Tag Archives: collections

In debt? You’re not alone

A new study shows that a whopping 77 million Americans has debt that’s listed on their credit report as being “in collections.”  That’s 35% of adults who have credit files.  And this debt is spread around all over the country, even though a higher percentage of it is in the South. The student was released by the nonprofit Urban Institute.

So if you have bad debt on your credit report, you’re not alone.  Millions of Americans have the same problem.  The difference boils down to, can you do anything about it? Is bankruptcy or debt settlement right for you?

Whether you can (or should) start the ball rolling toward a clean bill of health for your credit depends on your particular situation. You can keep on spinning your wheels, wondering what to do about your debt, or you can call a competent consumer debt attorney and find out exactly where you stand.

Call consumer debt attorney Jennifer N. Weil, Esq. at (201) 676-0722.

When a bankruptcy filing does NOT stop collection actions

Your bankruptcy filing can stop all your creditors’ collection actions against you. Or can it?

Isn’t a bankruptcy filing supposed to stop all your creditors’ collection efforts against you and your property? Yes, and in fact in many cases a bankruptcy filing does exactly that. Stopping collection efforts is a benefit of filing bankruptcy called the “automatic stay,” because at the moment of the bankruptcy filing, a legal injunction automatically goes into effect “staying,” or stopping, most creditors’ actions against you. But because the automatic stay is something we count on, we had better know its exceptions.

Today I’m just going to list some of the most important exceptions. Then in the next couple of posts I will explain in practical terms these and other important aspects of the automatic stay.

So creditors CAN do the following in spite of your bankruptcy filing:

1) A district attorney or other governmental authority can begin or continue a criminal case against you, such as an indictment, a criminal trial, or a sentencing hearing. This includes not just felonies and misdemeanors, but also lesser matters like traffic infractions that you might not think of as “criminal.”

2) Your ex-spouse, or about-to-be ex-spouse, or somebody on his or her behalf, can start or continue a variety of divorce and family court proceedings. These include legal procedures to establish paternity of a child, determine or change the amount of child or spousal support to be paid, settle child custody or visitation issues, address domestic violence disputes, and even dissolve the marriage. (Although a marriage dissolution usually cannot include a determination about how assets or debts would be divided between the spouses.)

3) Specifically about child or spousal support, the person owed ongoing support can continue collecting it. If there is back support owed, then in spite of a Chapter 7 filing, the person who is owed the support can in most cases start or continue collecting it. This includes not only collection through wage withholdings and garnishment of bank accounts, but also through seizure of a tax refund and suspension of a driver’s license, an occupational or professional license, or even a hunting or other recreational license. In contrast, a Chapter 13 filing can stop these aggressive methods of collecting back support.

4) Taxing authorities can start or finish a tax audit, can send you a notice that you owe taxes, can demand you to file your tax returns, can assess your taxes and demand you to pay them, and in some situations can even file tax liens against you and your property.

Notice that each of these exceptions involves a special kind of creditor. As I said, the automatic stay stops actions against you by most creditors. But if you are involved in a court proceeding or collection efforts by the criminal or taxing authorities, or by an ex-spouse, be especially aware of these exceptions.

 
Photo by I am marlon.