Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Attorney Blog

January 2011 initial foreclosure notices were down in the Jacksonville area about 50% from January 2010. Florida still has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country and although filings were down, the number of seized properties increased. These properties probably received notices of foreclosure many, many months ago.

Once a debtor receives the initial foreclosure notice there will usually be a hearing set where the debtor gets a chance to explain why he or she is behind on their payments. Generally, after that hearing, a sale date will be set for the property anywhere between 2-6 weeks.

Once the sale date comes and goes, the debtor cannot stop the foreclosure action through any type of channel, even bankruptcy.

If you receive a foreclosure notice, you should contact an experienced foreclosure defense attorney or bankruptcy attorney to discuss your options.

To learn more about this article, please visit Jacksonville initial foreclosure notices drop sharply in Jan. compared to 2010.

Continue reading " Initial Foreclosure notices down from a year ago in Jacksonville area" »

After a debtor receives a discharge in bankruptcy (whether the debtor filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13), the automatic stay follows the debtor for the past debts. If a debt was discharged in a bankruptcy, and that creditor continues to contact the debtor, any collection action or attempt breaches the automatic stay.

The debtor may be entitled to equitable and monetray relief. However, if a creditor was not listed in the petitions or schedules during the bankruptcy, the debt may or may not have been discharged. If the old debt is unsecured debt, more than likely it can still be discharged and the automatic stay would come into effect once the creditor receives notice of the past filed bankruptcy.

If you have had a recent bankruptcy discharge and your are still being harassed for old debts, you should contact an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

Continue reading "Collection Activities after a Bankruptcy Discharge" »

Having your wages garnished is very serious. In Florida, a creditor can garnish up to 25% of your take home pay.

However, proper notice of the garnishment is required. If you have recently moved or changed your mailing address, notice by publication may have been sufficient to satisfy this requirement. Even then, there are ways around a garnishment lien.

For example, in Florida, head of household income and government benefits are exempt from garnishment (except on certain student loan debt). There are several other exemptions available to Florida debtors which you should consult with an attorney about. Furthermore, filing bankruptcy will cease a garnishment action.

Even if there is a judgment and garnishment order against you, the automatic stay in a bankruptcy ceases all debt collection activities. In most cases the bankruptcy will discharge the underlying debt altogether.

Continue reading "How do I stop a Garnishment in Florida?" »

A security interest gives a creditor the right to repossess your property if you default on making payments. Secured creditors, creditors who have taken a security interest in your property, are treated differently from unsecured creditors by the Bankruptcy Court. For example, a secured creditor would be a creditor who has taken a security interest in your car and, in the event that you stop making payments on the car, the creditor has the right to repossess the vehicle.

In most bankruptcy proceedings, secured creditors are entitled to have the property returned, unless you continue to make payments on the debt. Below are a few ways you can deal with secured creditors:

1. Return the Property - Return the property (e.g., the car) to the creditor. Once you return the property to the creditor, you will not have to make anymore payments.
2. Redeem the Property - This option allows you to keep the property. You may keep the property if you pay the creditor the fair market value of the property, this is a one-time lump sum payment.
3. Reaffirm the Property - This option also allows you to keep the property. To reaffirm the property, you sign an agreement to continue to pay the debt. However, if you default on this reaffirmation in the future, the creditor can repossess the property and sue you for the balance owed. You should discuss reaffirming debts with a Florida Bankruptcy Attorney so you understand the full nature of the consequences involved. There are also certain debts that you should never reaffirm, a Florida Bankruptcy Attorney can inform you on these type of debts and explain why you would not want to reaffirm.
4. Avoid the Lien - You may be able to avoid the lien if the security interest is a non-purchase money security interest (the creditor did not give you the money to purchase the goods that the creditor has the security interest in).

Continue reading "How to Deal with Secured Creditors in Florida" »

The news is full of stories about divorce attorneys who use Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites to get information about their clients’ soon-to-be exes to use in court. I’ve even blogged about it myself.

However, what is reported on less often is that debt collectors also use these sites to try and collect on delinquent debts. And while the law provides rules on how debt collectors can obtain information about a debtor’s location, it is frustratingly vague on the use of social networking sites.

To protect yourself, you should:

• Never post your personal information – address, phone number, email address, etc.
• Never post your employment information
• Never accept a “friend request” from someone you do not know
• Always use your privacy settings to allow only people you know to view your page

According to an NPR story, one debt collection agency says it regularly joins debtors’ social networks to talk to their friends and find out what they are doing. Going out on a new sailboat? That tells the collector you have an asset they can take.

In addition, if you have filed for bankruptcy, you should never post photos of yourself enjoying a lavish vacation or showing off a new car online.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that total U.S. household delinquency rates declined for the first time since 2006 during the second quarter of 2010, from 11.9 percent to 11.2 percent. Researchers largely credit a renewed emphasis on paying off old debt and the elimination of debt through bankruptcy for the decrease.

In its quarterly report on household debt and credit, the NY Fed also said that Americans owed 6.4 percent less than they did in 2008, the peak year for national consumer debt. However, the number of people with a new bankruptcy rose 34 percent in the second quarter of this year.

Nationally, the leading delinquency rate category is for credit card debt, followed by student loan debt, mortgage debt and auto loan debt. Transitions from early delinquency (30-60 days) into serious delinquency (+ 90 days) showed a sharp improvement during the second quarter, dropping from 39 percent to 33 percent, the lowest deterioration rate in the past two years.

The report also noted significant regional differences, with Florida, Nevada, Arizona and California all reporting higher than average delinquency and foreclosure rates. Nevada overtook Florida as the state with the highest percentage of delinquency rates, at around 20 percent.

If you have a large amount of consumer debt and need help in making a good decision about your financial future, contact our Jacksonville, Florida bankruptcy law firm.

Last month, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System approved the final rules for the implementation of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) of 2009 that takes place on August 22, 2010.

This Act is aimed at protecting consumers against excessive late fees and other charges that credit card companies have profited from in the past. Some of the new consumer protections include:

• Late payment charges cannot exceed $25 for a monthly credit card bill.
• Over-the-limit fees cannot exceed the amount of the overage. For example, if you go over your credit limit by $25, the credit card company cannot assess an over-the-limit penalty of more than $25.
• Abolishment of the “inactivity fee” that some credit card companies charged users, penalizing them for not using their cards.
• Abolishment of multiple penalty fees for one late payment.

In addition the Board detailed which fees are not considered to be penalty fees, including:

• Fees for cash advances
• Fees for balance transfers
• Fees for foreign transactions
• Annual fees for use of credit (unless the fee is based on account usage, when it would then be considered a penalty fee)
• Fees for expedited payments
• Fees for reissuing a lost or stolen card
• Insurance, debt suspension or debt cancellation fees
• Fees for optional services

If you are having problems paying your credit card bills or have other financial pressures that are creating havoc in your life, contact a Jacksonville bankruptcy attorney.

According to a report out last week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on the results of an investigation of the debt settlement industry:

GAO's investigation found that some debt settlement companies engage in fraudulent, deceptive, and abusive practices that pose a risk to consumers. Seventeen of the 20 companies GAO called while posing as fictitious consumers say they collect fees before settling consumer debts--a practice FTC has labeled as harmful and proposed banning--while only 1 company said it collects most fees after it successfully settles consumer debt. (GAO was unable to obtain fee information from 2 companies.)

In several cases, companies stated that monthly payments would go entirely to fees for up to 4 months before any money would be reserved to settle consumer debt. Nearly all of the companies advised GAO's fictitious consumers to stop paying their creditors, including accounts that were still current.

GAO also found that some debt settlement companies provided fraudulent, deceptive, or questionable information to its fictitious consumers, such as claiming unusually high success rates for their programs--as high as 100 percent. FTC and state investigations have typically found that less than 10 percent of consumers successfully complete these programs.

If you have questions about debt settlement options -- including bankruptcy -- in Florida, contact our Jacksonville, Florida bankruptcy law firm.

One Jacksonville bankruptcy lawyer says it is important for consumers who are being harassed by debt collectors to maintain as much privacy as possible, especially when it comes to social networking sites on the Internet.

Debt collectors routinely search popular social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to gather as much information as possible about debtors.  They may even request to join your social network as a friend or follower in order to gain more access to your personal information.

If you are an active member of any social networking site and wish to protect yourself against debt collectors gathering your personal information, you should:

• Set all your social network account settings to “private” so only those you know can view your personal information.


• Never list your contact information – phone, email address or physical address -- on a social networking site.


• Do not list any employment information on any of your social networking sites as debt collectors may use this information in an attempt to garnish your wages.


• Never accept an invitation to “friend” someone you do not know, even if they say they are a friend of someone you do know.

If you need more information about how to get debt collectors to stop harassing you, contact our Jacksonville, Florida bankruptcy law firm.

Debt collectors are becoming more aggressive than ever, and one Jacksonville bankruptcy attorney says that consumers need to know their rights when it comes to what debt collectors can and cannot do when attempting to collect a debt.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act established clear guidelines on what debt collectors are not allowed to do in their attempt to collect a legitimate debt:

• Debt collectors cannot call you before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. unless you give them permission to do so.  You can also request that they not contact you at work.

• Debt collectors cannot speak to anyone other than the debtor or the debtor’s spouse or attorney about the debt.  They are allowed to contact other people only to obtain information about a debtor’s location, and are prohibited from contacting a third party more than once for this information.

• Debt collectors must provide you with written information about the debt, how much you owe, the name of the creditor and how to respond if you don’t think you owe the money.  They must do this within five days after they first contact you.

• Debt collectors cannot keep contacting you if you have notified them in writing that you do not believe you owe any or all of the money, or if you have requested verification of the debt.

• Debt collectors are also prohibited from threatening you, using abusive language, repeatedly using the phone to annoy you, lying about the debt, misrepresenting themselves or their company, and engaging in unfair practices.

If you are considering filing bankruptcy in Florida because of debt collector harassment, contact our Jacksonville, Florida bankruptcy law firm.