Elizabeth Doren Paralegal at Geraci Law L.L.C.

What is the Real Price Difference Between Bankruptcy Lawyers?

This is Chapter 10 of Attorney Peter Francis Geraci’s book. Read below and check out more information @ https://www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com/

I have found that there is very little difference in attorney’s fees. You can’t save more than a couple hundred dollars between lawyers’ fees for the same type of case. Some people like cheap doctors, and some people like cheap food. Some people pick attorneys by a $100 difference in price, not realizing that one deal your attorney makes can save or cost you thousands.

So, the cheapest lawyer in town is not necessarily the best. In other words, go for experience, not price, because there is not much difference in fees for consumer bankruptcies, but there is a big difference in the quality of the advice and service.

For instance, let’s say that 5 years later, a bill collector calls and says you left him off your petition, and he wants to be paid. Will you be able to call your attorney who did the Chapter 7, for advice, or will the telephone be disconnected? If it is Geraci Law, yes you can. 7 am to 7 pm and Saturdays until 1 PM. All your records are electronic. No voice mail either.

Usually, Chapter 7 fees can be paid in installments of as low as $100 a month. Chapter 13 Plans including attorney fees are as low as $95 biweekly. If you can’t afford $100 or $200 a month, you may have to ask friends or family to help you out.

In my opinion, anyone “shopping for fees” for a bankruptcy attorney, is not thinking clearly. If you can clear $10,000 in debt, tax free for $1500, it is a bargain. 10 payments of $150 or even $200 is a bargain.

Chapter 13 cases are even more of a bargain. In almost every state, the attorney fee is exactly the same. Most Chapter 13 cases get filed “no money down”, because it’s a repayment plan. Your attorney gets paid from your Chapter 13 payment, which takes care of attorney fees and all debt. Your Chapter 13 payment could be as low as $95 bi-weekly, or more depending on what debt you are paying back.

Geraci Law represents people on Social Security with low income, and people making over $100,000 a year. Anyone quoting the same fee for any case, on the phone, may be engaging in “bait and switch” tactics. But, if you are really were just looking for the cheapest lawyer in town, sadly for you, there are some poor lawyers at the bottom of their career that will work for free. You kind of get what you pay for.

Geraci Law is the largest filer of bankruptcies in Illinois Indiana and Wisconsin, and you will generally find that the largest law firms probably have the happiest clients, and about the same fees, when you get done, as the all-by-myself attorneys.

Lawyers that claim to be “cheap” can often end up costing you more! Beware of “cheap fee quotes on the phone”

In most Chapter 13 cases, you are saving a lot of money on interest, so the cost is less than paying the creditors at their contract rate of interest. However, Chapter 7 cases are usually cheaper than Chapter 13 cases in terms of total cost. Many “cheap” lawyers don’t know the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, so if you go there, you won’t know either.

Dial 1-800-CALL-PFG for a free phone mini-consultation, or make an appointment online 24/7 at www.infotapes.com. Bankruptcy laws are in place to help you. Who knows bankruptcy like Geraci Law? Geraci Law has 35,000 5-star reviews since November 2016!

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Student Loan Update

More complications from your politicians.

Check out the article written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci at https://www.infotapes.com/articles and others. This is an ongoing change, this article originally written 11/22/2022.

There are three branches of Government in the United States, according to the United States Constitution. The legislative branch charged with making the laws. The executive branch, which is the president, in his various departments such as the Department of Justice or the Department of Education, have no power to make any laws. So when the senator from MasterCard, now president Joseph Biden, says that student loans are discharged, courts, which are the third branch of government, rule on whether or not he is violating the U.S. Constitution by trying to legislate by Executive Order.

What does this mean to you if you have student loans? Student loans used to be dischargeable in bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a federal law. Bankruptcy law was made by the United States Congress, voted on by the Senate and the house of representatives. When Joe Biden was a Sen., he represented the state of Delaware. He was commonly known as the senator from MasterCard, because that was where MasterCard at its headquarters, where it gave Joe Biden and other politicians a lot of money. Joe Biden and some other politicians like his friend Charles Grassley of Missouri, change the bankruptcy law so that student loans were no longer dischargeable in bankruptcy, except if there was a showing of “undue hardship”

“undue hardship” was almost impossible to prove in bankruptcy proceedings. The Justice Department represented the Department of Education and all government insured student loan cases trying to prove undue hardship, and they fought it to the extreme, and opposing terminal cancer patients discharge of student loans on the grounds that they might get better so what is Joe Biden trying to do now? He is ordered the Justice Department to be less aggressive, but still to examine a whole bunch of factors in determining if there is a student loan discharge possible.

The problem with this is that under the current bankruptcy law you not only have to file a bankruptcy case, but you have to prepare a lawsuit within the bankruptcy case called an adversary complaint, and in that adversary complaint you have to set out the factors that you think aloud discharge. When the new Justice Department guidelines are finalized, the Justice Department attorneys have now been ordered not to be so terrible and opposing discharges. But that does not mean that student loans will be dischargeable in bankruptcy to any great extent, because judges still have to rule on it and judges follow the law, not Justice Department guidelines.

If any of our fine politicians are worried about student loan discharge, what they should do is amend the bankruptcy law to permit discharge of student loans after period of time, based upon all the other bankruptcy factors, and either chapter 7 or 13. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Richard Durbin propose such a bill two years ago and it is gone nowhere so stay tuned.

If your purpose in filing bankruptcy is to discharge her student loans, and they are not dischargeable in programs that already apply for on your own, it is still going to be an uphill battle.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Meet Our Kentucky Team!

Meet Our Geraci Law Team in Kentucky!

Attorney Marc Affolter

Attorney Marc Affolter graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Miami University, with a minor in Business Legal Studies. While in law school, he was the Managing Editor for the Journal of Legal Medicine, interned for Judge Paul P. Biebel, presiding Judge of Cook County’s felony courthouse and interned for the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. While working for the Lake County State’s Attorney, Marc co-chaired a domestic battery jury trial and won. Attorney Affolter is beloved by clients with reviews ranging from “awesome,” “fantastic,” and a “pleasure to deal with.” In his spare time, he enjoys watching the Chicago Blackhawks and reading historical non-fiction.

Attorney Rob Brynjelsen

Attorney Rob Brynjelsen is a senior and supervising attorney at Geraci Law. He is responsible for managing attorneys in Wisconsin, and Indiana. Attorney Brynjelsen is licensed to practice in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Ohio and Florida. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign and his Juris Doctor from University of Miami. He has advised on more than 10,000 consumer bankruptcy cases. He spends at minimum a few weeks a year visiting all of our Indiana and Wisconsin locations ensuring the Geraci Law standard throughout the Midwest.

Ryan Balmer

Ryan is the paralegal at the New Albany Indiana office and is ready to help assist folks in Indiana and Kentucky with the Bankruptcy process. He works to make the process hassle-free helping clients get the relief they need!

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Beverages & Budgeting

Grab a cold or hot beverage of your choosing, sit down and work on the budget this weekend.

It’s been a few months since the last Beverages & Budgeting post. Grab a cold or hot beverage of your choosing, sit down and work on the budget this weekend.

With inflation affecting everyone, it’s important to revisit the household budget. Think about what you are spending on credit card minimums only to use the credit card for your household expenses. Instead you could be using the minimum payment for groceries, gas or to start saving for retirement (check out https://www.infotapes.com/articles/news/105/bankruptcy-can-help-you-plan-for-retirement)

Geraci Law has GREAT budgeting form to get a start on a budget. You will see suggested amounts. Print off a recent bank statement and see just where your money is going. Need help? Struggling with payments? We’re a phone call away at 800 CALL PFG (800.225.5734).

Budgeting form available below or @ https://www.infotapes.com/content/forms/MonthlyBudget.pdf

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Bankruptcy Can Help You Plan for Retirement!

Instead of paying credit cards, you should be paying yourself!

Check out this article written by Peter Francis Geraci and more articles at https://www.infotapes.com/articles!

Most Americans know nothing about bankruptcy law even though it is in the United States Constitution. They don’t know how to get rid of their debt. That is no accident, since all the financial education courses, when they are required in high school, deliberately do not teach anything about bankruptcy law. You can take my debtor education course by logging onto http://www.pfged.com, or more if you want to spend two hours getting educated.

One thing I teach in my debtor education course is that you should start worrying about retirement early. If you don’t have at least your annual salary saved up by age 30, you are not on track to retire by age 67 very few Americans have their salary saved up by age 30. Very few are putting 5000 or more into an IRA every year but a lot of Americans are paying 5000 in credit cards minimum payments every year.

So if your credit card minimum payments are $500 a month, that is 2% your credit card debt, is probably around 25,000. If you file a bankruptcy case, or chapter 7 for immediate discharge, or chapter 13 to repay with no interest, sooner or later you will have no credit card debt, and can put that 500 a month in an IRA you will have $6000 a year. That means in the next 10 years you will have at least $60,000, even if the IRA does not increase in value.

Some financial educators also say that by age 40 you should have three times your annual salary saved. Another rule of thumb is to multiply your living expenses at 25 to see how much money you will need to retire, and last 25 years in retirement. Here’s how that works: if your expenses are 2000 a month or 24,000 a year, five times that is about $600,000. So by the time you are 65 years old should have $600,000 saved. I can you possibly do that? Well if to save $6000 a year or 30 years just to get $180,000. But if you invested 6000 a year and a dividend paying stock, paid a 4% dividend, would get the benefit of compound interest, and possibly also an increase in the stock price, and over 30 years your money just might triple.

If you are paying $500 a month in minimums and credit cards you will pay the credit cards off in about 22 years. That’s a lot different than having hundred $80,000 in savings 20 years from now, isn’t it? That’s why people that file bankruptcy truly get a fresh start, if they take my debtor education course, they learn how to retire with the pension or IRA of at least $200,000. More information is at http://www.infotapes.com.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Geraci Law in Kentucky

Geraci Law is ready to help Kentucky!

Did you know Geraci Law handles cases in Kentucky? The same great service, same great experience now helping folks in Kentucky with debt!

If you are struggling with minimum payments, stressed out by collection calls – Geraci Law is here for you. Come meet us in New Albany, Indiana!

Schedule online @ https://www.infotapes.com/bankruptcy/officelocator or give us a call to talk about the financial issue @ 800.225.5734 (800 CALL PFG)

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Foreclosure Filings Increase in Cook County Illinois

More Homeowners falling into Foreclosure

Check out the press release from Attorney Peter Francis Geraci – stay up to date with news @ https://www.infotapes.com/Press

Cook County Foreclosure Filings are going Up: the Jan-June 6 month average was 262 weekly Foreclosure filings. In the last two weeks, they are up about 30%, with 333 & 324 weekly Foreclosures. What can a homeowner do? Many stopped paying their mortgages 2 years ago, thinking a Covid Forbearance of some sort would be offered.

Now, they are almost two years behind. What is worse is that the value of their homes is usually up, but if they lose the home in foreclosure, they will have no generational wealth, and will be renting. They have eaten up a lot of their equity by letting the mortgage go 30 months behind.

And what about the real estate taxes? Either the mortgage company paid them, and wants to be reimbursed, or they are now 2 years past due.

Chapter 13 can cure mortgage arrears, and force the mortgage company to stop foreclosure, and accept ongoing payments. Don’t wait until foreclosure, or worse, a sheriff sale, if you are behind in your mortgage and are able to start making regular payments, and pay the past due over as long as 60 months. Chapter 13 saves houses! But the longer you wait, the harder it is.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Is There a Right Time to File Bankruptcy?

The answer is YES! If you are in debt and need help, NOW is the time to call us! You will review options with an experienced Geraci Law attorney to figure out a solution to your debt problem.

Geraci Law LLC was founded by attorney Peter Francis Geraci. Geraci Law filed more bankruptcy cases by far than any other law firm in the U.S. in 2015, over 13,000. We have counselled well over 100,000 clients. We don’t know exactly how many, but we are now on file 635,000.

We only practice in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, with about 30 offices, and over 100 total attorneys and staff. We specialize in consumer bankruptcy. We know the rules. We are easy to talk to and are always on your side. We are sympathetic. We may accept our fees in installments, and our fees are reasonable. We are interested in your future, and will give you advice based on over 100,000 past and present clients we have represented in matters similar to yours.

Peter Francis Geraci has been practicing law since 1974.

He says, “I have tried many cases before both juries and judges. I have tried every kind of case from murder to paternity, from civil rights to work injuries, from paternity cases to automobile accidents. My last jury verdict was $6.5 million in a birth injury case, and I won the appeal and collected another $1.2 million in interest for my client.

Geraci Law LLC files over 10,000 bankruptcies every year. Some of my clients have done 2 bankruptcies with me already. Some of their grandparents were my clients!

Since my practice is now concentrated in bankruptcy work, the only other cases we handle are injury claims. We refer all other cases to competent lawyers who specialize in other areas. There is an advantage to concentrating in a particular area of law.”

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

It’s a Free Hour to Change Your Life

Geraci Law offers FREE that’s right FREE consultations with our experienced bankruptcy attorneys.

Geraci Law offers FREE that’s right FREE consultations with our experienced bankruptcy attorneys. For no cost, you can review your debt, see if bankruptcy can be the solution to your debt problem. If we can’t offer you options, we’ll tell you why, and suggest some other solutions if we can.

Very few people talk about financial problems. Check out Chapter 2 of Attorney Peter Francis Geraci’s “Complete Book on Bankruptcy” titled CHAPTER #2 Don’t be Embarrassed, Nervous, or Afraid

Most hear the B word and believe they will NEVER buy a house. That’s simply not true. Bankruptcy affords someone the fresh start to get on track to home ownership. Many see their credit scores INCREASE after filing.

It’s as simple as saying I need some help or I need my options. We’re happy to meet with you to try and figure it out.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

Debt Surges and So Does Inflation

Geraci Law reports increase in pressure on retired workers!

Read the press release below from Geraci Law – you can read additional news @ https://www.infotapes.com/Press.

As if we can’t see it ourselves, the Federal Reserve reports that consumer debt levels increased 14% in March 2022. Credit card debt and other revolving debt increased by 21.4%.

Revolving credit, which includes credit cards, surged by 21.4%.

Food is up 10%, and gas is up 25% over a year ago. Pension payments have not increased, the stock market is down 20%, and social security payments are up only 5% or less.

At Geraci Law, we have seen this cycle before. Geraci Law is one of the oldest and largest debt relief agencies in the country, with roots going back to 1977. This data indicates that the cost of living will increasingly outstrip the ability to pay debt, in the coming months.

“It usually takes 2 years for consumers to realize they should eliminate or consolidate debt using either Chapter 7 or 13”, says Geraci Law founding member attorney Peter Francis Geraci.

“Bankruptcy filings are at a historic low, and borrowing is at a historic high, with the good feelings of a stock market bonanza all but gone.” Geraci Law is seeing an increase in Chapter 13 debt repayment plans filed by retired persons, and those approaching retirement. “Retirees and fixed income individuals are the canaries in the coal mine, the first to suffer from inflation and high debt repayments”, said Mr. Geraci.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com.

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