The Fresh Start Initiative
Our “Fresh Start Initiative” is what makes our bankruptcy program stand out. Not only will we work closely with you to eliminate your unsecured debt, we will help you develop a plan to start rebuilding your credit with no additional costs once your debt has been discharged by the court.
After our clients’ debt is eliminated through a bankruptcy, we do not cut ties with our clients. After a bankruptcy, the main concern of many clients is their ability to rebuild their credit. However, these efforts can be hampered by creditors reporting inaccurate information to the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. To correct these reporting errors, you must submit a dispute to the credit bureaus and request an investigation.
As part of the Fresh Start Initiative, we will work with you to confirm the accuracy of your credit reports after you have received your discharge and if necessary, submit your dispute to the credit bureaus. That way, you can finally get your “fresh start” for a new financial beginning.
Different Types of Bankruptcy
Choose from one of the sections below to learn more about different types of bankruptcy filings.
The help and relief Chapter 7 bankruptcy can provide for you and your family cannot be understated. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a power, strategic legal tool that can be used to eliminate unsecured debt (i.e., credit cards, personal loans, pay day loans/advances, medical bills, etc.), remove involuntary liens from your primary home (i.e., judgment liens/abstracts), stop foreclosure sale dates, stop wage garnishments, stop legal proceedings/lawsuits, stop creditor harassing letters and phone calls, stop automobile repossessions, stop unlawful detainers/evictions, stop utility shut offs, stop bank levies, as well as other judgment enforcement mechanisms. Upon the filing of a bankruptcy case, a bankruptcy “automatic stay” goes into effect preventing creditors from any further contact with you or collections efforts against you.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy can also be used to protect your home equity, your retirement accounts, your paycheck from garnishment, your life insurance benefits, your vehicle, your bank accounts, your personal jewelry, your legal claims and other assets. You may be surprised to learn that Chapter 7 bankruptcy does not require you to turn over all of your assets. You are allowed to keep various categories of property and assets through the Chapter 7 process. A fresh new financial start can begin after only a few short months (about 4-5 months) with the Chapter 7 bankruptcy process.
Chapter 7 can be used to flip your finances from that of mainly paying your debt servicing to that of mainly saving your paycheck for retirement or for a rainy-day fund. If you are thinking about taking money out of your retirement accounts, pension accounts or 401k, you should discuss this move with a bankruptcy attorney first. Using your retirement or pension funds or taking loans against your retirement accounts to pay your credit card debt may be a costly financial mistake with serious tax consequences. Speaking with an experienced bankruptcy attorney early can help you avoid costly financial mistakes and help you to achieve the fresh start you are looking for.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy may provide you with another chance to stabilize your financial picture. The Chapter 13 process is a multi-year, structured payment plan process that is monitored by the bankruptcy court for compliance and may serve as a better option for some consumer situations. You can refer to Chapter 13 as a different tool for different purposes. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can rescue a home from foreclosure by allowing you up to 60 months to repay home mortgage arrears that you are behind on. Chapter 13 can also be used to pay tax liability debt, remove certain mortgage liens from your home, reduce the amount of unsecured debt being paid to creditors, and stop wage garnishments and automobile repossessions immediately. Creditors are then forced by the bankruptcy laws to collect their debt amounts through the Chapter 13 payment plan process instead of from you directly. This provides a safe buffer between you and the creditors while you are in the payment plan process.
A Chapter 13 payment plan is typically 60 months (5 years) and requires you to make monthly payment to the bankruptcy trustee, the assigned official who administers the Chapter 13 payment plan process. You must have employment or have a reliable sources of income with sufficient enough income to support your monthly living expenses (i.e., food, gasoline, cell phone bill, utilities, etc.), your secured property payments and housing payments (i.e., mortgage bill, rent, car payment), and your Chapter 13 plan payment amount. The payment plan amount is calculated by determining your net disposable income after your monthly expenses are subtracted out. If your income is not sufficient to support your living expenses, housing costs and the Chapter 13 payment plan, you may need to consider Chapter 7 or some other non-bankruptcy alternative as Chapter 13 may not work for your particular situation. You should speak with an experienced bankruptcy attorney to help calculated an approximate payment plan amount so you can determine if your income is sufficient enough to support a Chapter 13 payment plan. Another chance at financial independence can be achieved through Chapter 13 bankruptcy so long as Chapter 13 is a good fit for you.
Making Sure Your Post-Bankruptcy Credit Report Is Accurate
Soon after your successful completion and bankruptcy discharge (i.e., the legal order eliminating your need to pay your unsecured debts) your credit report and credit profile should begin to improve. The bankruptcy discharge should eliminate any negative credit information stemming from those debts discharged in the bankruptcy process without any prompting from you the consumer – this should be automatic.
However, you should not rely on creditors to follow the post-bankruptcy credit reporting laws without your personal verification. About 90 days (3 credit reporting cycles) after your bankruptcy discharge is entered, you should obtain your credit reports from all three credit bureaus and make sure all creditor trade lines are reporting your post-discharge bankruptcy information accurately. You can obtain your credit reports from all three credit bureaus for free once a year at the following website: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action.
Creditor trade line entries that report balances owed, delinquent/charge off status and/or other derogatory remarks may still be negatively impacting your credit report or credit score when it should no longer be. The fresh start you seek begins with rebuilding your credit profile the correct way, making sure creditors update your credit report accurately and by seeking the help of an attorney who will force creditors to comply with credit reporting requirement should they violate your post-bankruptcy rights. You went through the bankruptcy process to clean up your credit – make sure you keep it clean.
Protect Your New Credit From Creditor and Credit Bureau Misconduct
Our bankruptcy services comes with a post-discharge bankruptcy credit recovery and protection plan that will help you make sure your credit report and credit profile remain accurate and up to date. Our offices receive numerous reports from our clients of instances of inaccurate credit reporting of their post-discharge bankruptcy status by creditors and the credit bureaus. Instances of inaccurate reporting include creditors and credit bureaus continuing to report unpaid balances, charge off status, or delinquent or other derogatory credit remarks.
Under the Federal Fair Credit and Reporting Act, in the post-discharge environment, creditors whose debts were discharged in bankruptcy can no longer report any information that is negative or causes a negative effect on a consumer’s credit worthiness. Any creditor or credit bureau who reports inaccurate information on a consumer’s credit report will be required to correct the mistakes and may also be liable for monetary damages.
As soon as your bankruptcy is discharged, we at the Consumer Justice Law Center can start your credit recovery and protection plan and show you how your credit should look. Share your financial story with us today and we’ll devise a credit recovery and protection plan for you and your family.
Call Us Today For A Strategic Plan For Your Financial Recovery.
Every family’s financial picture is different. Our experienced attorneys and staff will ask you the right questions to determine if your current financial picture is headed for success or is causing you to lose time and money. If your creditor’s or the credit bureau’s credit reporting conduct is in violation of the law, we will fight to protect your credit and recover money damages for you. Call the Consumer Justice Law Center today to discuss your future financial success.
Reviews:
I had an amazing experience with BLP. They thoroughly understood the concerns with my case and helped me navigate the process with ease. They were there to guide me throughout the whole process, and no matter how many questions I had, or how many times I contacted them, they would always properly provide me the information I was looking for. This is a great company and I highly recommend!
We are most appreciative of Brian Soohoo and Bianca’s help with our case. The professional help we’ve received from this law firm has been exceptional!! We want to THANK YOU for your excellent help. You were so patient and helpful with your prompt email replies. You were most helpful in making us feel at ease throughout the process and answering all of our questions expeditiously! We wish you all the best and will most definitely refer your office to all our friends, family and clients. Thank you.
I am so grateful to the services of Brian and paralegal Maria provided to me and answering my MANY questions, dealing with my anxiety (I never did this before) as well as being patient, informative, and very efficient. They helped me get out of the burden of debt my ex-husband left me with and now I finally have the fresh start I deserved to move forward in my life. Many Thanks again to Brian and his amazing team. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone who is considering bankruptcy.
I just want to thank and recommend this place to anyone who needs help, Brian and Bianca are the best, they had great communication with us and they told us exactly what to do and they would do the rest, everything went smoothly. They really helped us and we are so grateful for everything they did, thank you guys from Brian to the lawyer that was there for the final step!