Fair Debt Collections Practices

Getting rid of those pesky, overwhelming student loans in bankruptcy just got a bit easier, thanks to a case in which an attorney won a bid to shed $250,000 in student debt. The case is In re Barrett, No. 14-43516; Barrett v. U.S. Department of Education Direct Loan Servicing Center et al., Adv. No. 14-4161, […]

Today we’re going to play a game that I love.  Negotiations with debt collectors! Also known as debt settlement. In the recent Los Angeles Times article, Making a Deal with Debt Collectors, by Liz Weston, she provides such a shallow and generic approach that I am immediately propelled into blog writing mode.  This article is […]

Earlier this month the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (@CFPB) launched a public inquiry into student loan servicing practices.  Read their full press release here. It’s time your voice was heard.  From my experience, the main barriers to repayment continue to be a lack of information made available to students from the time they take out […]

People who file for bankruptcy all believe in playing fair and paying their bills when life somehow got in the way and life became unmanageable. I know because they tell me. Many clients believe that filing bankruptcy is somehow irresponsible; or that their not keeping their promises or obligations.  I get it. After all, YOU […]

With so many companies guarantying student loan debt forgiveness and using Obama’s words to market and sell their offerings, I thought I would set the record straight! YOU CAN HELP YOURSELF FOR FREE YOU CAN HIRE ONE OF THESE COMPANIES THAT MAY NOT BE LAWYERS; OR YOU CAN HIRE A LAWYER TO REPRESENT YOU Don’t […]

Are you caught up in a vicious debt cycle that feels like it will never end?  Have you considered payday loans or already have one? Are you overwhelmed by all the so-called “help” on the internet about getting out of debt? The real secret to getting and staying out of debt requires a permanent change […]

I definitely have heated opinions every Sunday when I read Liz Weston’s (@lizweston) “Money Talk” articles.  She’s a journalist who has published books on money, so she’s an expert right? Well, she definitely tries to help, while avoiding the unauthorized practice of law because she is not a lawyer.  Recently, a reader asked whether they […]

“Tick-tock” goes the clock on a creditor’s legal ability to collect on a debt owed.  Known as the Statute of Limitations, state laws that vary in each state, limits the time a creditor has to file a law suit to collect a debt. If they do not sue in time, the debt is no longer […]

Do you have very old debt lingering on your credit report?  In California, if it has been more than four years since you first became delinquent; i.e., missed a payment, then the debt collector can no longer sue you to collect on that debt.  HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean that the debt is forgiven, or that […]

Since 60 Minutes aired, 40 Million Mistakes:  Is Your Credit Report Accurate?, their has been an increase in the filing of federal lawsuits under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (“FDCPA”) by consumers throughout the U.S. The 60 Minutes report explained that your credit information is monitored, bought and […]