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Are Unlisted Creditors Discharged in My Bankruptcy Case?

Read the article below or @ https://www.infotapes.com/Articles written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci.

That depends. In the First Circuit and the Seventh Circuit, there are cases that talk about missing creditors that aren’t discharged unless the case is reopened to amend schedules to list an omitted creditor, but, at least in the 7th Circuit, that reasoning is rarely followed.

In Stark v. St. Mary’s Hospital, 717 F.2d 322 (7th 1983), the Seventh Circuit concluded that the decision of whether to discharge the debt of an omitted creditor is based on equity. The Stark court said the burden is on the debtor to show that law and equitable principles allow the reopening of the case to include the omitted creditor. Without such a showing by the debtor, the debt will not be discharged and the creditor will have a claim against the debtor, despite the previous order for discharge of debts.

This case has been criticized for suggesting that adding a creditor to a schedule has an effect on the dischargeability of the underlying debt. See In re Anderson, 72 B.R. 783 (Bankr. D. Minn. 1987).

The general rule in most jurisdictions is that a debt is either dischargeable or not based on the nature of the debt, and the nature of the status of the claims proceeding, and that reopening the case is unnecessary.

Even in the 7th Circuit, which is Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, if the creditor has actual notice of some kind, such as you called and told them, or if “no harm, no foul” because the case was a “no asset case” and they would have gotten nothing even if they were listed, or if the creditor is really to blame because they sold the debt to someone else and didn’t tell them, the case does not have to be reopened at all. At Geraci Law, the issue rarely comes up.

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 30,000 5-star reviews since November 2016!

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

Who your Lawyer is, DOES Make a Difference

An attorney representing creditors scrutinizes your Chapter 7 or 13 petition, looking for assets they can take, or money they can get you to pay creditors.

Below is an article written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci read this and more at https://www.infotapes.com/Articles

Geraci Law founder Peter Francis Geraci likes to say “Why pay the same and not get the name?” Even worse, why THINK you’re paying an attorney to protect you, but end up losing your home or other asset?

Remember, creditors look at your bankruptcy petition, and so does the United States Trustee and their minions. An attorney representing creditors scrutinizes your Chapter 7 or 13 petition, looking for assets they can take, or money they can get you to pay creditors.

Geraci Law attorney Nathan E. Curtis recently defeated a Chapter 7 trustee in one case, and a Chapter 13 trustee in another. In Will County, Illinois, the Chapter 7 trustee wanted to take $12,000.00 the Geraci clients had claimed exempt as funds from the sale of their home, because Illinois law says the “homestead” exemption is only good for a year. Attorney Curtis pointed out to the Court that, since the Chapter 7 was filed within a year of receiving the sale proceeds, the Trustee could not claim it by holding the Chapter 7 case open and waiting a year to object. This saved the Debtors $12,000.00.

In the Chapter 13 case, Geraci Law attorney Nathan Curtis defeated the claim of the Chapter 13 trustee that life insurance proceeds of $50,000 were “disposable income” that had to be paid to creditors. Attorney Curtis pointed out that only “current monthly income”, not a one-time payment, much less a life insurance payment that is exempt from creditors, may be required to be used to pay creditors. The Bankruptcy Judge agreed, and Geraci Law saved the widow from having to use life insurance to pay creditors.

Who you choose for an attorney DOES make a difference!

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

The Hidden Health Costs of Being in Debt

Money worries can make you sick – really sick.

Below is an article written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci regarding the hidden costs of owing. If you are worried about medical, owing medical bills could make health conditions even worse! Read more articles by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci at https://www.infotapes.com/Press.

An article in the June 2021 Men’s Health magazine brings together a number of scientific studies concluding that money problems can kill you. The article quotes the director of the Jackson Heart study as saying that financial stress is a major cause of heart disease, and money issues can cause chronic 24/7 stress that can raise blood pressure, and cause heart disease.

The U.S. Financial Health Pulse: 2020 Trends report states: “As of August 2020, more than two-thirds of people in America (approximately 167 million people) were Financially Coping or Financially Vulnerable. These individuals are struggling to spend, save, borrow, or plan in ways that allow them to be resilient and seize opportunities over time.” https://finhealthnetwork.org/research/u-s-financial-health-pulse-2020-trends-report/

Geraci Law founding member Peter Francis Geraci says that the overwhelming comments in over 30,000 five-star reviews from Geraci Law clients in the last 5 years is “stress relief”. Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings eliminate the stress caused by failure to be able to meet financial obligations. Both types of consumer bankruptcy allow people to re-set their budgets and balance their income and expenses. Chapter 7 allows elimination of debt, while continuing to pay vehicles and mortgages. Chapter 13 allows consolidation of debt into a monthly or biweekly affordable payment. Both, according to Mr. Geraci, go a long way to relieving stress, which lowers blood pressure and helps overall health.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com

Student Loan Updates

Student Loan collections to resume in 2022 – read Geraci Law press release and PFG Article!

Geraci Law released the following press release regarding student loans. Read this release and more @ https://www.infotapes.com/Press

As of December 31, 2019, 10,347,000* borrowers were in default or 91+ days delinquent out of 44,865,000 borrowers with outstanding debt, according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s April 2, 2021 press release. During COVID, federal student loan interest, and collections, were paused. Will there be a “Jubilee” of forgiveness. Not likely. But there may be relief in bankruptcy for loans over 10 years old if a bill introduced in the Senate on August 21, 2021 passes both houses of Congress. https://abi-org.s3.amazonaws.com/Newsroom/FreshStartAct.pdf

The problem with this bill is that it requires schools with a high default rate to pay to the Treasury up to 50% of the amount forgiven.

In August, the President extended to Jan. 22, 2022, the moratorium that 9 of every 10 student loan borrowers have taken advantage of. Will the forgiveness bill pass before then? Probably not, if ever. Will the moratorium get extended again. Good chance, since the Democrats want to get elected in November 2022. Will student loans disappear? Not likely. Why not? Because America’s higher education gets fat by raising tuition and have students borrow our tax money to pay for a 4 year vacation from work. So the colleges and universities are opposed to any form of student loan forgiveness that would cost them a nickel, or reduce enrollment in super-expensive post-high school education.

What to do in the meantime? Get ready to pay your student loan, since it can’t be forgiven in bankruptcy. No fresh start for you, B.A. in Philosophy!

But wait there’s more!

Attorney Peter Francis Geraci wrote an article titled, “Student Loan Forgiveness for the Permanently Disabled.” You can read this article and more @ https://www.infotapes.com/Articles.

If you are receiving Social Security Disability, the Social Security Administration has determined that you are permanently and totally disabled and cannot engage in meaningful employment. In fact, if you do engage in meaningful employment paying over $500 a month, you are then deemed to be able to work. While you are disabled, you should apply for an “administrative discharge” of any student loan obligation. A family member can help you with this. You do not need an attorney.

You should not think of filing a bankruptcy to discharge student loans, therefore, if you are receiving Social Security Disability. Just inform the student loan servicer that you are totally, permanently disabled, and ask them to forgive the loan.

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com

How stupid is “debt settlement” from most non-attorney companies? Really stupid.

Phony debt settlement schemes make you poorer than you were before.

Read article below or more written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci at https://www.infotapes.com/Articles.

An article in the May 23, 2021 New York times points out how stupid most debt settlement operations are for those struggling with credit cards. On page 39 the story of a single mother and her son is told. The story claims that this single mother is spending 100 a month on credit cards that are not included in another $300 she pays to a private company, to “bundle $27,000 in debt from nine creditors”

The story says that she was paying $246 every other Wednesday, but dropped it to $100 when she lost her 2nd job waitressing. Then creditors “got pushy” and one is taking it to court, and she “just got handed papers from another creditor the other day and started crying”

This sad. Poor lady is getting terrible advice. First, she will never pay back $27,000 in debt at either $500 a month, or $200 a month, unless she gets lucky and pays out that $100 for the next 10 years or more, and never misses.

Each creditor is dividing $200 a month, minus the fees to this “Debt Relief” company, so they might be getting $20 each. Second, look what happened. 2 of the 9 creditors actually filed lawsuits. Some “Debt Relief” Third, she could have filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for $200, and she would have been done with it all long again, and included the other debt she is paying $100 a month on.

It is plainly beyond her means to pay even $300 a month to creditors, given her precarious financial position. Not once does the New York Times mention bankruptcy relief, which is the obvious solution to her debt problems. The budget in the article doesn’t make any sense, either.

This is pretty typical of publications like the New York Times, who have some kind of weird agenda, telling stories that don’t help anyone understand how to deal with debt. Attorney Peter Francis Geraci of Geraci Law LLC sees examples of this all the time: well-meaning people getting fleeced by “debt relief” when they should be filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Can I Get Rid of a Vehicle By Filing Bankruptcy?

Article written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci. Read more of his posts at https://www.infotapes.com/Articles!

Can I get rid of a vehicle by filing bankruptcy?

Sometimes you just don’t want a vehicle. It may be worth far less than you owe, or it may be a junk that costs too much to repair. So the question is, how do you get rid of it and get something else? You’re probably not going to just get rid of the vehicle and walk or take the bus. So there are a variety of situations, and you need good legal advice before you make a false move.

Title loans Do you have an old vehicle with a title loan? If you do, the title loan company has a lien on the title. They will want you to pay them before they release the title. If the vehicle doesn’t run, or has been in an accident, you can’t junk it unless you get the title. Title loan companies seldom will take a vehicle back, rarely even repossess vehicles, because they don’t loan you enough money to make it worthwhile. If you file a bankruptcy, we can provide that you surrender the vehicle, then file a procedure called a motion to exempt and redeem. The court values the vehicle, and all you have to do is pay the value of the vehicle to the title company in which they are required to give you the title. This works very well when you have a junker is only worth $100 salvage value.

Under water Second situation that is very common is that you have a vehicle where you have a loan on it, in the loan payoff is much more than the vehicle is worth, and you don’t want it. Let’s say you bought a used car, and it’s now worth $8000. But you have 40 payments of $350 left to pay, or $14,000, the payoff and that depending upon how long you’ve financed it for, might be as much is $11,000 or $12,000. So if you wanted to give the vehicle back to the finance company, they would sell it at auction, probably $4000, and soak you with the auction costs, if you credit for the $4000 sales price, and you’d end up owing 8000 on the repossessed vehicle. Chapter 7 filing can eliminate that $8000 deficiency.

So Chapter 7 works very well when you owe a lot more than the vehicle is worth. If you want the over financed vehicle in a chapter 7, sometimes, we can make a deal, and a reaffirmation. So you can either surrender a vehicle that’s over financed and eliminate the deficiency, or possibly we can negotiate a better deal in bankruptcy, but you have to be willing, under Chapter 7 to surrender it if they don’t give you a better deal. There is another option called 722 redemption, similar to the junker, but if the value of the vehicle is $8000, you have to come up with the full value of the vehicle, or finance it, and if you do not come up with the $8000 722 redemption, you probably be financing it at 30% interest which is a terrible deal and you’d be right back where you started.

Chapter 13 The third situation involves keeping the vehicle, and filing chapter 13 to pay what the vehicle is worth, if the vehicle is over two and half years old, and even if it’s not 2 ½ years old to pay it at the prime rate +2%. Now if that sounds complicated, it is. One problem that we are running into is people are financing vehicles for 72 or 84 months, and then coming in to file a chapter 13, which can only last 60 months. They may even have a 0% interest rate. So if you have a long way to pay on a vehicle, and you’ve already got 0% interest, chapter 13 doesn’t help you. Depending upon your income, it may be wise you can qualify for chapter 7, to get rid of this monster and get a reasonably priced vehicle with a low payment.

There’s a lot more to vehicles in bankruptcy. Geraci law lawyers have filed over 100,000 bankruptcy cases, many of which involve cars, both chapter 7 and chapter 13. If your only debt is a car, you should not be doing a bankruptcy. But if your problem is greater than just the car payment, let’s look at what filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 can do about your whole picture, and where the vehicle fits in.

That’s why you need an experienced Geraci law bankruptcy lawyer to figure all this stuff out.

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

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