Bankruptcy Attorney News – Peter Francis Geraci Law, call us at 800 CALL PFG

 

Geraci, Arreola & Hernandez, L.L.C. became members of the exclusive ISBA Mutual Club on June 1, 2017.  The ISBA Mutual Club provides quality legal service to low-income individuals who would otherwise not have access to certain types of legal aid.  The Illinois Bar Foundation helps thousands of individuals each year and will distribute approximately $750,000 in funding.  Geraci, Arreola and Hernandez’s contribution will support the Warren Lupel Lawyers Care Fund, which helps attorneys and their families.

Attorney Peter Francis Geraci is an advocate for providing legal assistance to individuals with low income.  Peter Francis Geraci’s firm, Geraci Law L.L.C., files pro bono cases for individuals who demonstrate a need for assistance, but are struggling financially.  In addition, Peter Francis Geraci is on a list of attorneys who accept pro bono cases in Illinois.

You can learn more about the Illinois Bar Foundation at their website, https://www.illinoisbarfoundation.org/.

Geraci Law L.L.C. successfully discharged $23,306.90 in student loan debt.  Geraci Law filed a case against the lenders in Federal Court in October of 2016.  Geraci’ Law’s complaint alleged their client, an elderly woman, made a good-faith effort to repay the loan; making all of her arranged payment starting in March of 2016.  However, Geraci Law asserted their client’s student loan debt posed an undue hardship.

Student loans are usually not dischargeable and most people will be required to continue paying on them even after a bankruptcy.  One of the ways to get rid of student loans is to prove the loan poses and undue hardship to the debtor.  When determining if repaying student loans poses an undue hardship, the court adopted the “Brunner Test.”  The “Brunner Test” is a three-prong test to determine whether student loan debt can be discharged.  For student loans to cause an undue hardship you must prove:

1. That the debtor cannot maintain, based on her current income and expenses, a “minimal” standard of living for herself and her dependents if forced to repay the loans;
2. That additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the loans, and
3. That the debtor made good-faith efforts to repay the loans. Krieger, citing Brunner v. New York State Higher Educ. Servcs., 831 F.2d 395 (2nd Cir. 1987).

 

Geraci Law alleged our client met each prong of the test and as a result, her student loans should be discharged.  After months of work on the case, Geraci Law attorneys and the defense agreed to have the student loans discharged and the case came to an end.

Thanks to the terrific work by the Geraci Law L.L.C. trial team, our client has successfully discharged more than $20,000 in student loan debt.

The Peter Francis Geraci Law Bankruptcy & Injury Offices love receiving a “thank you” after a successful case. Geraci Law is one of the most reviewed law firms in the country and has more than 4,000 5-star reviews.   You can see our reviews on AVVO, YELP, GOOGLE+ and the BBB websites.

Geraci Law is widely known as a nice place to work.  All attorneys and staff subscribe to the firm’s mission statement, which may be summarized as, “Nice people doing nice things for nice people.”

Interested in contacting a lawyer for debt relief?  visit www.infotapes.com and enter your zip code to find your closest office.  Remember, Don’t pay the SAME and not get the NAME!

TAREK KHALIL WAS VERY HELPFUL AND PROFESSIONAL. I WOULD RECOMMEND GERACI LAW FIRM IF YOU EVER NEED TO GET OUT OF DEBT.

 

When I came to Geraci Law, I was in a bad place… I’d lost my job, was in the process of losing my car, and had just moved back to Illinois. This firm gave me hope and proceeded to assist me in putting my life back in order. I will forever be grateful to this firm and the staff whose kindness and professionalism gave me my life back.

My experience with Tarek Khalil was with one of the most reassuring and competent counselors I have had the pleasure of dealing with. His intelligence and prudent judgment helped me overcome my fear and apprehension. Thank you!

Dale was extremely knowledgeable and kept me well informed of the entire process. His demeanor was always professional and empathetic even when he needed to advise me of information I did not necessarily want to hear. He always responded timely and kept me in the loop; patient despite by many questions and sometimes unwarranted opposition. I truly appreciated his efforts.

I just want to say that filing a chapter 13 was a difficult decision but when I meet with the staff at Geraci law they explained everything in simple terms. During this 4 1/2 year process I have contacted the office by phone and email and all questions were answered professional and promptly. Registering for Geraci law web site and national bankruptcy database made it easy to track my case and progress. I would recommend them to anyone looking for advice on bankruptcy and your options.

The story of the Raven and the dove is as old as the story of Noah and the flood.  It is found in the Torah and in Genesis 8:6 – 12.   Noah sent the Raven to circle and see if the waters were gone, and the Raven did not return, and so no one knew the water had receded. Noah then sent out the dove to see if there were any green things growing.  In the Bible, the Raven is an unclean bird, and the dove is a clean bird.

Anyway, there are no ravens in Chicago.  Only crows.   And crows eat other birds. Doves nest under the small bushes on our balcony window boxes. However, these skies of downtown Chicago are filled with Hawks, so the doves need to make sure they stay very still when they are nesting, and that they train their babies to fly very quickly, keeping them in the nest until they are large enough to fly away. We have not seen a Crow in downtown Chicago in 15 years.  But, just when the newborns, from a nest of doves, were about big enough to fly, guess who appeared?  The Crow.  And it is looking right at the doves’ nest.  The doves moved to the other side of the building. But, they did not move soon enough since there were two baby doves, now there is only one.  This is a pretty common problem, with crows and doves.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit against OCWEN, one of the nation’s largest nonbank mortgage companies.  The lawsuit was filed on April 20, 2017.  According to the lawsuit, OCWEN failed borrowers during the mortgage servicing process.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Director, Richard Cordray said in a statement,

“Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is filing a lawsuit against Ocwen, one of the nation’s largest nonbank mortgage servicers. We are seeking relief to compensate consumers for years of systemic and significant errors throughout the mortgage servicing process, which cost some of them their homes. We allege that Ocwen calculated loan balances improperly, misapplied borrower payments, and botched escrow and insurance payments. We believe Ocwen failed to properly investigate and fix these problems when people formally complained, and it illegally foreclosed on borrowers. And we believe Ocwen compounded these failures by selling the servicing rights to these loans without fully disclosing or correcting errors in people’s records.”

According to the lawsuit, OCWEN failed borrowers by:

• Serviced loans using error-riddled information
• Illegally foreclosed on homeowner by failing to deliver required foreclosure protections. As a result, it is alleged that OCWEN wrongfully initiated foreclosure proceedings on at least 1,000 people, and has wrongfully held foreclosure sales.
• Failed to credit borrowers’ payments.
• Botched escrow accounts by failing to properly apply escrow payment.
• Mishandled hazard insurance:
• Bungled borrowers’ private mortgage insurance
• Deceptively signed up and charged borrowers for add-on products
• Failed to assist heirs seeking foreclosure alternatives
• Failed to adequately investigate and respond to borrower complaints
• Failed to provide complete and accurate loan information to new servicers

The CFPB is requesting that OCWEN follow mortgage servicing laws and pay penalties.  You can read the lawsuit at the CFPB website: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/20170420_cfpb_Ocwen-Complaint.pdf

 

April 6, 2017: “Very happy with the results, Thanks to Briana, she was always there to answer my questions. Thanks to her we have started a new chapter in our life.”

April 6, 2017: “I appreciate the help I have received from both Attorney’s that have helped me. Filing Bankruptcy is embarrassing to me, and they never once made me feel beneath them. Everyone here is great, and I am so glad I chose to come here to help me.”

April 5, 2017: “Love love love”

April 4, 2017: “I’ve had a very positive experience with Geraci Law. The attorneys that helped me were David and Liz. Both were very thorough in explaining the process. I would recommend Geraci Law to anyone who is having financial troubles, like myself. I am so thankful that they took the time to help me.”

April 4, 2017:  “The attorneys at Geraci Law are very kind and professional. They are understanding and listen to you problems. The hours are convenient and the service is great. I would definitely recommend Geraci Law to my friends.”

Read more reviews at: https://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/attorneys-and-lawyers/peter-francis-geraci-law-llc-in-chicago-il-36000434/reviews-and-complaints

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been working on fixing data accuracy, repairing dispute processes and cleaning up information from data furnishers.

The director of the CFPB, Richard Cordray,  says,

“Since we began our oversight work, the CFPB has been uncovering and correcting problems in the consumer reporting industry, Because of our work, important improvements are being made. Much more work needs to be done but our corrective actions are leading to positive changes that are benefiting consumers all over the country.”

The main assistance to consumers maybe how consumer reporting companies are required to handle disputes.  According to the new policies, the consumer reporting agencies must maintain evidence that they accurately handled the disputes and conducted a reasonable investigation.  Also part of the dispute process is how consumers are notified of the completion of an investigation.  According to the CFPB,

“continued monitoring has shown that the consumer reporting companies have improved processes for investigating disputes and are improving response letters to consumers.”

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, more commonly known as the FCRA, requires an investigation into the consumer dispute and proper noticing to the consumer withing 30 days.

Although these are important milestones in correcting the credit reporting process, it doesn’t help individuals who suffered from bad credit scores due to poor reporting.  Geraci Law sees a lot of individuals who suffer from bad credit scores due to inaccurate reporting.  Unfortunately, a credit score still determines the cost of financing.  The difference in an average credit score and a good credit score means percentage points when financing a house or car.

You can learn more by visiting the CFPB site: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-oversight-uncovers-and-corrects-credit-reporting-problems/

March 27, 2017: “Geraci Law is friendly, prompt and very easy to talk to and understand. I felt very uneasy when I got here originally but I now feel very comfortable knowing this is going to be the best thing for my future.”

 

March 27, 2017: Joe Blaha was very helpful. I would recommend him to anyone needing to file bankruptcy. He made me feel very comfortable with the process.

 

 

March 27, 2017:  “The Evergreen Park office was very friendly. This was my first time filing bankruptcy and was nervous coming in. The staff put me at ease.”

March 27, 2017:  “I referred my son to come see you guys. I liked attorney Mariuz, he really did my case right!”

March 27, 2017:  “The attorneys have been very helpful and clear. Overall, we have received great service and advice.”

March 20, 2017:  “I was very pleased with the service at Geraci .My Lawyer W. Mok was very efficient and professional . He was also very Friendly”

 

March 20, 2017:  “Chad is really a good person. He made me feel at ease. I thought about filing at another firm, but when I met Chad, I knew he was the right attorney to help me out.”

 

March 20, 2017: “They are really the best at what they do. Nothing but positive results. Really good professional people.”

 

March 14, 2017: “They helped me so much in the 63rd St office. I needed my case filed the same day and Anna, Steve, Frank, and David came through. They work hard and they got it done.”