Recent Posts in Debt Buyers Category

When you stop paying your credit card bill the bank will want to find a way to get you to start paying again. The first step will likely be making phone calls and sending letters. If that does not work the bank may hire a debt collector to turn up the heat on you.

The collection agency will call, a lot. And send many letters. If still you are not paying your bank will likely hire a local debt collection law firm to attempt to collect.

The law firm will likely again send more letters and make more phone calls. If still not payment is made then they are likely to bring a lawsuit against you.

In order to start a law suit the bank will have to file a complaint and serve a summons on you.  

In my experience it typically takes 10 - 12 months from the time of the first missed payment and the time of the law suite.

Filing for bankruptcy will likely stop all collection calls, letters, and law suits the moment the case is filed.

I came across an article this morning about Debt Settlement on Yahoo. It has a good explanation of what to REALLY expect from the Debt Settlement companies.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/108975/can-you-settle-credit-card-debt-for-pennies?mod=bb-creditcards

Leave it there.

An individual filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy case you may be able to exempt up to $11,200 ($22,400 for a married couple) of cash and bank deposits.

If the money is exempt it will not be touched by the bankruptcy court, trustee, or your creditors. Simply put you can keep.

If you are filing a chapter 13 case there is no liquidation of your assets, unless you want there to be, so here again you can keep the money in your bank.

If you have cash and bank deposits that exceed the exemptions, fear not, you may be able to protect some of the non-exempt money by placing it into an IRA or putting a new roof on your home. I strongly encourage you to meet with a lawyer prior to planning any exemption.

It is often difficult to keep track of all your creditors. Making matters worse, often times debt collections agents and/or debt buyers make it confusing to understand who you owe.

If, for some reason, a creditor is not included in the initial bankruptcy filing and your bankruptcy case is still open, then worry not the creditor can still be added to your bankruptcy filing. The debt owed to the added creditor must have been incurred prior to filing of your initial documents.

A Motion to Amend your Bankruptcy filing will need to be filed with the Court. Currently the Court will charge a $26 Court filing fee to Amend Schedule D, E, or F.  Here at the Law Office of Robert W. Kovacs, Jr., we will, in most cases, file one Amendment to Schedule D, E, or F without charging additional legal fees.