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How Do I Stop the Constant Bill Collection Phone Calls?

By Jonathan on March 23, 2020

What can you do, if anything, about the constant collection phone calls you are receiving on your home phone or cell phone? The law basically puts no limits on how many times bill collectors can call you per day about past due accounts. Is there anything besides filing for bankruptcy to make the phone stop ringing.

There is a law called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that does offer some protection. But the FDCPA only applies to collection agencies and not the actual creditor. Further law language of the law is vague in that it prohibits calls at “inconvenient” times. It is presumed that a convenient time to get collection calls is between 8AM and 9PM.

The FDCPA also prohibits threats of violence, the use of obscene language, and calling with intent to harass or annoy.

Again, the FDCPA only applies to collection agencies, but not to actual creditors.

While you could take a bill collector to court for an FDCPA violation, you need evidence (such as recorded phone calls or letters that contain prohibited language). You would have to file suit in federal court and the most you can recover is $1,000 + “actual damages.”

There are attorneys you can find who handle FDCPA litigation but my experience has been that securing the right kind of evidence can be an issue.

If you are being harassed by bill collectors you can send them a “drop dead” letter asking them not to call you at all – but this may result in the filing of a lawsuit sooner rather than later.

The problem, of course, is that most folks who are far enough behind on a bill that they are receiving collection calls are most likely delinquent to multiple creditors. I have had clients tell me that they are receiving 60, 80, even 100 collection calls every day.

Filing Bankruptcy Ends Harassing Phone Calls

The one sure strategy to end the collection phone calls is to seek protection under the bankruptcy laws. Most people qualify to file either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 debt consolidation, and some qualify for both and have the option to choose.

Either way, the minute your attorney presses “file case” and a case number is generated you are protected. The next time the phone rings you answer and say “I have a bankruptcy case number so leave me alone!” If a creditor or collection agent continues to call you can sue that collector for damages in bankruptcy court.

If you are being bothered and harassed by bill collectors, it makes sense to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer about your options. At Ginsberg Law Offices, we never push anybody into filing as we see bankruptcy as a last resort. However, sometimes it can be the right choice and we can reach that conclusion together.

How You Can Stop Wage Garnishment in Georgia

By Jonathan on March 23, 2020

There is nothing more depressing or frustrating to discover that a judgment creditor has begun to garnish your wages. Suddenly your household budget won’t budget and you risk going into default on car loans, mortgage loans and other creditors. And sometimes you may not have known that the garnishment was going to happen.

Many credit card and personal loan companies include language in the small print allowing them to sue you in a different state. You truly may not have known that you were sued or that a judgment was issued. Now the judgment from another state was “domesticated” here in Georgia and suddenly 25% of your take home pay is being seized.

What can you do about this violation of your budget?

The law gives you two options – you can either mount a “collateral attack” on the judgment, or you can eliminate or reduce the debt in bankruptcy.

A collateral attack means that you would have to file a lawsuit in state court and argue that the judgment creditor made a substantial error such as failing to give you notice, or acting fraudulently.

In order to mount a collateral attack you are going to need to hire a lawyer (who will bill you by the hour) and you will need evidence to show how you were wronged. Often going this route is just not feasible financially plus it may take four to six weeks to get in front of a judge. Meanwhile your wages are being seized with every paycheck.

The second option would be to stop the garnishment immediately by filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. With very limited exception, the minute you file a personal bankruptcy case, all adverse creditor action must stop. This includes any wage garnishment. In many cases, the seized money will be returned to you within a matter of days.

Unfortunately, the longer you wait to stop the wage garnishment the more difficult it will be to get your money back quickly.

If you know that a suit has been filed against you (your credit report should show this) or if you think that you may have been sued, give us a call. We can find out exactly what you are facing and come up with a plan of attack to protect you and your family’s finances.

How You Can Protect Your Car or Truck from Repossession

By Jonathan on March 23, 2020

Are you at risk of losing your car or truck to foreclosure? Under Georgia law, a vehicle lender can use “self help” and repossess your vehicle if you fall behind on your payments. Some lenders will seize your vehicle if you are even one or two days late. Fortunately, you can use the bankruptcy laws to stop the threat of repossession and restructure your loan.

Because cars and trucks are mobile and easily moved or hidden, Georgia lawmakers allow vehicle lenders to seize or repossess your vehicle if you miss a payment.

Who is Most at Risk?

Generally speaking, first tier lenders like General Motors Finance, Ford Motor Credit, Toyota Finance and similar companies will give you some warning – either by phone or mail. These large lenders are likely to work with you the first time or two you miss a payment but will become less forgiving if your late payments become a pattern.

Similarly, many credit unions and small banks have policies in place to help members keep their vehicles – if you fall behind to your credit union or bank, you should reach out to them as soon as you can to discuss options.

By contrast, buy-here-pay-here companies are not likely to give you much help. If you ended up at a buy-here-pay-here lot there is a good chance your credit was not great and these lenders will often repossess the first day you are late.

You should also keep in mind that customer service representatives for vehicle lenders may offer to work with you but then repossess your vehicle anyway.

How to Stop a Repossession

Generally speaking, if you fall behind on your car or truck loan payment, your options are limited. If you have a strong relationship with another lender (small bank or credit union) you can ask about refinancing your loan. Similarly, if you have a home equity line of credit you can use those funds to pay off your existing vehicle loan and start to pay the new lender.

If you have evidence of fraud on the part of the lender you could, in theory, file a lawsuit in state court – but that is an expensive proposition and you most likely will not get into court fast enough to protect your vehicle.

Bankruptcy offers the most certain option to prevent the loss of your car or truck to repossession.

If your desire is to surrender your vehicle and eliminate any deficiency claim, Chapter 7 may be a good option. And if you want to keep your car or truck and restructure your loan over time Chapter 13 would be worthwhile to consider.

Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 create something called an “automatic stay” the minute your attorney presses “file case” on the Bankruptcy Court’s electronic system. A bankruptcy case number will be generated and with a few very limited exceptions, that case number will be enough to stop the repossession agent from grabbing your vehicle.

What if My Car or Truck has Already Been Seized – Can I Get it Back?

Yes. In most cases, we can use the bankruptcy laws to force the vehicle lender to return your vehicle to you. You will have to show proof of valid insurance and you may have to pay repossession and storage fees but we can probably get your vehicle back.

What is a “10 Day Letter?”

When a lender seizes your car or truck, they cannot sell it at auction right away. First they have to give you an opportunity to redeem your vehicle by paying off the remaining balance. By law, they are required to send you a letter giving you ten days to redeem your vehicle. If you don’t respond, the lender can then sell your vehicle at auction.

Don’t Wait to Seek Help

The best time to look into the bankruptcy option is the minute you realize that you are going to have trouble making your payment. If you see vehicle payment trouble on the horizon, please call us. We don’t charge for phone conversations and we can advise you about the options available to you.

How You Can Stop a Mortgage Foreclosure in Georgia

By Jonathan on March 23, 2020

Under Georgia law, your mortgage lender can foreclose and take your house away in as little as 39 days. However, you have several powerful options to save your home, even if you are months or years behind in your payments. The more certain and least expensive way to save your home involves filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. But bankruptcy is not the only option as we will discuss in this article.

Why Mortgage Lenders Can Foreclose in Only 39 Days

Georgia law allows for what is called “non-judicial foreclosure.” This means that your mortgage company does not have to go to court to get permission from a judge to foreclose. Loan agreements for Georgia real estate contain language that allows lenders to foreclose on a delinquent mortgage after they have given you written notice and advertised the pending sale in the legal newspaper for your county.

Technically, a lender could give notice and run advertisements in as little as 39 days. As a practical matter, we rarely see foreclosure happen that fast, but our experience has been that once your home loan falls sixty to ninety days delinquent, there is a good chance that the lender will start advertising for a foreclosure sale.

So, if you stop paying on your home loan, it is likely that your home will be scheduled for a sale on the courthouse steps within about three to five months. So if you have fallen behind on your mortgage, do not ignore mail – either registered mail or regular mail – from your mortgage lender.

How Does Foreclosure in Georgia Work?

Generally speaking if you fall behind a month or even two months, the lender will advise you that your loan is “delinquent.” If you can catch up the missed payments and late fees, your loan will go back to “current status.”

If you cannot cure the delinquency, the lender will declare your loan as being in default. Under the terms of your loan, once your loan is in default the entire remaining balance will now be due (this is called an “acceleration.” Once the loan is accelerated, you cannot bring it current by paying the missed payments. The lender can agree to undo the acceleration and default but they are not obligated to do so.

Once your loan has been deemed to be in default, the lender will then start the foreclosure process. They will send their file to a foreclosure lawyer who will then start advertising your home for sale in the newspaper (every county has an official “county organ” or newspaper where foreclosure notices go.

The foreclosure notice will run for four consecutive weeks and then your house will be sold by auction on the steps of your county courthouse. Foreclosure sales occur only on the first Tuesday of the month.

Once the foreclosure sale has been concluded, you lose ownership of your house and will be evicted.

How to Stop a Pending Foreclosure

There are only three ways to stop a pending foreclosure in Georgia:

1. Convince the mortgage company to stop the process voluntarily. I have been able to do this two or three times over the past 25+ years. I was able to show that the lender used a bad address to send notice to my client. As a rule, however, once the foreclosure process starts, it is very unlikely that the lender will back down voluntarily.

2. Ask the Superior Court in your County for relief. If you have evidence that the foreclosure is wrongful – for example, you can prove that you made payments that the mortgage company denies receiving, or that there was some fraud committed by the mortgage company, you can ask a Superior Court judge to stop the pending foreclosure.

There are several practical problems with the Superior Court option. The biggest issue involves time. It can take several weeks to get a court date to appear before a judge. Meanwhile, as we have seen, the foreclosure process moves very quickly. You may not be able to get a court date before the foreclosure date.

Secondly, the Superior Court judge will only stop a foreclosure if there is a legal reason to do so. Your job loss, family illness or any other reason for not being able to keep your loan current does not count. The judge will expect to see evidence of fraud, lack of notice or miscalculations. And judges don’t always make their decisions right away.

Finally, you will incur significant legal fees to hire a lawyer to challenge a foreclosure in Superior Court. For many people, therefore, the Superior Court option is not feasible.

3. Chapter 13 bankruptcy – Chapter 13 is the fastest and most certain way to stop a foreclosure. The minute you file Chapter 13, the bankruptcy court creates a “automatic stay” that creates a legal bar to foreclosure. Your lawyer can electronically file a Chapter 13 at 7:00am on foreclosure Tuesday and any foreclosure that is called out thereafter would be invalid.

Chapter 13 is also cost effective and will also address any other debts you may have.

While Chapter 13 is a very robust solution, you do have to qualify and that’s how Ginsberg Law can help you. You can read more about Chapter 13 bankruptcy on this website, or learn about it on our video channel. Or simply pick up the phone and call us – we are happy to speak with you about how to stop your pending foreclosure.

How do You Protect Yourself Financially During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

By Jonathan on March 18, 2020

How can you best protect yourself when the national and local economies are rocked by unexpected disruptions?

Almost overnight, the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has decimated dozens of industries – food service, hospitality, retail, transportation, education, government and any business that relies on face to face interaction.

While the government is promising some relief and some creditors are offering short term deferments, the likelihood is that business will not return to normal anytime soon and that we have entered into a “new normal.”

So how do you respond? [Read more…] about How do You Protect Yourself Financially During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

How Should You Deal With Creditors If You Lose Income Due to the Coronavirus?

By Jonathan on March 17, 2020

How should you handle your creditors if you experience an unexpected drop in income, a layoff or loss of that part time job that was keeping you afloat?

In March, 2020, the economy in Georgia and throughout the United States took a huge hit with the spread of the COVID-19 corona virus. Over the course of a week, the narrative from Washington changed from “we have this under control” to “do not leave your home.” Professional sports leagues have shut down, restaurants have discontinued in location seating, airlines have parked airplanes and just about every type of business was and is being affected. [Read more…] about How Should You Deal With Creditors If You Lose Income Due to the Coronavirus?