Debt – Page 2 – Bankruptcy Attorney News – Peter Francis Geraci Law, call us at 800 CALL PFG

Does Your Resolution Involve Debt?

No one wants to file for bankruptcy but life happens and that’s what the Fresh Start Button is for.

An article in The Washington Post titled, “Americans’ top five financial resolutions and how to make them stick” illustrates people’s WANT to budget and save. The author provides some good tips on how to make a budget and stick to it (the subheading – no you don’t need a budgeting app to control your spending is pretty good too).

This article does not account for large amounts of debt. Something in life happens where you are laid off, injured or just simply without the money to save. You use credit to survive and all of a sudden – you are stuck. Saving money becomes far more difficult when you are making minimum payments only to use your credit because your cash is gone.

THAT is where Geraci Law can help. No one wants to file for bankruptcy but life happens and that’s what the Fresh Start Button is for. So many clients are happy and relieved and are ABLE to:

Start a savings account. Think about it – if you are spending $600 per month on minimum payments, you eliminate the debt and you have THAT $600 extra per month. Put 1/2 away in a savings account and in a year – you are at $3,600 in emergency funds (put ALL into a savings account and you are at $7,200).
Invest – see the article. The author references a free course from the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

You cannot start saving until you deal with the debt problem. Geraci Law attorneys are ready to talk to you and review all of your options. Read the article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/04/new-years-advice-to-keep-financial-resolutions/

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.

How Do I Get Out of Debt?

The question is answered by Attorney Peter Francis non-bankruptcy credit counseling courses. You can watch this and more @ https://www.infotapes.com/Bankruptcy/BankruptcyInformationVideos

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

Debt Collectors can text you, email you, and contact you on social media!

The federal agency Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doesn’t seem to be protect you much when they passed new rules that let debt collectors email you, text you, and message you on social media.

Read article below by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci and more @ https://www.infotapes.com/Articles

The federal agency Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doesn’t seem to be protect you much when they passed new rules that let debt collectors email you, text you, and message you on social media. They do have to identify themselves as debt collectors. On social media, they can send you a fried request. They have to give you the option to opt out of being contacted online. Any messages have to be private, not on you public or contacts page.

The good news is that you will be more aware of collection activities, so you can do something about your financial mess before you get sued or garnished. Of course, most people who have debt collectors contacting them don’t do much of anything if it is just one small debt. But if you have $10,000 or more in consumer debt, outside of student loans, and you are getting emails and texts, you can be sure that it just isn’t going away, and debts have at least a 5 year statute of limitation before the debt is to old to collect

Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcy stop all collection efforts during the bankruptcy proceedings, and stop all collection permanently on debts you obtain a discharge for. The sooner you contact Geraci Law if you have over $10,000 in debt you can’t pay, the sooner you will be able to decide what to do.

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

Beverages & Budgeting

Beverages & Budgeting – grab a drink and let’s take a look at your monthly expenses, let’s see if Geraci Law can help!

Grab a cold one or a warm one and watch Attorney Peter Francis Geraci’s video on budgeting. Weekends are a great time to sit down with the bills over a iced or warm beverage!

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

How to Dispute False Item on Your Credit Report

It’s not mine, get it off my credit report! How long does bankruptcy stay on?

Article written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci – read more like this @ https://www.infotapes.com/Articles

You can get a free credit report from one of the 3 major credit bureaus. Go to www.freeannualcreditreport.com If you see a debt listed that is not yours, you can contest it by filling out the form on each credit bureau’s dispute site.

Equifax https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-dispute/

Experian https://www.experian.com/disputes/main.html

Trans Union https://service.transunion.com/dss/login.page?dest=dispute

You can’t dispute things that are accurate. For instance, if you paid an account after it was late, the late account can show paid, but paid late. If you filed a bankruptcy, that fact that you filed stays on 10 years after your Chapter 7 filing date, and 7 years after your Chapter 13 filing date. If a debt that you received a bankruptcy discharge is listed, that is OK, as long as it shows that you owe nothing because of your bankruptcy discharge. Creditors know what a bankruptcy discharge means: you can’t file a Chapter 7 for another 8 years and have little or no debt except what you agreed to “reaffirm”, or survive discharge. So your credit score often goes up a lot after you get a bankruptcy discharge. Credit scores are bad because you have too much debt to pay, not because you got a discharge and now have no debt, and a fresh start, in most cases!

You can only contest things that are inaccurate. Here’s what Equifax says you can dispute:

• Personal information: Your name, addresses, Social Security number or date of birth.

• Account information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete: For example, if late payments are being reported on one of your accounts but you have always paid your balance on time and in full.

• Mixed credit files: If someone else’s information is being reported on your credit file. This may happen if a father and son (Sr. and Jr.) have the same name, for instance.

• Duplicate reporting of an item: One example might be a debt listed twice.

• Information that may indicate fraud or identity theft: These would be credit accounts, including collection accounts, on your credit report that you don’t recognize.

Whether you’re contacting a lender or the credit bureaus, provide all the evidence and documents you can to support your dispute, such as an account statement verifying an account balance. Give details about why you believe the information in the credit report is inaccurate or incomplete.

What should I expect after filing a dispute?

If you file a dispute with the three nationwide credit bureaus, you can generally expect to receive the results of your dispute within 30 days. If the information is found to be inaccurate, your credit reports will be updated, generally within about 30 days.

If the result of the investigation finds that the information is accurate, it will remain on your credit reports. If you still believe the information is inaccurate or incomplete, and you have additional information that can help support your dispute, you can file your dispute again with the credit bureau. You also have the option to provide a brief statement on your credit reports summarizing your dispute, which can help explain your situation. Or you could contact the creditor to attempt to resolve the issue.

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

Geraci Law Open in Royal Oak, Michigan

Geraci Law helping the entire state of Michigan – see Attorney Jason Kara and Rob Brynjelsen’s visit to Royal Oak!

Geraci Law is handling Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases across the entire state of Michigan! We have an office right in downtown Royal Oak. You can meet with Attorney Jason Kara or Attorney Rob Brynjelsen.

You can call us at 800 CALL PFG for a free phone consult, schedule online @ https://www.infotapes.com/Bankruptcy/OfficeLocator

Attorney Jason Kara

Attorney Rob Brynjelsen

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com

IRS Collection Help!

You should consider filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 if you are getting calls from private collection agencies. You may be able to stop collection action, pay the IRS ahead of other creditors, or even obtain a discharge if you filed a truthful return on taxes due more than 3 years after the April 15-18 due date for that year, and just can’t pay them.

Hot off the presses!

The IRS hired new collection agencies to chase money owed. Before you start paying the IRS, contact Geraci Law to review your Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 options. Read more Geraci Law press releases at https://www.infotapes.com/Press.

The Internal Revenue Service announced on Sept. 22, 2021, that it has awarded contracts to collect IRS Debts to three new private collection agencies:

CBE Group, Inc., Waterloo, IA
Coast Professional, Inc., Albion, NY
ConServe, Fairport, NY

According to IRS Publication 4518, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act signed by the President on December 4, 2015, requires the IRS to contract with private collection agencies to help collect certain federal tax debt. How do you know it is really someone authorized by the IRS? Not so easy. The IRS will send you a letter first, telling you who the agencies is. You will not get a phone call before you get an IRS letter.

You should consider filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 if you are getting calls from private collection agencies. You may be able to stop collection action, pay the IRS ahead of other creditors, or even obtain a discharge if you filed a truthful return on taxes due more than 3 years after the April 15-18 due date for that year, and just can’t pay them.

Geraci Law has much experience in either tax repayment, or tax discharge, so give us a call at 1-800-CALL-PFG.

Don’t answer any calls threatening you with arrest or garnishment. Private collection agencies cannot take any type of enforcement action against you to collect this debt (such as filing a notice of Federal Tax Lien or issuing a levy). Any collector claiming otherwise is a phony.

Should you give your bank account info to a collector? No. Send your payment directly to the IRS if you want to pay. The private collection agency can provide information on ways to pay or visit www. irs. gov/Payments for electronic payment options. Also see Publication 594, The IRS Collection Process, Ways to pay your taxes. Payment options include IRS Direct Pay to pay an individual tax bill directly from a checking or savings account at no cost. Also available are the following options: preauthorized Direct Debit, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), an electronic system to pay federal taxes via the Internet or by phone for free and paying by debit or credit card using an electronic payment service provider for a fee.

Private collection agencies under contract with the IRS are required to conform to the rules, regulations, and provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Specific provisions of this

Act prohibit private collection agencies from threatening or intimidating taxpayers. If you do not wish to work with an IRS assigned private collection agency to settle your overdue tax account, you must submit this request in writing to the private collection agency. However, the IRS does have the legal authority to take these types of enforcement actions to collect an overdue account.

Don’t start sending payments unless you can pay the whole debt. The IRS is tricky, they will apply your payments to the newest tax debt, not the oldest. Any payment you make, or any payment plan, also stops the statute of limitations of 3 years for bankruptcy discharge on filed tax debt.

So, if you can’t pay your tax debt, expect collection agencies to bother you, don’t send payments to anyone other than the IRS, don’t start sending payments if you can’t pay the whole debt in a reasonable time, and think about calling Geraci Law. For more info, read the Complete Book on Bankruptcy https://bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com/Book33.html

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com

There is NO such thing as Judgment Proof!

Only someone who has discharged a debt in bankruptcy can be “judgment proof” as to that debt.

Wait? What? Absolutely no such thing as judgment proof. Below is an article written by Attorney Peter Francis Geraci. Read more articles by PFG @ https://w ww.infotapes.com/Articles

“Judgment proof” THERE IS NO SUCH THING. Only someone who has discharged a debt in bankruptcy can be “judgment proof” as to that debt.

Otherwise, it is a fallacy perpetuated by the uninformed.

Even if someone has only SS and no property to be attached, a creditor may file a suit, entering a judgment, garnish, record liens, establishing citation proceedings, seeking to garnish them, etc A debtor still has to appear in court and claim an exemption or appear at a citation so it does not turn into a rule to show cause or a body attachment.

Judgments remain for 10 years and can be renewed multiple times, and there is nothing preventing a creditor from collecting on a judgment with property acquired in the future. Often, debtors do not want to deal with all of this, and that is why they file bankruptcy. It is entirely false for someone to allege a debtor does not need to file bankruptcy because they are “judgment proof.”

Read ALL ABOUT DEBT RELIEF at www.bankruptcybookbypeterfrancisgeraci.com

Beverages & Budgeting!

Beverages & Budgeting – take a look at your monthly expenses, let’s see if Geraci Law can help!

School is starting, the weather is changing – it’s almost time for Football. So let’s take advantage of a nice weekend and think about finances.

Geraci Law has the tools to help! It does not matter if you are trying to figure out a savings plan or if it’s time to take a good hard look at what your expenses are. If you are seeing on the monthly budget that you are operating in the negative – it might be time to realign.

So pick out your favorite cold one, grab a calculator (there’s one on your iPhone) and let’s figure out your budget!

Check out below. You can fill in your monthly expenses. Take note – your Starbucks coffee (a beverage part of budgeting) should list under Entertainment. Tip: go to your bank account and look how much you are spending each month.

Next – let’s take a look at your income. You can use this as a guide! Tip: if you are paid salary, use one paycheck since your income does not change. If you are paid hourly, take the average of the last 3 months.

After that, take the amount in TOTAL MONTHLY INCOME and subtract from your Total from the monthly expense worksheet….

THIS is your disposable income – it’s the amount you have left at the end of the month to either save or spend.

When you have debt including credit cards, Pay Day loans, medical bills (note bill NOT expense) the minimum payment is substracted from your disposable income NOT from your expenses.

If the amount is high and you are not paying DOWN the balance on the debt, reexamine the budget. Go back to the disposable income amount – if you eliminate the debt payment, this is the money that goes back to YOU.

If you have $1,000 in disposable income every month and are paying $1,000 in minimum payments – if you are then using your credit card to pay the monthly expenses (from the first worksheet) your plan is NOT working.

Instead if you account for the monthly expenses where you can pay for the bill without relying on credit, you have disposable income to put into a savings account. $1,000 per month for 12 months is $12,000 an amazing start to retirement, paying for college, down payment on a home, etc.

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

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Attorney Jason Kara

Attorney Rob Brynjelsen

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