Chang and Carlin, LLP: August 2013

Monday 26 August 2013

Creditor Harassment-Ways To Deal With It

If you’re already under pressure from your poor financial standing, the last thing you need is the stress of creditor harassment. Creditors use a variety of tactics to pressure debtors into paying their debts. Some people are able to handle it, but, for their sanity, most people need the calls to stop and are clueless about how to deal with the situation. The stress involved can lead to poor emotional and physical health.

Chang and Carlin, LLP is a bankruptcy law firm in Chicago that helps people deal with their financial situation and works with them make a fresh start in life. According to the attorneys at Chang and Carlin, there are ways by which you can keep the creditors at bay. Read on to find out!

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to the rescue!

This act prohibits various types of creditor harassment like calling after certain times, use of profanity, threats of bodily injury, pretending to be from the government, threatening jail as a punishment for not paying the debt–among others.

You need to have enough evidence

Keep anything they send you in writing, and keep those voice mail records debt collectors leave. This especially applies if you’ve already filed for bankruptcy. The creditor’s calls or letters could be a violation of the automatic stay or discharge injunction.

Hire an experienced Lawyer

If your letter fails to end the harassment, a letter from a lawyer usually will. Additionally, once you have hired a lawyer, the collection agency or creditor's attorney must only communicate through your lawyer. The experienced lawyers at Chang and Carlin, LLP can also help you raise legal claims under the FDCPA.

File for bankruptcy

The final solution is to file for bankruptcy. Once you file the initial papers for bankruptcy, you are automatically protected from collection activity. The collector must first obtain permission from the bankruptcy court before it can continue its collection efforts. An expert bankruptcy lawyer in Chicago can help you through the entire bankruptcy process and give you relief from harassing creditors.

Want Creditors off Your Back? Request a Free No Obligation Bankruptcy Consultation

The experienced bankruptcy lawyers in Chicago can help you determine if bankruptcy is the right option for you, and will work with you to get your finances under control. For more information on Bankruptcy law or to schedule a FREE initial bankruptcy consultation, contact Chang and Carlin, LLP today!

Disclaimer: The content provided by Chang and Carlin, LLP is not legal advice and is purely for informational purposes. The information contained herein is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are interested in obtaining information about Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Foreclosure services, or Real Estate legal services, call our law firm at 1-866-790-8601 for a Free Legal Evaluation. Chang and Carlin, LLP serves clients in Chicago, Schaumburg. Joliet, and Warrenville.

“Meeting Of Creditors”-Things You Need To Know

Many people filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Chicago are told that they will not have to go to court. This is true but they will have to go to a short formal meeting called-“meeting of creditors”. It is also referred to as-“341 hearing”. The attorneys at the law offices of Chang and Carlin, LLP can explain what the meeting is all about and what should be done in such meetings.

To a layman the term-“Meeting of Creditors”, may sound like a meeting where you would be facing the creditors. But, the term actually is a misnomer. It is not a gathering of you and your creditors during which they complain to you about filing bankruptcy, in fact, most of the time they don’t even go. The ones which tend to be there are those which have collateral—such as your vehicle or furniture creditors—and then it’s often convenient to everybody that they are there, to make appropriate arrangements with the collateral.

According to the experienced Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy lawyer Chicago at the law offices of Chang and Carlin, most of the creditor meetings have no creditors attending and those creditors who do actually attend are completely unaware of the format and do not ask the sort of questions they should be asking in order to safeguard their interests. Many creditors’ meetings occur without any of the creditors saying a word.

Getting prepared for the meeting

1. Upon receipt of the “notice of creditors’ meeting” it is important to ensure that the notice is in fact a valid notice in compliance with the Companies Acts. In particular, a valid notice must be sent to creditors at least 10 days prior to the date of the meeting.

2. Prior to the Meeting of Creditors you should meet with your attorney to discuss your bankruptcy petition and documents.

3. If you do not have an attorney, you should be prepared to be probed about your financial circumstances and your bankruptcy petition.

4. Make sure to bring a government-issued picture identification card and your Social Security Card to the Meeting of Creditors.

Since it is difficult to predict what you will be asked at the meeting of creditors, it’s always good to be thoroughly prepared and seek the assistance of experienced Chicago Bankruptcy lawyers like lawyers at the law offices of Chang and Carlin. The bankruptcy attorneys at Chang and Carlin, LLP will help you overcome all the difficulties and make the bankruptcy filing process easy for you.

Free No Obligation Bankruptcy Consultation

Our experienced bankruptcy lawyers in Chicago can help you determine if bankruptcy is the right option for you, and will work with you to get your finances under control. For more information on Bankruptcy law or to schedule a FREE initial bankruptcy consultation, contact Chang and Carlin, LLP today!

Undue Hardship Exception-Repaying Student Loans

Many students with student loan debts in Schaumburg, Chicago, Joliet and Warrenville area want to know how if it is possible to discharge student debts. Then asked this question, the experienced Schaumburg Bankruptcy attorneys at Chang and Carlin tell students that laws appear to be softening, which may enable them to discharge their student loan debts and lead a tension free life.

In the past, student debts were unforgivable regardless of the student’s financial situation. If you had student loans, they’d be with you until you paid them off. But now, it may be possible to get rid of your student loans in bankruptcy if can prove that repaying your student loans would cause an ‘undue hardship’ to you.

According to the experienced Chicago Bankruptcy lawyers at the law offices of Chang and Carlin, there are some ways to prove that:

The Brunner’s test

Some courts require you to take ‘the Brunner’s test’ for determining whether a student loan is dischargeable in bankruptcy based on a claim of undue hardship. One needs to prove the following things:

Poverty: That the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a minimal standard of living for the debtor and dependents if forced to pay off student loans.

Persistence: The additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans.

Good Faith: That the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans.

Totality of circumstances test

Some courts may ask you to take-‘Totality of Circumstances Test’. Here, the court will look at all relevant factors in your case to determine if it is an undue hardship for you to repay your student loans.

How to prove undue hardship

If you want to try to discharge your student loans in bankruptcy, you must file a formal complaint with the bankruptcy court, called a Complaint to Determine Dischargeability. It is then up to you to prove to the court that payment of your loans will cause an undue hardship on you.

This student loan debt outlet is by no means fully established, as it has only prevailed in a few instances. However, if your student debt is crushing you and you meet the above criteria, it could be worth looking into with a Chicago Bankruptcy attorney.

Free Debt and Bankruptcy Consultation

Our experienced bankruptcy lawyers in Chicago can help you determine if you can discharge your student debt and will work with you to get your finances under control. For more information on Bankruptcy law or to schedule a FREE initial bankruptcy consultation, contact Chang and Carlin, LLP today!

Selling Your House? Renovations That Might Not Add Value

Chang and Carlin, LLP has established itself as a respected real estate legal services firm representing a diverse clientele in Chicago, Illinois and surrounding areas. Their Real Estate attorneys in Chicago help you manage routine real estate matters, as well as more complex situations that require the experienced know-how of skilled real estate attorneys.

Every home owner invests in the upkeep and renovation of their homes, but there are certainly a few people who renovate their houses with the intention of increasing their home’s value for re-sale. However, there are a few commonly misunderstood renovations which add no value to your home. Even though you may really enjoy the upgrade, a buyer could be unimpressed and unwilling to factor the upgrade into the purchase price.

Common Real Estate Renovations to Avoid

Swimming pools:
Swimming pools can be a lot of fun and definitely give your homes a modern look, but they can be a hassle to have at your own home. Many potential home buyers view swimming pools as dangerous and expensive to maintain. The potential buyers with young children may be reluctant to buy houses with swimming pools. Chang and Carlin, real estate and foreclosure attorney Chicago can help you decide the things that will add value to your property and make it attractive to the potential buyers.

Landscaping:
Landscaping certainly adds to the beauty of a house, but don’t expect the home’s value to increase because of it. A beautiful yard may encourage potential buyers to take a closer look at the property, but will probably not add to the selling price.

Expensive carpeting:
While real estate listings may still boast “new carpeting throughout” as a selling point, many potential home buyers today may not be happy with the idea of having wall to wall carpeting. Carpeting is expensive to purchase and install. In addition, there is growing concern over the healthfulness of carpeting due to the amount of chemicals used in its processing and the potential for allergens.
Homeowners, therefore, need to be careful with how they choose to spend their money if they are expecting the investment to pay off.

Free Real Estate Consultation
Chang and Carlin, LLP has extensive experience providing real estate legal services in Chicago, Illinois and the surrounding areas. Our Chicago real estate lawyers are well equipped to help people navigate the complexities of real estate transactions, and to help those transactions close more smoothly. For more information on real estate law or to schedule a FREE Legal Evaluation, contact Chang and Carlin, LLP today!

Disclaimer: The content provided by Chang and Carlin, LLP is not legal advice and is purely for informational purposes. The information contained herein is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are interested in obtaining information about Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Foreclosure services, or Real Estate legal services, call our law firm at 1-866-790-8601 for a Free Bankruptcy Consultation. Chang and Carlin, LLP serves clients in Chicago, Schaumburg, Joliet, and Warrenville.