Tampa Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Bank of America simply cannot get it right. Our Tampa, Florida law firm sees violations regularly whether it involves foreclosure or bankruptcy. Of particular note these violations are all one way and they put money in BofA's pocket. If they were truly errors, wouldn't they immediately be corrected once pointed out and wouldn't the errors go both ways?

Just last week, the Center for Investigative Reporting issued a lengthy case study on yet another botched foreclosure in California by Bank of America.

This is not a one time event I assure you. It extends from coast to coast.

Today, I drafted an adversary complaint to be filed in the Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Florida based upon several years of improperly force placed insurance by BofA which ultimately caused the bankruptcy of one of our clients. Despite having confirmation and notice of the "error" for more than 1.5 yrs, nothing has been done to correct the error even after the bankruptcy court struck $20,000 in improper fees and charges last summer. BofA continues to include the court dismissed fees and costs in its Escrow Statements.

We've received word last week that one of our clients attempting to modify his home mortgage has learned of several thousand in late fees being placed on the loan -- despite his insistence that he's never been late, not even once. And this is for a client whom we've already sued BofA for its collection calls on a second mortgage being stripped in our client's Chapter 13 case. I smell another adversary complaint and a bankruptcy court which will not just stand by and do nothing.

We just signed off on a class action to be filed locally against BofA on behalf of one of our clients as a result of BofA continuing to send letters post bankruptcy asserting liability for force placed insurance. On Thursday, my client received yet another letter which is now being added to the lawsuit which will likely be filed next week.

And all that is only for the past week for my little ole' firm.

Diane Thompson, a mortgage lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center who has written extensively on foreclosure abuse, said banks profit by cutting corners on documents. "Banks have tremendous monetary incentive not to comply with standard legal procedures," Thompson said. "They have been doing it sloppily and illegally for a long time, and they have a sense of entitlement."

Bank of America needs to be reigned in. Congress won't to do it. The FDIC won't do it. Various banking regulators and committees won't do it. It's up to us. One client, with a dedicated law firm standing behind him or her, at a time. Let's get it done!

For a free consultation on whether Bank of America has violated your rights, please view our website at Christie D. Arkovich.com.

Another tool to help Florida homeowners keep their home and avoid foreclosure will be available this summer.

Only Fannie and Freddie owned mortgages are eligible, but starting July 1, 2013, a new streamlined program is being rolled out to help modification efforts. This program will eliminate the strenuous income documentation and hardship rules that apply now. Avoid your home becoming "bank owned" by taking advantage of this new program. It will likely be of the most benefit to those who are dealing with large disorganized servicers, strategic defaulters with difficult to prove hardships or business owners who have a hard time proving income.

If you are unsure if your mortgage is owned by Fannie or Freddie, please check Freddie's lookup site or Fannie's lookup site. These two resources are also listed on our website's Resources page.

The program is being launched by the Federal Finance Housing Agency which regulates Fannie and Freddie.

Borrowers have to be 90 days delinquent to qualify under the new initiative. The intent is to lower the interest rate to current market rates, extend the amortization period up to 40 years in an effort to lower mortgage payments to affordability.

The intent behind the elimination of the paperwork requirements is to eliminate a bottleneck by many servicers. For those servicers who purposely remain understaffed to handle mortgage modifications effectively, perhaps this will eliminate the easy excuse for so many failed modification attempts. Presently I compare the repeated modification attempts by our clients to the blue screen of death "your modification is denied because we did not receive the requested documentation," after you've sent it seven times.

Two drawbacks to using the new streamlined program in July 2013, is that you have to make sure your foreclosure lasts long enough for you to qualify. Under new order to show cause procedures followed by many Florida foreclosure courts, we are seeing foreclosures from service to sale lasting as little as 4-5 months even after a homeowner files their own answer. Final judgment is entered in as little as two months. It's more important than ever, to hire a foreclosure defense attorney to make sure appropriate defense are raised and discovery undertaken in the litgation and avoid the steamroller.

Second, the streamlined program is not expected to result in as low of a payment as under HAMP. Therefore, many clients will still benefit from hiring someone to help with the paperwork process under a standard HAMP application. We have a HUD certified counselor on staff now to assist in all of our modification mediations for the best results.

Short sales are good for a number of reasons:

1) many homes are underwater 50% or more and it could be a decade or more to get in a position of having even a dollar of equity;

2) most short sales will result in a written waiver of deficiency of the unpaid mortgage balance;

3) stop the bleeding, use your money to build equity in another home or savings;

4) become eligible for governmental financing for a later home purchase faster with a short sale rather than a foreclosure sale, and finally

5) Start to rebuild your credit.

Why use our short sale team?

Because we are licensed as both attorney and Realtor. Our firm offers a full range of advice as to timing issues regarding short sales, foreclosure defense, modification and bankruptcy planning. Our team includes a title company, GulfAtlantic Title and Appraisal, with a 93% closing rate which is practically unheard of when the average is only 50-70%.

We are usually able to get an offer on a single family residence in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Sarasota, Manatee and Polk counties in a matter of hours or days due to the large number of investors buying in the Tampa Bay area right now. The demand is so high, investors are actually overpaying for properties.

There is no need to go elsewhere if a short sale sounds like a good option to you. These investors are cash only and there is no need to wait for buyer financing to come through. They also will wait around long enough for the short sale to close. There are no open houses, signage or showings to deal with. With our streamlined process, we are seeing short sales regularly close within 90 days with a minimum of hassle.

The Miami Herald just remarked that the passage of these Florida foreclosure bills (HB 87 and SB 1666) is an open invitation to more bank fraud. And more houses owned by banks in bulk to be sold to institutional investors.

This is an opinion piece published in the Tallahassee Democrat. Since not many in the Tampa Bay area likely read the Tallahassee Democrat, I thought I would include it here. Please help by contacting your legislative representatives and express your vote against HB 87 and SB 1666 if you have a similar story to that below.

I am in foreclosure. Although I am not proud of that, I know my foreclosure is not my fault.

After dealing with a horrible predatory loan on our home, we were able to get a new fixed-rate, conventional loan. From the date of closing, our payments kept increasing little by little until they were so high something seemed wrong. When we called Bank of America to inquire, we were told we needed a loan modification. Because we were current on our payments, we were not showing an "inability to pay," so we were told to make a partial payment and then apply for the modification. We did this. Then we were told we would have to stop payment altogether in order to qualify. Our partial payment was returned to us.

While still trying to understand what Bank of America wants from us now, and actively negotiating for a loan modification, we are in foreclosure.
I am an attorney and represent homeowners who are also going through the same horror. Why am I telling you? Because I fear the passage in the Legislature of HB 87 and SB 1666.

If these bills were to pass, a homeowner's ability to fully contest extremely complex claims against large banks and servicers would be compromised. The expedited foreclosure process these bills intend would make it impossible for homeowners to adequately prepare their claims and defenses in time to present them in court. Given what so many of us have been through -- in my case, being told to stop payment on my mortgage to qualify for a loan modification that Bank of America has no intention of giving me -- it is criminal for the Legislature to even consider narrowing our rights.
By the time homeowners are served with a foreclosure complaint, most have been through many modification attempts. They have been told to craft "hardship letters" saying they cannot pay, and told, most times, to stop payment during the modification. When the modification is declined, the homeowners will be able to resume payments only if they pay a lump sum of all back payments, penalties and fees, including attorney's fees in some cases.

The bank has built its case against the homeowner years before the homeowner ever gets a day in court. Moreover, many homeowners are told to contact the bank's attorneys instead of getting their own.
I've seen people sitting in a courtroom about to lose their home, and the only attorney they are talking to is the bank's attorney.

An expedited foreclosure process only harms a homeowner who comes to court against a bank that has been building a case for years.

I testified at the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee against the bill, and Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, a former banker who sits on the subcommittee, appeared shocked to hear my story.

What is shocking to me is that legislators do not understand why we have the largest nationwide consumer settlement ever against the five largest banks. What happened to me is exactly why Attorney General Pam Bondi received $8.4 million for Florida out of the settlement, but homeowners are still left to defend against the fraud and abuse in their individual cases.

At the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee hearing on the bill, I was physically ill listening to legislators talk about homeowners "getting on with their lives" and fresh starts, as if I should just walk away from my home. It is not about "fresh starts," it is about those who are continuing to live through this nightmare. It is not about cases and statistics, it is about homes. I left the hearing without testifying, since I knew my story would fall on deaf ears. I was pleased to learn that my senator, Bill Montford, stood up for us and voted against SB 1666. However, the bill passed out of the committee.
As a citizen in foreclosure and an attorney representing others in distress, I am as concerned as anyone about ending our foreclosure crisis and getting our economy back on track.

Placing the burden of the solution on the backs of the already burdened homeowners is not the answer. We should fully fund the courts, allow the courts to process the foreclosure cases as they have been doing and give homeowners their day in court.
There is no easy fix, but homeowners should not have to have their homes ripped away from them when they follow bank instructions. In the end, expedition will not equal justice; it will only serve to cause more tragedy not only to the homeowners, but to the judicial system.

Danielle J. Kelley is a native of Tallahassee and practices law in foreclosure defense and real estate. Contact her at danielle@dkelleylaw.com

At the end of February 2013, the Middle District, Tampa Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court announced an amended Uniform Chapter 13 Plan would have a new choice for debtors. Debtors can now choose whether they want property of the estate to vest in the Debtor's name upon confirmation of the plan, or they can choose to wait until discharge or dismissal.

Ok, so what does this really mean? I would easily bet that most debtors do not know what option is best for them in their particular situtation. I imagine that the volume bankruptcy mills don't care even if they do know. After all I get several emails/calls a month from debtors who hired a mill who got things wrong or won't return phone calls. They've been forced to google for the answer and came up with my blogs. Sorry, you get what you pay for, but that's another story for another day.We refer to this quandry about vesting as a Section 1306 vs.1327 question. Under Section 1306, vesting occurs at the discharge. Under Section 1327, it occurs much earlier at confirmation of the plan. An Eleventh Circuit case from July 2000, Telfair v. First Union Mortgage Corp., 216 F.3d 1333 (11th Cir. 2000) pointed out a perfect example of why a bankrupt debtor may want to leave jurisdiction over property with the bankruptcy court until discharge. In that case, the mortgage company began to apply post-petition mortgage payments to its attorney's fees and costs of curing a default after confirmation. First Union forceplaced insurance not with the prior insurance company used by the debtor, but rather with its own subsidiary at considerable additional expense and hefty fees to First Union. No approval of the bankruptcy court was needed since the plan had allowed the property to re-vest with the debtor. As the debtor owed less on the the property than what was owed, this was a pretty sneaky way to relieve the debtor of years of built up equity.

As a consumer advocate and Max Gardner bootcamper, we highly recommend that Debtors take advantage of the protections afforded by the bankruptcy court and choose to vest property to the debtor at the time of discharge or dismissal (the end of the case) and not the far earlier date of confirmation which occurs very early in the case.

Don't be fleeced by debt collectors. You have protections. In Florida, we have the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act available to our clients.

I was reminded this week that not everyone knows their rights when the mother of a debtor called me. She was conned into paying $600 to avoid the threatened arrest of her daughter per a warrant that was allegedly on the judge's desk to be signed in 20 minutes. My client needed that $600 but under presssure, she caved. There are certain things debt collectors cannot do (and if they do, they are liable for statutory damages even though you do not have any actual damages):

1. Pretend to be someone else.

2. Threaten you with arrest.

3. Impersonate governmental officials.

4. Call your cell phone if you have revoked consent to call it (preferably in writing).

5. Call you at a work number if you've advised them it is inconvenient or your employer does not allow personal calls.

6. Lie to you.

7. Tell other people that you owe a debt.

8. Repeatedly call your friends or family. They can call once in an effort to locate you.

9. Call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.

10. Swear or use profanity or act in rude manner.

For more information regarding what can be done when a debt collector violates your rights, see Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

The late night fiscal cliff tenative workout included a proposed extension of the Mortgage Debt Relief Forgiveness Act for one more year to include 2013! Floridians seeking to short sale their home but weren't able to get it done prior to the end of 2012 can breathe a sigh of relief. It'll take a few days, but provided the House approves the Senate's Bill, it will be full speed ahead for short sales for another year.

Popular blogger Calculated Risk posted the Senate version of the bill (H.R. 8) today.

Expiration of the favorable tax treatment of cancelled debt would create a major headache for homeowners who sell their home short (for less than what is owed). It would also apply to foreclosures and a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Short sales are a common alternative to a foreclosure sale that has gained ground in the past couple years. It is a faster way to get the loans off their books for lenders, and many lenders will agree to waive the deficient unpaid balance in writing. This helps homeowners by getting closure of a bad chapter of their lives so they can move on without fear of being sued. Future governmental financing of a home is presently easier for someone who completes a short sale as opposed to a foreclosure sale.

For those interested in short sales, it is important that you file appropriate defenses to the foreclosure to delay it long enough to complete a short sale. We often suggest that our clients remain in the home for a period of time and save some money for move out expenses. Then do a short sale when you are ready to leave.

For more information, Christie D. Arkovich, P.A. offers a free consultation for all mortgage related matters (short sale, strategic default, foreclosure, loan modifications, deed in lieu etc.)

You are going to hear a lot more about businesses filing BP oil spill claims in the next few months. On December 22, 2012, Bloomberg reported that the BP Gulf Oil Spill Settlement for 7.8 billion dollars was approved. This settlement was reached only two days before a trial was scheduled in March 2012. Preliminary approval was obtained over the summer and preliminary new claims filing rules went into effect.

However, litigation and judges can be fickle so no one knew for certain what was going to happen, but now we have a final order.

Some of the key factors of this settlement are:

1) Causation requirements were relaxed allowing for more eligible claims (claims can be resubmitted under the new rules if previously declined, but the calculations will need to be reformatted under the new rules and benchmarks);

2) The time to submit claims expires April 2014;

3) If more than 7.8 billion dollars of claims are paid out prior to April 2014, BP has agreed to pay more money to settle remaining claims;

4) The settlement agreement is more than a thousand pages long with various exhibits for filing all the different possible claims and calculations;

5) There are multiple ways to calculate claims using patterns and benchmarks for income and expenses during years 2007, 2008 and 2009 to determine eligibility and amount of loss in 2010 and 2011. Hiring a professional to file your claim is well worth the time and may result in the difference between your claim being accepted or declined as well as a larger settlement amount;

6) There is an appeals process in the event that you disagree with the result;

7) An attorney who works on a contingency basis will save you thousands in accounting and legal costs in the event that your claim is unsuccessful.

Remember, if you own a business or are self-employed, due to the trickle down effect, any economic losses you suffered in 2010 and 2011 will likely qualify even though you are not in a tourism related business. The theory is that if your county had a drop in tourism income following the April 2010 oil spill, that decrease in income trickled down to all forms of businesses.

For more information and to fill out a one page claims form, please visit to our website: Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

Most Floridians don't believe me when I tell them that their business is likely eligible under the new rules under the BP Oil Spill Settlement. They think their business simply wasn't affected by the oil spill.

However, you don't have to prove that oil sludge washed up on your doorstep or that you swallowed a toxic fish. Because it is so difficult to prove the exact cause of economic damages, the "causation" requirement was completely eliminated in June 2012. Now businesses are qualifying when previously they were being denied.

Think of it this way, how many tourism dollars does your county bring in? Those tourism dollars filter through society and affect all types of businesses. From restaurants, hotels, t-shirt shops and amusement parks, to their employees or other supportive businesses. This trickle down effect includes even dentists, doctors, attorneys, chiropractors and virtually all tradespeople. Realtors, builders, architects, the list is never ending.

Claims are being paid at 90% plus for loss of profits after April 2010 when the oil spill occurred. Sole proprietors, self employed, 1099 contractors, LLC, S-Corps all are eligible. We are processing claims on behalf of owners who purchased their business in mid 2009, as long as the business was in existence in 2009 it is potentially eligible.

Eligible Florida counties include: Bay, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Monroe, Okaloosa, Pasco, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Taylor, Wakulla and Walton.

Email us for a one page form to fill out to preliminarily assess if your business qualifies. You don't owe us a dime in fees or costs unless we are successful.

For more information about BP Oil Spill Claims, please see our website.

We are still seeing significant principal reductions for some of our very lucky clients, mostly from Bank of America and Ocwen.

An article by Drew Harwell in the Tampa Bay Times and the Orlando Sentinel and the Tampa Bay Times indicates that since March, more than 1,000 Florida homeowners have learned their principal balances were dropping by an average of $114,000. This is due to the National Mortgage Settlement of $25 billion. Five of the nation's largest banks - Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

I know to many this seems unfair. Those behind in their payments get huge windfalls, while those who have kept paying do not. Or someone with a different lender doesn't qualify and no one has control over who buys their mortgages. Fannie and Freddie do not presently allow for any principal reductions.

It is what it is. For those clients whom we can help get them these types of principal reductions, they are able to keep their home and add one less foreclosed home to the list. Anything to reduce foreclosures should be a good thing. And for everyone else who is facing foreclosure with a lender who won't budge, hang in there. Many of our clients did, most for several years, and are finally seeing the light.

I am also hearing the foreclosure plaintiff firms are very busy with new foreclosure cases. So for those of you who have recently been served or expect to be served, please see a competent foreclosure defense attorney asap. We have an HUD certified counselor on retainer to assist in all of our mortgage modification mediations. We have been making a big push for these until the end of the year and the first quarter of 2013 to try and take full advantage of the money these three big banks are required to give away per the national Attorney-General settlement.

Earlier this year, total student loan debt surpassed credit card debt for the first time ever. Student loan debt and the resulting high tuition are without a doubt in a huge bubble after having raised 800 percent in the past few years. After graduation, students are presented with the bill and most have no idea how it got that high.

Why is this? The cause of this student loan bubble is not unlike the mortgage crisis. The initial theory was to expand homeownership to the masses. Thereafter, lax lending standards allowed more and more people to buy homes. More buyers led to higher prices. The mortgage loans were securitized on Wall Street to unidentified investors. As the demand for these investments grew, the need for more questionable loans grew. People began to fear being left behind, if they didn't buy now, they would be priced out of a home forever. It was actually cheaper to buy a home than it was to rent one with first month, last month and security deposit required in cash. Who cared if the loan couldn't later be repaid when it was determined that the homeowner didn't actually have a job that paid $200,000, but instead worked as a gardener for $20,000. Turns out that kind of thing really matters now that our housing market tanked 50% or more across the board as a direct result of this chain of events. Poorly run mortgage servicers or those with their own agenda has multiplied the number of foreclosures. The resulting crash hurt everyone, even people who could normally afford their home payments but god forbid lost their job or had to move.

Feeding the securitization beast was a common problem among mortgage brokers and investment banks. They had to create product to sell to the securitization machine. Kinda like making meth in large quantities in the popular show Breaking Bad that I am now hooked on and spent half of this past Labor Day weekend watching.

Do you know that private student loans are also securitized? These trusts are filing state court lawsuits to collect student loan debt in greater numbers this year than ever before.

Similar to the subprime mortgages, there is little interest in whether a student of womens study or social studies can actually afford to pay back $200,000 in student loans. There is little risk to the private banks who lent this money. These private loans are guaranteed by the government. They are non-dischargeability in bankruptcy. So why exactly is the interest rate for private student loans as high as 11-12%?

Students often don't know what the real world is about. They are taught to go to college rather than trade schools. They are taught to go to the best college that will accept them and obtain professional and graduate degrees to get the best jobs. The disclosures about these student loans, default rates of the schools, and amount of debt expected upon graduation is ludicrous. There is a complete lack of transparency. Hopefully that will change with a recent bill introduced into Congress.

There is a case to be made that allowing some student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy may bring some sanity back into the system. It may cause lenders to re-prioritize and conduct a tradtional analysis of whether a particular loan makes sense. Investors in securitized student loans would begin to pay attention to the possibility of default and discharge. Students who are hopelessly in debt will start to become hopeful that they can buy a home or have kids during their lifetime. And tuition would start to come down.

Under Florida law, a creditor has up to twenty years to try and collect a judgment. That's an intimidating number, two whole decades. Something not to take lightly. To become a lien on real estate, a certified copy of a final judgment must be recorded in the public records in the county in which the real property is located.

Once recorded, Florida law provides that the judgment acts as a lien on non-homestead real property for an initial period of ten years. See Florida Statute Section 55.10. The judgment can be re-recorded and act as a lien for an additional ten years. Prior to 2004, a recorded judgment acted as a lien for only seven years, but could be re-recorded up to two additional times for a total of twenty years.

In comparison, a bankruptcy remains on someone's credit report for 10 years. However, the last 18 months is the most important time period in anyone's credit history and often the bankruptcy after it gets old enough is considered irrelevant.

We often see the problem lasting longer for someone who allows a default judgment to be entered against them. When someone avoids addressing the problem by aggressive action against an abusive debt collector, settlement or bankruptcy, they are limited in income or asset ownership for the entire 20 year period of the judgment.

We see lots of people who know they can't pay off the debt in full decide just to ignore the problem. Unfortunately, the problem gets bigger and is followed by seizure of assets such a vehicle used to get to work, garnishment of wages or bank accounts. A consumer usually has options, particularly nowadays when poor business records are maintained by the debt collectors and violations of law abound.

For advise on how to avoid a judgment, please contact Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

There are several exciting things happening in mortgage modifications lately. The modification puzzle pieces seem to be falling into place, albeit four years after the foreclosure crisis began. We hope to take full advantage of this and get as many of our clients through a mediation this fall as possible.

First, the Attorney-General settlement is in full swing. We are seeing a number of substantial principal reductions. This money will eventually run out.

Second, Ocwen is buying lots of mortgages, or I should say the mortgage servicing rights. Homeowners who have previously been denied should try again if they learn that Ocwen has taken over their loan. We have written several blogs about Ocwen principal reductions.

Third, our mediations have gone more smoothly lately. The banks/servicers seem a little more organized, and the mediation orders have more requirements ensuring better compliance.

Fourth, the new modification mediation program in the Tampa Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court is very successful. While I haven't kept track of the exact numbers, I know that our mediations through that program have had a much higher success rate.

Fifth, many of the programs have been expanded to help more people. HAMP now applies to investment properties, HARP 2.0 relaxed the refinancing requirements, Florida's Hardest Hit Program deleted its requirement that a homeowner had to be less than six months in arrears for help, among others.

Fifth, we have recently retained the services of a HUD certified counselor to assist us in all of our upcoming mediations. This person knows her stuff and hopefully will help us achieve even better results for our clients.

Unfortunately, a lot of Florida homeowners are still rejected for reasonable modifications and more work is necessary. But being an optimist, we are at least finally moving in the right direction.

It will take less time than you think to qualify to buy a home after bankruptcy. I generally advise my Florida clients that they will likely qualify within 2-5 years.

Where do these numbers come from exactly? FHA and HUD regulations are readily available online.

If you have filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, HUD Guideline 4155.1 : 4.C.2.g provides: A Chapter 7 bankruptcy does not disqualify a borrower from obtaining an FHA-insured mortgage if at least two years have elapsed since the date of the discharge of the bankruptcy.

In some cases, in less than two years, but not less than 12 months, a borrower may be approved for an FHA insured mortgage, if the borrower:

1. can show that the bankruptcy was caused by extenuating circumstances beyond his/her control, and
2. has since exhibited a documented ability to manage his/her financial affairs in a responsible manner.

In that instance, the lender would want to document that the borrower's current situation indicates that the events that led to the bankruptcy are not likely to recur.

A borrower can also obtain an FHA insured mortgage even during a Chapter 13 provided that:

1. one year of the Chapter 13 Plan under the bankruptcy has elapsed;
2. the borrower's payment performance has been satisfactory and all required payments have been made on time; and
3. the borrower has received permission from the bankruptcy court to enter into a mortgage transaction.

The bankruptcy court would likely require the payments to be at or less than the current housing expense so as to not negatively impact the Chapter 13 plan payment or payouts to unsecured creditors during the remainder of the bankruptcy.

In many cases filing a bankruptcy will relieve a potential borrower of old credit card or hospital debt, potential deficiency balances on mortgages for surrendered homes and will actually serve to help a person qualfiy for an FHA insured loan.

While your credit score will drop approximately 150 points when filing a bankruptcy, many clients are surprised at how quickly their score recovers. Additionally, their DTI (debt to income) ratios improve dramatically as the debt is jettisoned.

If you would like to discuss bankruptcy options available to you, please contact us at Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.

In Florida, typically someone who is sued is served with the lawsuit and given 20 or sometimes 30 days to file a response. If the lawsuit was filed in small claims court, you are given a date to appear at a pretrial conference instead of filing a written response.

The most important thing is: Don't ignore the deadline. It doesn't matter that you think you might be able to work it out or that you called the attorney's office who filed the lawsuit. If you don't file a timely written response with the court, or attend the pretrial conference, a default will be entered against you. A default judgment can last up to 20 years in Florida and is very hard to challenge.

Before the deadline expires, please see an attorney. Many attorneys, including our office offer a free consultation for foreclosure defense or debt collection matters.

At the consultation, you can expect to discuss the following:

1) Whether to present an aggressive defense to the lawsuit in an attempt to win the case;

2) Identify weaknesses in the other side's case;

3) Whether to attempt to negotiate a settlement which may reduce the principal owed, interest rate or fees and costs;

4) The expected length of the case so you can make plans;

5) Whether you should consider filing bankruptcy which may eliminate this and other debts and stop the lawsuit; and

6) What happens if a judgment is entered against you.

Christie D. Arkovich, P.A.