* A debt collector can’t contact you at unreasonable hours, defined by the act as between 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., unless you give permission.

* You can tell a collector — by a letter or by voice — not to call you at work; the collector must abide.

* A collector can call your family and friends, but only to find out your contact information. They are not allowed to discuss the debt with anyone but you unless you have an attorney. * A collector has to provide written information on the debt within five days of contacting you. The letter has to tell you the creditor’s name and what to do if you don’t think you owe the debt.

* A collector can’t harass you, which includes threatening you with harm, cursing at you or publishing your name as someone who owes money.

* A collector can’t lie, including claiming she is an attorney, saying you have committed a crime or any other lie about the actual debt, such as the amount.

* Someone’s wages can’t be garnisheed without a judge’s consent.

If you think your rights have been violated, contact a debt help lawyer today for a FREE consultation.

Source: http://www.post-trib.com/news/2624332,new-debt0425.article

Source: http://www.loansafe.org/bankruptcy-filings-rise-20-percent-in-june

As with any other type of service, a good recommendation from somebody you trust, like a family member or friend, can be a great place to start when looking for a debt settlement attorney.  If somebody you know and trust likes a debt settlement attorney’s services, it is likely you will too. Other options are the yellow pages and the Internet; look for listings of debt settlement attorneys.  Make sure that you choose a debt settlement attorney who has been practicing in your state for a respectable amount of time.  Debt settlement legislation varies from state to state, and, in order to get the best debt settlement possible for your situation, you need a debt settlement attorney with extensive practice in your state.  When you have selected a few debt settlement attorneys in your area, you are advised to speak to them to find out more about their practice.

It’s important that your debt settlement attorney is available to speak to you during your debt settlement process, so make sure your debt settlement attorney has enough resources to enable him to deal with his clients personally.  Otherwise, you might be handed off to an intern or secretary and never get to consult with your debt settlement attorney in person. When you actually speak to your debt settlement attorney, be alert to his or her speaking and listening skills.  A good debt settlement attorney knows when to listen and when to give instructions – after all, this is the person who will be representing you in your debt settlement negotiations with your creditors, so excellent communication skills are vital.  It is also imperative to understand that your debt settlement attorney should not make any guarantees about by how much he or she can reduce your overall debt.

Who Can Discharge Student Loans in Bankruptcy
Discharging student loan debt is not easy. You would have to prove undue hardship which means that you or your dependent have a condition which prevents you from working. Not being able to afford your payments is not an acceptable reason.

Alternatives
Just because you don’t qualify for your student loan debt to be eliminated by the court, it doesn’t mean you’re out of options. You should consider debt settlement or debt consolidation. Talk to an experience debt relief attorney today for a free consultation about your debt and find out your options.

Hamburg-based Lewis Hastie Receivables acknowledged that it violated debt collection laws by “harassing and intimidating consumers.”

“Consumers did not receive verification of the debt,” Deputy Attorney General for Regional Affairs David Samson explains. “What that means is, once a call is placed to them by LHR, and the consumer requested [to know what] the debt [was], LHR has an obligation under both federal and state law to either provide proof of the debt to the consumer, or cease their collection activities. And we found, in numerous cases, that they failed to do so.”

According to Samson, LHR’s failure to verify the debts it was attempting to collect led to some instances of collection calls being made to people who didn’t even owe the company any money. In other cases, people who received phone calls were harassed, and even threatened.

“There were instances were consumers were called up to 16 times in one day, in an attempt to collect the debt,” Samson says.

“In another case, involving a Mississippi man, they were trying to collect a debt that was owed by his ex-wife. And after he explained to them that it was not his obligation, the LHR collector told him that he would call him every day at 8 AM until he paid that debt.”

Aside from paying the penalties, LHR also agreed to reform its business practices, as part of the settlement. The Attorney General’s Office will closely monitor LHR’s business for the next four years, and any complaints it receives from consumers will have to be addressed by LHR immediately. LHR has also agreed to create a section dedicated to complaints on its website, where consumers can file a report if they are still being harassed by a specific debt collector.

Source: http://www.wben.com/Local-Debt-Collector-Fined-for-Harassing-Customers/7782951

The Obama loan modification program was designed to help millions of homeowners who were affected in recession. Obama has allocated $75 billion in funding for the homeowners to shun foreclosure of their homes. Loan modification plan allows getting a reduction in the interest rate and the principal amount of the loan.

Among the different home loan modification plan, HARP federal home affordable refinance is one among them. This program aids the homeowners to refinance the mortgage as their home value has decline due of recession.

Requirements of HARP

• Balance of mortgage should not exceed 125% of the home value.
• In the last 12 months, the mortgage payments should not be more than 3 days late
• This plan is for mortgage owned.
• One should have enough income to pay back the new monthly mortgages

Avail Home Affordable Refinance Program

The other type of mortgage refinance is called as HAMP program. It’s the home affordable modification program. It helps those homeowners who had undergone financial hardships like loss of household income, death of spouse, loss of job. In this plan the home mortgage is altered without refinancing.

Requirement of HAMP

• The property should be the primary residence of a person
• One should able to prove that he is going through financial hardships
• The mortgage period should be effective from January 1, 2009
• The monthly mortgage payment should be greater than 31% of pre-tax monthly income
• The loan amount should be less $729,750 or less for single family unit, $934,200 for duplex unit, $1,129,250 for triplex unit and $1,403,400 for 4 home units.

Avail HAMP loan modification program here!

These making home affordable program guidelines are necessary to get the eligibility for HAMP program. It’s very important in home loan modification to consult a professional who knows the rules of this program and thus can direct forward according to the one’s conditions. One should always ask for proven track records and written testimonials from this professional. If all the above steps are followed strictly than one can surely benefit from Obama loan modification system.

Source: http://www.mortgage11.com/2010/07/eligibility-criteria-for-hamp-loan-modification-program/

“The Debt Machine: How the Collection Industry Hounds Consumers and Overwhelms Courts,” released today by the National Consumer Law Center, shows an urgent need for stronger and updated consumer protections.

“The recession has thrown millions of consumers into the jaws of a giant collection machine,” said Robert Hobbs, NCLC deputy director and report co-author. “Existing laws and regulatory efforts have lagged behind what is needed to effectively monitor powerful, wealthy and ubiquitous collections companies.”

“The Debt Machine” tells the stories of consumers who have been dragged into a morass of annoying phone calls, false claims and harassment. It also identifies the financial links between debt companies and some of the nation’s leading banks, documents the buying and selling of billions of dollars of debts and describes the critical role played by hundreds of specialized law firms.

This timely report echoes the FTC’s July 12 call for enhanced protections for consumers who face collections actions in small claims courts and private “forced arbitration” forums.

“Millions of American families have been subjected to debt collection abuses in recent years,” Hobbs said. “Some have been struggling to pay accumulated debts. Some who don’t even owe the debts have been targeted by a sloppy and over-aggressive debt industry.”

“These families – unlike some of the giant banks that are the leading creditors – haven’t asked for a bail-out,” Hobbs added. “But they are entitled to their rights not to be hounded, abused or pursued for claims that they never owed or are no longer legally enforceable. Consumers also deserve their day in court to resolve legitimate disputes.”

The report is posted on-line at www.nclc.org/images/pdf/pr-reports/debt-machine.pdf.

The National Consumer Law Center is a non-profit organization that seeks marketplace justice on behalf of vulnerable Americans. NCLC works with, and offers training to, thousands of legal-service, government and private attorneys, as well as community groups and organizations representing low-income families. Our legal manuals and consumer guides are standards of the field. Learn more and find a link to the new report on our Web site: http://www.nclc.org.

Friedman & Wexler is embroiled in several lawsuits with former clients, including the state of Illinois, that allege the firm and two of its principals, lawyers Norman Wexler and Mitchell Wexler, withheld funds. One former client, the lending arm of Volkswagen, charges that the firm misappropriated $1.4 million of the automaker’s money.

In the middle of fighting the suits, the firm appears to have closed last month. Calls to Friedman & Wexler’s main phone number go unanswered and then disconnect. The Tribune obtained a copy of an e-mail that Mitchell Wexler sent to an employee on June 17, indicating that the firm was winding down. He could not be reached for comment this week.

The firm apparently has not told consumers that it has closed. Dawn Estenor, of Denver, has been trying to reach Friedman & Wexler’s representatives for the past several days to check on her account. The firm has been collecting an old credit card debt of hers for the past five years, and she’s nearly done paying her obligation.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Estenor said. “Is the account going to get sold someone else? Am I going to rack up more interest?”

The lack of public disclosure about the firm’s status raises concerns because Friedman & Wexler was one of the highest-volume consumer collection firms in Chicago. Norman Wexler, 67, who has been a licensed attorney in Illinois since 1968, started the firm and was later joined by his son, Mitchell, now 46. Wayne Rhine, a retired Cook County circuit judge, worked for the firm until recently.

Banks, automobile finance companies, retailers and municipalities have relied on Friedman & Wexler to pursue delinquent accounts and properly account for and safeguard their funds. The firm handled thousands of checks and wage garnishments every month, according to people involved in the debt collection industry.

Friedman & Wexler, formerly known as Wexler & Wexler, has been a collection agent for the city of Chicago since 1994, according to public records. In 2009, the firm collected $1.7 million from 2,047 cases the city referred from its administrative hearings department, public records show. For its efforts the law firm earned $367,633 in contingency fees.

This year Friedman & Wexler also began collecting the city’s unpaid water debts. But in April the city fired the firm, said Jennifer Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the law department, which supervises outside lawyers.

The law department also asked Chicago’s inspector general to audit the firm to make sure Friedman & Wexler was turning over money owed to the city, Hoyle said. The audit is ongoing.

The firm’s legal woes date to 2006, when the state attorney general’s office sued Friedman & Wexler on behalf of the Illinois Student Aid Commission, or ISAC. The firm had collected defaulted student loans since 1994 for ISAC, which guarantees the loans for the federal government.

The contract expired in June 2006, and ISAC chose not to renew it, according to the suit. Yet, Friedman & Wexler collected nearly $800,000 after the contract expired and refused to surrender the money, the suit said. The firm filed its own claims against the state, saying it was owed $13 million for work it already did on cases and $1.5 million in fees to transfer the files back to ISAC.

Almost four years later, the dispute remains tangled in court. In May 2008, a Cook County judge found Norman and Mitchell Wexler to be in indirect civil contempt for failing to obey court orders to turn over records to ISAC and restore funds to trust accounts. Four months later, in August 2008, a Cook County judge ordered Norman and Mitchell Wexler to restore more than $900,000. When the Wexlers failed to pay the first installment that was due in April 2009, the judge ordered them into custody. The Wexlers made the payment later that day, according their attorney, George Grumley.

“If somebody took a fair and honest look at the complaints, you will see that Friedman is owed more money than it owes the state,” Grumley said. “It’s an oddball claim.”

ISAC officials declined to comment.

Since the state filed suit, VW Credit Inc. and at least two other former clients have sued the firm. In the VW Credit case, a federal judge in October granted a preliminary injunction that froze Friedman & Wexler’s bank and cash accounts except for normal operating expenses.

Eric Kaplan, the lawyer representing Friedman & Wexler, could not be reached for comment. A Volkswagen representative declined to comment.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0706-chicago-law-20100706,0,6865100.column

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Smyser, of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, ruled that two collection letters from a New York law firm violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because the use of law firm letterhead gave the false impression that an attorney had engaged in meaningful review of the account and was planning to file suit.

The case stemmed from letters that were sent to the plaintiff to attempt to collect a Washington Mutual debt.  Law Offices of Mitchell N. Kay sent the letters with their letterhead, and the body of the letter was offering a settlement to Darwin Lesher with an invitation to visit the defendant’s Web site to make a payment.

But the letter contained a sentence reading, “[a]t this point in time, no attorney with this firm has personally reviewed the particular circumstances of your account.”

Despite that disclosure, Smyser said that including a law firm’s letterhead led the defendant to believe the account was in the legal collection process.

“A law firm’s letter does bear an implied threat of litigation, and does connote that it is a communication from an attorney,” he wrote. “In our view, that language does not mitigate the impression of potential legal action.”

Smyser further wrote, “The least sophisticated consumer would be likely to believe upon receiving a communication from an attorney for the lender that the debt collection process has entered into a phase where the lender through its attorney will begin to use procedures established by law and known to attorneys to collect the debt.”

Smyser granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiff Lesher on two of his FDCPA claims. Under the regulation, the remedy for such claims is a $1,000 award to the plaintiff and an award of attorney fees.

If you believe you are in a similar situation, contact Debt Help Lawyers today!

Source: http://www.insidearm.com/go/arm-news/collection-letterhead-can-be-an-fdcpa-violation-judge-rules

“While consumer filings dipped slightly from last month, housing debt and other financial burdens weighing on consumers are still a cause for concern,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “Consumer filings this year remain on track to top 1.6 million filings.”

ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 12,600 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.

NBKRC is an online research center that offers subscribers access to up-to-date research and statistics on bankruptcy filings. The database contains complete information dating back to 1995. For more information on NBKRC, please visit http://www.nbkrc.com.

Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code is available to both individual and business debtors. Its purpose is to achieve a fair distribution to creditors of the debtor’s available non-exempt property. Unsecured debts not reaffirmed are discharged, providing a fresh financial start.

Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for an individual with regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts; it is typically used to budget some of the debtor’s future earnings under a plan through which unsecured creditors are paid in whole or in part.

Article Source: http://www.insidearm.com/go/arm-news/may-consumer-bankruptcy-filings-up-9-percent-from-last-year-down-6-percent-from-april?tag=consumer