A recent client advised me he actually went to the J.C. Penny’s store to make a partial payment on his account ($50.00). The employee in Customer Service refused to take the payment because it was not the minimum payment. What was the employee thinking?! As crazy as it may sound, creditors are not required to accept a payment unless [...]
August 2009
When you file for bankruptcy you need to list all of the debts that you owe to you unsecured creditors. The potential consequences if you knowingly fail to list creditors was discussed by Boston Bankruptcy attorney Nicholas Ortiz. So what happens if you simply forget to list a debt that you owe to an unsecured creditor? The answer depends on a [...]
Many debtors are unaware of “dragnet clauses,” only to find out the same after a bankruptcy is filed. Dragnet clauses are “cross-collateralization” clauses typically used by credit unions to secure other contractual obligations against collateral that didn’t exist when the original security agreement was created.
Consumers are being targeted by fake debt collection companies who usually threaten dire consequences if the debt is not immediately paid, including arrest, garnishment, or prosecution.
It costs eight cents per page to look at “public” records in most bankruptcy courts. With the advent of CM/ECF, the electronic federal court system for managing and storing case files, the Administrative Office of the US Courts has made many of these records accessible to the public through the “Pay Per View” system described [...]
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) which went into effect on October 17, 2005, appears to be living up to its name with the changes to 11 USC 362. Indeed, for creditors who violate the automatic stay, there no longer appears to be a good faith exception due to new “consumer protections.” In [...]
