeting or bad spending habits. And because of the stress of too much debt, many of them are unable to figure out what to do or where to go to for help. A Scarborough insolvency trustee can provide the best professional advice for debt relief.