Tag: Geraci Law

Peter Francis Geraci & Geraci Law Support the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society

cropped-blog-header-140517.pngPeter Francis Geraci and Geraci Law L.L.C. donated to the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society.  The legal society provides legal services for individuals who qualify as low income.

Counties involved in the Indianapolis Legal Society include: Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan, and Shelby counties.

ILAS handles matters ranging from Bankruptcy, housing matters, debt and even matters concerning families.  According to the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society website, lot of their family work involves: adoption, paternity, visitation, guardianship, support, custody, and divorce.

Services are provided to individuals with income less than 125% of the federal poverty guideline.  You can see the guideline for 2015 by clicking this link.

An advocate for helping those in need, Attorney Peter Francis Geraci recently accepted a pro bono appointment in East Moline.   You can view the article here.  Mr. Geraci and his Wife, Holly Geraci, also support a number of local charities and have raised over $60,000 under their website helphollyhelp.com.

 

Geraci Law supports Bowen High School College-Bound Seniors

Bowen High School has over 50 seniors off to college in a few months who can use your help. Go to http://www.gofundme.com/858jkg to contribute! Even $20 helps. Geraci Law contributed $2000 to the Bowen High School Senior fund set up by former Asst. Principal Nia Abdullah. And thanks to the Chicago Sun Times’ reporter Sue Ontiveros for the publicity!

How to get a car you can afford after bankruptcy

If you have a vehicle payment that is too high, it may be that you “rolled over” the balance on a vehicle you traded in, paying that off with part of the new loan. That means you are “upside down” and owe more than the vehicle is worth. That means your payment may be more than you can afford. Geraci Law helps our clients by developing relationships with honest car dealers who can sell you a vehicle you can afford at a payment you can afford. Here is what Gino Amoroso of Motor World in Glen Ellyn, Illinois has to say about working with Geraci Law clients:

Hello Scott,  Just want to say thank you & keep you informed on how things are going. Currently this month we have sold eight customers referred by Geraci Law Firm: all were completely satisfied. The buying experience here at Motor World is the fast approval process and polite professional sales reps that create the ultimate buying experience. As an example today we did a complete brake job (pads & rotors) on a car we sold two months ago that was never promised to the customer: its the extra mile we go to keep our customers happy. As a result of our work ethics we are on target to hit a hundred sales this month, We enjoy a great working relationship with you and your organization Scott! That’s it.
Gino Amoroso http://www.mwcars.com 

Good things Geraci Law attorneys do for our clients

At Geraci Law, at the end of every month each one of our 80 or so attorneys reports on something exceptional they did for a client. This helps to reinforce part of our Peter Francis Geraci mission statement: “We are here to help others”. We post these on our website, http://www.infotapes.com every month so that potential clients can be assured they are receiving the highest level of professional services from each and every Geraci Law attorney.
One of our lawyer was reluctant to contribute; she said “I do good things for our clients every day, it’s nothing special”. I said, “then just give me the MOST special good thing you did in a month.” So now she is our top contributor!

Peter Francis Geraci attends Dave Ramsey Bankruptcy Leadership Summit in Nashville

I went down to Nashville recently for an intensive course in effective leadership using Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership principles. Dave Ramsey has devoted his career to Debtor Education the way I have to practicing bankruptcy law. Dave has quite a company, and his methods of operation are almost identical to Geraci Law. In fact, except for the obvious Christian background of Dave’s company, the guiding principles of Geraci Law are almost identical to Dave’s: honesty, integrity, and helping others come first. We even like the same Bible passages! And remember, Bankruptcy is a biblical law, Old Testament: Deutoronomy 15: 15 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. 2 And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release”.
Dave believes, as do I, that everything else follows if you do the right thing and help others. Dave Ramsey has a large meeting room where his 400 or so employees gather each week to share reports on the business operations.  Geraci Law only has about 130 staff, but the Geraci Law teams also meet weekly, in person or electronically, and each team leader shares their reports.  In that way, the organization is able to communicate and improve service to their clients.  It was quite a thrill to meet Dave Ramsey in person, and we had a great time and learned a lot, although I think my Debtor Education Course at http://www.pfged.com is better than Dave’s!!

(his is pretty good, though, and his new book is great!)  140522 Dave Ramsey Bankruptcy Leadership Summit photo

Happy Bankruptcy Clients

We at Geraci Law strive to have “happy clients”. Why? Our clients are almost always under stress, and our mission is to take as much of that away for them as possible. Here is what one recent client took the time to say in a thank you card to me:
“I want to extend a warm thank you to you and all the lawyers at your firm. You have a wonderful group of lawyers and you have helped me get out of debt and start my life once again. I especially want to thank your lawyer at your Berwyn office because they personally helped with my case. I want to thank Frank Hernandez. He helped me understand the whole case, and always answered by questions. He is so generous he even shared his dinner with me once. I had never tried Italian Beef before then. I also want to thank Belfor. He always greeted me and welcomed me into the office. I have recommended your office to my friends, who also need help with their bills. Thank you Mr. Geraci for everything your firm has helped me with. The little things you do mean so very much. Thank you.

Peter Francis Geraci explains Bankruptcy Discharge for Deceased Debtor

Many of our clients are elderly, and we file their Chapter 13s to protect their paid off home and repay creditors with lower interest and no late payments.  Occasionally, a husband or wife will pass away during the case.  In this case, the wife passed at the end of the case, after they completed the payments, but before completing the requirement of certifying that she had no outstanding Domestic Support Obligations.  You would think that it would “go without saying” that a 78 year old grandmother was not under any court order to pay support, but that is the law.  Since the wife was deceased, Geraci Law attorney Megan Hayes obtained an affidavit from the surviving spouse, and when the Clerk marked it a “non-conforming document”, the kindly bankruptcy judge issued an order on the Clerk to make it conform, and both the surviving spouse and the deceased debtor received their discharge.  I am very proud of all the 76+ Geraci Law attorneys, not to mention our fine paralegals, for this kind of service to our clients.  As Shakespeare put over 400 years ago in in Measure for Measure, which was all about lawyers, “Good counselors lack no clients”!

How to deal with vehicle loans in Chapter 13

Your politicians made changes to the bankruptcy laws years ago to protect car finance companies. They seem to think that making it hard for consumers will help their finance companies. Although the politicians must have gotten some big contributions from GM’s captive finance company, GMAC, it didn’t stop General Motors from filing bankruptcy, did it? No!! So even though your Senators and Congress people try to make it hard on us, you can still get help as a working person if you are overwhelmed with debt because of job loss, illness or whatever life brings. Car loans are now going 60 to even 84 months. Used car rates can be 21%. So if you have a high interest car loan, and the car is worth less than you owe on it, here’s the deal in Chapter 13 bankruptcy:
1. If your bought the vehicle more than 910 days (2.5 years ago), you can offer to pay the actual value at prime rate plus 2%.
2. If you bought the vehicle less than 910 days, you have to pay the remaining loan on it, no reduction in value, but can still pay less interest.
Either way, you get a better deal, and still get to handle your other debt, and pay your vehicle ahead of other debts, so the car gets paid off faster, while the other creditors wait. Have a co-signer? Only way to protect the co-signer is pay the loan as written, either inside your bankruptcy, or “outside”. Geraci Law restructured or discharged over $1.5 billion in debt last year. Visit us at http://www.elimadebt.com

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