Posted by Sidney Diamond on Tue, Apr 28, 2009 @ 02:10 PM
There are a number of things a person should not do when considering bankruptcy or when bankruptcy is a solution but one you wish to avoid. The bill collectors are hounding you with a barrage of telephone calls, in many cases they are breaking the law by calling your relatives, your employer, calling you very early in the morning, after 9pm or when you are at work and/or threatening to do all kinds of awful things if you do not pay up. It is understandable that all you can think about is getting them off of your back, at least for a little while. So what do you do? You promise to make them a payment(s) in the future; knowing there is no way you'll have the money to pay them, short of a miracle. In some cases people go so far as to sign a new agreement with their creditor.
You then seek the protection of the Bankruptcy Court and the creditor screams foul and seeks to have the debt you owe not be forgiven. Why? You made a promise to pay and did not keep your promise and because you made the promise the creditor did not take any action to collect on the debt. If a creditor can show you're promising to pay in the future delayed action to collect the money it was owed, you may well be denied forgiveness of that debt.
Do not make a creditor a promise or enter into an agreement with a creditor if there is any chance that you can not make the payments. The best thing to do is make no promises of any kind. If you are being hounded by creditors use the rights given to you under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,( which I have written about before) and write your creditors letters telling them to stop calling you, etc. Remember empty promises can hurt.
Posted by Sidney Diamond on Tue, Apr 28, 2009 @ 12:23 PM
Parties in control of Congress change, politicians that control the parties change, but it appears regardless of which party has the upper hand, the one thing that never changes is the people behind the scenes controlling the show. The bankruptcy bill that would give some protection back to the consumer is now stalled in the Senate, on the other hand, provisions that give businesses additional rights in bankruptcy, especially against the average guy trying to hang on to his job and support his family, is quietly moving through Congress and will probably end up being approved. There is also another law that received a great deal of publicity, when it passed Congress, dealing with the abusive tactics used by banks and other companies issuing credit cards. There is now a new proposed law that has been introduced in Congress that would push back the time that the law goes into effect by several years.
After you read this, I hope you are as angry as I am and you contact your representatives.