Blogs by William Manchee
What Every Bankruptcy Filer Should Know
1/31/2009 9:01:35 PM
With unemployment skyrocketing many people will soon be forced to file bankruptcy, but will they really get the fresh start they have been promised?
With unemployment surging and foreclosures at an all time high, millions of Americans will be forced into bankruptcy over the next few years. They will be looking for a discharge of their credit card debts, medical bills, and mortgage deficiencies and the fresh start the bankruptcy code promises. Unfortunately, even if they successfully complete their bankruptcy filing and their debts have been discharged doesn't mean the fight against predatory lenders is over. Many creditors intentionally misreport people's credit after filing bankruptcy and some will even continue trying to collect the discharged debt.
You would think there would be someone in the government making sure creditors obeyed the bankruptcy discharge and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, but that's not generally the case. That task is largely left to the debtors themselves, which means most often nothing is done and the predatory creditor is allowed to continue to ruin the lives of innocent Americans. We have all witnessed lender greed and corporate excesses during the current economic meltdown and it's time we put an end to it.
Fortunately there are a myriad of laws available to stop this type of abuse by the credit industry. The first is a contempt action in the bankruptcy court, the second are federal actions under Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and/or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the third are state court actions for defamation, unreasonable collection or violation of local fair collection laws. Unfortunately, these laws are not utilized often enough to stop this type of abuse.
Two of the reasons for this are ignorance on the part of consumers and residual guilt from the bankruptcy filing. They don't know what rights they have after bankruptcy and because they feel a little guilty over not paying their debts, they are not inclined to take action against the lender whose debt has just been discharged. What they don't know is that their creditors haven't necessarily given up on getting paid and sometimes won't quit until forced to do so.
I'll being writing more on this subject in the near future. In the meantime if you'd like more information go to http://protectyourfreshstart.com or join my new Plaxo group http://bankruptcy.plaxogroups.com
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More Blogs by William Manchee
• Why Many Intelligent and Talented People Fail in Business - Monday, May 7, 2012
• Getting the Mail Can Be Risky Business - Friday, May 4, 2012
• Consumers Suffer Grievous Injury When Creditors Improperly Report Their Credit after Bankruptcy - Thursday, May 3, 2012
• The Effect of Print on Demand to the Small Press Author - Monday, July 4, 2011
• Nine-Eleven's Impact on the Small Press Author - Sunday, July 3, 2011
• Has Your Mortgage Company Ripped You Off? - Saturday, August 7, 2010
• Wrongful Foreclosure - Tuesday, February 16, 2010
• Don't Throw Away The Evidence - Friday, January 15, 2010
• Brandy - Saturday, October 17, 2009
• Why I Write in Different Genres - Wednesday, August 12, 2009
• Cash for Clunkers Bad Idea for Many Consumers - Monday, August 3, 2009
• Beware of Debt Negotiators - Tuesday, May 5, 2009
• Top Ten Reviewers - Tuesday, April 28, 2009
• Debt Collector Put Out of Business In Texas - Sunday, April 26, 2009
• Defending the Small Business - Part 23 - Changing Your Ways - Tuesday, April 7, 2009
• What Every Bankruptcy Filer Should Know - Part 3 - Will Filing Bankruptcy Ruin Your Credit? - Thursday, March 19, 2009
• Defending the Small Business - Part 22 - Bookkeeping and Accounting - Wednesday, March 11, 2009
• Chill, It's No Big Deal - Sunday, March 1, 2009
• What All Bankruptcy Filers Should Know - Part 2 - Wednesday, February 25, 2009
• Defending the Small Business - Part 21 Form of Business - Thursday, February 19, 2009
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• 7 - Defending The Small Business: The Credit Conspiracy - Saturday, October 18, 2008
• 6 - Defending the Small Business - Giving it away. - Thursday, October 16, 2008
• 5. Defending the Small Business: Starting on A Shoe String - Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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• Understanding the Current Economic Meltdown - Saturday, October 11, 2008
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• 1 - Defending the Small Business: Introduction - Friday, October 10, 2008
• The Stan Turner Mysteries - Sunday, March 25, 2007
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