In my Iowa bankruptcy practice I allow people to pay for their attorney’s fees over time. The client can pay a small retainer to commit to a contract between us and then take as long as they need to pay off the balance–interest free. (Of course, a chapter 7 case cannot be filed until all…
In a typical Iowa Chapter 7 bankruptcy case a discharge, final decree and case closure are generally provided around 61-70 days from themeeting of creditors. You receive a document which certifies that you have been discharged from liability for payment of any and all debts which were made dischargeable by the Bankruptcy Code. (Some are…
When you can’t pay a bill which is due the process of aggressive debt collection quickly begins. In Iowa there is an excellent law to protect you–the Iowa Debt Collection Practices Act (Iowa Code Sections 537.7101 to 537.7103). The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practice law is very similar to the Iowa law but it…
A tremendous concern for bankruptcy lawyers nowadays is the incredible difficulty in discharging student loan debt. (See Elizabeth Warren’s comments). It used to be (just before the turn of the century) student loans which were in default for over 7 years could be discharged. With high pressure and effective lobbying from the credit industry this…
When your debt is starting to mount and you feel that you need to confront the creditors, (or they are hounding you like wild wolves) you may be thinking about debt settlement companies to assist you. There is a lot of advertising out there and it is very alluring. While these plans may sometimes work,…
It happens too frequently in many types of transactions which definitely have serious potential legal consequences that the parties do not use an attorney–on either side of the table. When the one side is you and the other side is a big corporation that is asking you to sign reams of boilerplate documents (which were…
The issue of debt settlement continued for my clients today as one informed me that with about $86,000 in outstanding unsecured debt, the credit card companies have continued to reduce their settlement offers to an average of 14% across the board. In sum, if he can come up with $12,000 as lump sum payments these…
One thing you should not generally do is take out a loan against the title of your paid for car from title loan companies. Maybe your local friendly bank could work, but title loan companies are a major rip-off. For example, I have an Iowa bankruptcy client who had borrowed $712 against a lien-free vehicle…
When you get seriously behind in payments of unsecured debt, such as credit card, charge card or medical debt, there are heightened efforts by the creditor or a third party debt collector to squeeze the money out of you. They use many tactics to try to accomplish this–from term negotiation and debt settlement to law…
Bankruptcy clients are usually very worried about losing their car(s) when filing. The car is essential for work, family and various mobility needs. Debtors fear the bank is going to take back the vehicle which will make their lives even worse, if not financially crippled (e.g. no car, no job). Sometimes the client has read…