Individuals
I'm Behind on Bills
"The phone calls just don't stop."
"I'm afraid to go to the mailbox."
"I just don't know what to do."
Most of our clients tell us these things.
You want to pay your bills. But it seems that there's always too much month left at the end of the money. The credit card companies, bill collectors, and payday loan folks don't care -- all they want is their money. And the reasons why people can't pay their bills usually aren't their fault... >More
I Want to Save My Home
You Bought a Home to Make
Your Life Better, Not Worse.
Remember when you first thought about buying your home? How exciting it was, the thought of a permanent place to call your own! A safe place for your family to live, free from the hassles of rent.
The closing went by in a blur, a pile of papers to sign. Maybe they explained them to you, maybe not. You signed whatever they put in front of you, anxious to get it over with and move into the home you’d worked so hard to get... >More
I've Been Sued or Garnished
Being sued is something you never thought you'd have to deal with.
You're made to feel like a criminal. You tried to work with them, but they asked for ridiculous payments that you just didn't have. And now you're being sued.
The Court papers don't make a lot of sense--they're confusing and written in legalese. And don't they know that if you had the money to hire a lawyer, you would have paid them? >More
Almost all of my clients hate to schedule their first appointment with me.
It’s not because I’m a bad guy, or that I treat my clients poorly—just the opposite. My clients are shown respect and understanding, and both my staff and I give them a ready ear to hear their problems. We help them save their homes, get rid of their bills, and stop lawsuits, garnishments, attachments, and repossessions.
So why don’t people want to meet with me?
It’s because almost all people who file for bankruptcy feel embarrassed. They feel that they are a failure. They feel ashamed that they cannot pay their bills, or that they are faced with a foreclosure, or a lawsuit. They feel completely alone, an outcast with a large letter “B” for Bankruptcy tattooed on their forehead that people will point to and turn away. They think they are a bad person for even thinking about filing for bankruptcy.
While these feelings are real, they are unwarranted.
Debt problems are nothing recent. The historical basis of bankruptcy can be found in the Bible. In fact, the seven-year forgiveness of debts in Deuteronomy 15 is why Chapter 7 received its name.
Bankruptcy is part of American history as well, going back to the Constitution. It even predates the Bill of Rights. The right of Congress to establish laws for bankruptcy appears in the 1789 Constitution in Article I, Section 8. The Bill of Rights wasn’t adopted until 1791. Why? Some of the Founding Fathers of this country, among them Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, had severe debt trouble. Much of President Jefferson’s property, including his home, Monticello, was sold after his death to pay his debts.
Many famous people have filed for bankruptcy or had serious debt problems, among them Walt Disney, Michael Jackson, Donald Trump’s companies (6 times), and Stan Lee. And, of course, the number of multi-billion dollar corporations that have filed is too large to mention.
So why the shame?
Part of it is that most people who file are good, honest, hard-working folks who genuinely want to repay their debts. In fact, most of my clients would have been better off financially had they seen me a year or two earlier. But they don’t, because they try to work things out without having to file for bankruptcy. The problem is that, in today’s financial market, creditors make it as hard as they can to do this. They hike interest rates up to 30%, charge huge fees, call and write with nasty threats, and are unwilling to work with people who just need a bit of time to get things back on track.
By the time most of my clients meet with me, they have already paid back, in full, the amount of money they borrowed on their credit cards and have paid double or triple that amount in interest, fees and costs.
So why do they think they’re such bad people?
Creditors—banks, mortgage companies, lenders, and collection agencies—have a huge economic interest in making people feel bad about filing for bankruptcy. They run ads saying what a terrible thing it is. They whisper that it’s immoral. Their collectors make people feel like scum. See our Top 7 Bankruptcy Myths for just some examples. And, since people want to do the right thing, these messages fall on fertile soil…and make people believe that they are bad for even considering bankruptcy, let alone actually filing.
They aren’t. You aren’t.
And we can help.