Tips to Help You Before Filing Bankruptcy

Lawsuits – (Filed or About to be Filed) ▪ You can’t stop them, but Bankruptcy can!

▪ Always go to your Court hearings.

Ask for a continuance. The Judge does not have to allow a continuance, but you should try and delay any Judgment against you until you can get your case filed.

▪ A Judgment is BAD!

It means that your wages can be garnished and money in your bank can be taken. It also means that if you are buying a house, the creditor can now use your house as collateral until you pay. If this happens before your case is filed, you may still have to pay it.

Garnishments and Bank Levies ▪ You can’t stop them, but Bankruptcy can!

▪ Keep your money out of the bank.

If you have direct deposit, you should consider stopping it until you know you are safe. If you have automatic withdrawals from your account, you should stop them until it is safe to leave money in your account.

Repossession

▪ Take EVERYTHING you own out of the car. After a “repo” these things will disappear.

Leave only what you need if you are stopped by the police. Keep the car parked in a garage if you can. Don’t park the car in obvious places for the “repo man” to find it easily.

Foreclosure ▪ There are lots of misleading “programs” being advertised.

Most of them are designed to make money for the entity in charge of the program. A very small number of them are able to help but it may not be soon enough. Even the mortgage companies have misleading and slow “loan modification” departments.

▪ Always check with the Law Firm that is processing the Foreclosure.

It doesn’t matter what anyone else tells you. The Law Firm has instructions to foreclose and very rarely do they stop this process. Don’t be misled when you hear “your loan modification request is being reviewed” and wait until it’s too late.