Our Bankruptcy Legal Services Can Protect You From Debt Collectors

We offer bankruptcy legal services and do so to help our clients get out from under mountains of debt.  Whether you got in over your head due to a job loss, medical emergency, divorce or some unforeseen circumstance, debt can build quickly.  When it does, families that would otherwise pay their bills often find themselves choosing between whether to pay the car note or keep juggling credit cards.  Once the debt collectors start making calls, this can create a toxic and stressful situation that can often be too much to handle.  Fortunately, we can help

Debt Collectors – The Ugly Truth

They aren’t nice.  Let’s face it, the banker that you got your car loan from may have been a saint. If you have stopped paying, there’s a good chance that the debt collectors have or will step in.  These individuals are trained in how to extract money out of people that usually don’t have any.  Through coercion and threats, they often get people to make a payment, at times to their detriment.  A perfect example of this is someone that spends the grocery money paying a bill simply to make the phone stop ringing.  If you have ever been in this situation, you can understand how incredibly stressful it can be to feel pushed into a corner with no way out.  Some debt collectors have gotten so abusive in their practices that Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney of Manhattan said, that there is an investigation of “an absolute epidemic of abusive debt-collection practices”.  This investigation currently involves the Federal Trade Commission, FBI, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  In other words, if you are being harassed by debt collection agencies, you are not alone. 

As a provider of bankruptcy legal services, we can help.  If you are trying to stay afloat while dealing with debt collection calls, we recommend that you call our office right away.  We can sit down with you, discuss your financial and debt situation, and then create a plan for how to move forward.  There are two main types of bankruptcy that you can file – a Chapter 7 where the debt is wiped out or a Chapter 13 where you pay back a portion of what is owed over time.  Both types of filings must be approved by the court, making hiring an attorney essential to your case.  Simultaneously, once you have filed for bankruptcy, the debt collectors have to leave you alone.  While going through the process, they will have the opportunity to make a case in court for why you should be forced to pay some or all of your debts.  By going through the court system, they cannot go to you directly. Additionally, the judge’s ruling stands.  That means that if the court approves your Chapter 7 or 13, your creditors must abide by the decision.  This leaves them with no recourse to continue to pursue you, as long as you follow the judge’s orders.

If you are tired of the phone ringing and want to make it stop, engage our bankruptcy legal services so that you can stop getting those angry phone calls. 

When Looking for Bankruptcy Legal Services, Be Sure to Work with a Lawyer

At The Travis Law Firm, we offer bankruptcy legal services to individuals and families throughout California.  We understand that this is a major decision both financially and personally.  This makes it important to work with a trusted advisor.  In the state of California, and elsewhere, there have been issues with companies offering bankruptcy help that did not follow through or file the paperwork correctly. As an individual, it is difficult, if not impossible, to know if someone you hire will do what they say and that is why you should work with an attorney.  Attorneys have a fiduciary duty to their clients, meaning that we are held to a higher standard and responsible for giving sound advice and doing things in accordance with the law and our clients’ interest.

An example of these issues arose when California homeowners were trying to protect their homestead interest.  The state of California allows for anywhere from $75,000 to $175,000 of equity in a home to be protected as part of the bankruptcy process.  That means that when filing bankruptcy, if you owe $75,000 in unsecured debt and have $75,000 in equity in your home, you would not be required to sell your home to pay off the debt.  This is an important law that has helped families throughout the country to remain in their home while getting out from under their debts. 

Unfortunately, companies throughout California were offering bankruptcy legal services by saying that they would handle the paperwork and document filing for the homestead provision to apply then not doing it.  In order to have your home protected using this law, you have to file paperwork in the county where you live.  These companies were not lawyers but were still offering these services.  When many of them failed to do what they said, homeowners were not granted their homestead protections, and some lost their home as a result.  The state legislature responded by regulating these companies so that other families would not suffer the same fate. You can read the regulations by searching for CAL. BPC. CODE 17537.5.  

While this was a good step taken by the legislature, it simply serves to demonstrate the importance of working with a law firm when undergoing something as significant as a bankruptcy filing.  When you file bankruptcy, there is a set process that must be followed in order to ensure that it is done correctly.  There is a variety of forms and deadlines that must be met.

Additionally, if you are trying to protect your home or other assets like your car, steps must be taken to do so.  You can’t simply request it but need to go through the process, and this is where non-lawyers struggle.  The legal system is not designed to be simplistic or easily manageable.  While that would be nice, it’s simply not the case because every time a new piece of legislation is passed, the laws become that much greater.  As an attorney, it is our job, duty, and responsibility to understand the law, follow it and adhere to all procedural guidelines.  As such, if you are looking for bankruptcy legal services, call our law firm so that you can trust it will be handled correctly.