Let’s say you have negotiated a settlement with a creditor. What should you include to help ensure that your credit is the best it can be? First, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”), a creditor is not required to report anything, but what it does choose to report,…
We’ve been getting more questions lately from folks who have taken out U.S. loans (both federal and private) but now may live or work overseas. Saudia Arabia today, someone from Turkey last week. We can certainly advise these borrowers what action they can take under the new Public Service rules,…
There are so many things that set us apart and in my opinion make us one of the best law firms in the Tampa Bay area that you can choose to file your bankruptcy. Whoever you are looking to hire to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you…
Wells Fargo has always been difficult to work with when we try to negotiate private student loan settlements. However, we’ve started to see better deals in the past two weeks from other private student loan servicers – so I believe Wells Fargo loans are now fair game. Well Fargo is…
My first consult this week was for a former client who just learned of a bank garnishment of his joint bank account with his wife from an old Cach final judgment that he thought was vacated and dismissed. The entire account was frozen. Plus his wife’s next check couldn’t be…
Which is the better option? Debt management plans have no guarantee that the creditor will accept a negotiated discount. Debt consolidators charge a fee regardless of whether a settlement is reached and often years go by with credit scores dwindling each month. It’s often better to reach a deal with…
It’s more difficult for a creditor, including the government for federal student loans, to garnish income from someone who is self-employed — but it can be done. Once the creditor is aware that someone is self-employed, they can have a second order entered to go after non-earnings paid to the…
How much is too much? Unfortunately, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and its Florida counterpart do not specify a particular number of calls per day that a creditor can make when trying to collect a debt. An older Florida case is somewhat illustrative in finding the answer. In Story…
Useful information can be obtained from the Consent Orders relating to improper debt collection activities obtained by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Recent orders applicable to Fred Hanna, Encore Capital Group, Inc., Midland Funding, LLC, Midland Credit Management, Inc., Asset Acceptance Capital Corp., PRA, LLC, Porfolio Recovery Associates, Chase Bankcard…
If a creditor waits too long to sue, the creditor can be barred from ever bringing suit. The purpose of having a statute of limitations is so that lawsuits are brought when the matter is still fresh: before documents are destroyed and memories fade. If they can no longer bring…