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	<title>Financial Services &#187; Bankruptcy Code</title>
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		<title>Bankruptcy What You Need to Know</title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Oct 2016 21:32:58 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Bankruptcy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bankruptcy Code]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[&#013; Personal bankruptcy is a legal way to give people with &#013; overwhelming debt a fresh financial start. Many people do not realize &#013; that there are five types of bankruptcy options available under the U.S.&#013; Bankruptcy Code; however, for most consumers there are really only two &#013; viable options; Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#013;</p>
<p>Personal bankruptcy is a legal way to give people with &#013;<br />
overwhelming debt a fresh financial start. Many people do not realize &#013;<br />
that there are five types of bankruptcy options available under the U.S.&#013;<br />
 Bankruptcy Code; however, for most consumers there are really only two &#013;<br />
viable options; Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Chapter 7, &#013;<br />
bankruptcy is entitled Liquidation: In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a &#013;<br />
court-supervised procedure occurs during which a court-appointed trustee&#013;<br />
 collects the assets of the debtor&#8217;s estate, converts them to cash for &#013;<br />
repayment, and makes all necessary distributions to the debtor&#8217;s &#013;<br />
creditors; however this is all done within the debtor&#8217;s right to retain &#013;<br />
certain exempt property. Traditionally, there is little or no nonexempt &#013;<br />
property in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. Due to this fact, there may not be &#013;<br />
an actual liquidation of the debtor&#8217;s assets. In this case, it is called&#013;<br />
 a &#8220;no-asset bankruptcy.&#8221; It is important to realize that a creditor &#013;<br />
that is trying to collect on an unsecured claim will only get a &#013;<br />
distribution from the bankruptcy estate if the case is an &#8220;asset &#013;<br />
bankruptcy&#8221; and the creditor can provide proof of their claim with the &#013;<br />
bankruptcy court. In almost all chapter 7 bankruptcies, the debtor will &#013;<br />
be grated a discharge that releases them of personal liability for most &#013;<br />
dischargeable debts. The entire process normally takes just a few months&#013;<br />
 from the time the bankruptcy petition is filed.</p>
<p>Chapter 13, &#013;<br />
bankruptcy is entitled Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular&#013;<br />
 Income: A chapter 13 bankruptcy is traditionally used for people who &#013;<br />
have a regular source of income or a full-time job. For many people, &#013;<br />
chapter 13 is preferable to chapter 7 because it allows the debtor to &#013;<br />
keep some assets. A chapter 13 bankruptcy allows the debtor to repay &#013;<br />
creditors over time. This time traditionally varies from three to five &#013;<br />
years. This type of repayment proposal takes place at a confirmation &#013;<br />
hearing.  During this confirmation hearing, the court will either &#013;<br />
approve or disapprove the debtor&#8217;s repayment plan. This decision largely&#013;<br />
 depends on whether the repayment plan meets the Bankruptcy Code&#8217;s &#013;<br />
requirements for confirmation. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy the debtor is &#013;<br />
usually able to remain in control of their possession and property while&#013;<br />
 making payments to creditors; however, payments are made via a court &#013;<br />
trustee. Unlike chapter 7 bankruptcy, the debtor does not receive an &#013;<br />
immediate discharge of their debts. Under chapter 13 bankruptcy, the &#013;<br />
debtor must complete the repayment plan before the discharge is granted;&#013;<br />
 however, the debtor is protected from lawsuits, garnishments, and other&#013;<br />
 creditor action while the plan is in effect.</p>
<p>It is important to &#013;<br />
remain cognizant of the fact that not all debts are discharged under &#013;<br />
bankruptcy. The debts that are able to be discharged will vary under &#013;<br />
each chapter of the Bankruptcy Code. However, the most common types of &#013;<br />
non-dischargeable debts are tax claims, debts that are not presented by &#013;<br />
the debtor to the court while filing for bankruptcy, debts for spousal &#013;<br />
or child support or alimony, debts to governmental units for fines and &#013;<br />
penalties owed to government entities, debts for personal injury caused &#013;<br />
by the debtor&#8217;s operation of a motor vehicle while driving intoxicated, &#013;<br />
debts for willful and malicious injuries to person or property, debts &#013;<br />
for government funded or guaranteed educational loans, and debts for &#013;<br />
certain condominium or cooperative housing fees.</p>
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<p>In order to file for bankruptcy, you must file a &#013;<br />
petition in federal bankruptcy court. You must file a statement of &#013;<br />
assets and liabilities as well as schedules listing of your creditors. &#013;<br />
Once you have finished filing bankruptcy, your creditors can no longer &#013;<br />
take  action against you to collect discharged debts.&#013;<br />
<br />Negative Aspects of Bankruptcy&#013;<br />
<br />In chapter 13 bankruptcies, you may end up paying back 50% or more &#013;<br />
of your current debts. Additionally, if you miss a regularly scheduled &#013;<br />
payment at anytime during your chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan, you&#013;<br />
 could end up in violation of the court and forced to repay all the &#013;<br />
debt!</p>
<p>One of the most difficult parts of bankruptcy is learning to&#013;<br />
 live with the fact that filing bankruptcy limits your personal spending&#013;<br />
 to items that the court considers absolutely necessary. In most cases, &#013;<br />
debtors do not complete their chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plans. &#013;<br />
Most people filing chapter 13 bankruptcies think they will be able to &#013;<br />
complete their repayment plan; however, only about a third of them &#013;<br />
actually do. Additionally, chapter 7 bankruptcy may stay on your credit &#013;<br />
longer than a chapter 13 bankruptcy. This time ranges from 7-10 years &#013;<br />
for most people. Many people do not realize that if you own a home with a&#013;<br />
 sizable amount of equity, have a fair amount of assets to protect, or &#013;<br />
have co-signers on a loan, you most likely will not be able to file &#013;<br />
chapter 7 bankruptcy under current law. Now that the new bankruptcy &#013;<br />
legislation has passed, it will be even more difficult to file for &#013;<br />
bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Many people think that filing bankruptcy is the silver&#013;<br />
 bullet that will fix all of their debt and credit related problems; &#013;<br />
however, filing bankruptcy is the worst thing you can do to your credit.&#013;<br />
 Most lending institutions will consider your bankruptcy when evaluating&#013;<br />
 you for a personal loan even after the bankruptcy has expired. &#013;<br />
Qualifying for a loan after filing for bankruptcy can be very difficult &#013;<br />
and could cost you considerably more than a person that has not filed &#013;<br />
for bankruptcy.</p>
<p>It is understood that some situations will require&#013;<br />
 you to file for bankruptcy. However, you should avoid bankruptcy if at &#013;<br />
all possible. A good debt settlement company can help eliminate most, if&#013;<br />
 not all, of your unsecured debt so that you do not have to file for &#013;<br />
bankruptcy. If you require additional information on the subject of &#013;<br />
bankruptcy you may want to contact a bankruptcy attorney in your area.</p>
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		<title>Cost of Filing Bankruptcy Using Attorney &#8211; Why Debtors Can Better Afford Bankruptcy Without Attorney</title>
		<link>http://financialservices.hol.es/cost-of-filing-bankruptcy-using-attorney-why-debtors-can-better-afford-bankruptcy-without-attorney/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2016 00:32:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[admin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bankruptcy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bankruptcy Code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BPP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Full Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WWW]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[&#013; Bankruptcy: costs of filing bankruptcy with attorney, versus cost of filing using Bankruptcy Petition Preparer. Under&#013; the current U.S. Bankruptcy Code or law, the system provides &#013; essentially TWO basic categories of outside assistance that a debtor &#013; filing for bankruptcy may use &#8211; assistance provided by an attorney, and &#013; assistance provided by [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#013;</p>
<p><b>Bankruptcy: costs of filing bankruptcy with attorney, versus cost of filing using Bankruptcy Petition Preparer.</b></p>
<p>Under&#013;<br />
 the current U.S. Bankruptcy Code or law, the system provides &#013;<br />
essentially TWO basic categories of outside assistance that a debtor &#013;<br />
filing for bankruptcy may use &#8211; assistance provided by an attorney, and &#013;<br />
assistance provided by a non-lawyer. And both of these parties come &#013;<br />
under what is called &#8220;Debt Relief Agents or Agencies.&#8221; Basically, the &#013;<br />
non-attorney assistance provider, who also goes by a name such as &#013;<br />
Bankruptcy Petition Preparer (BPP), preparers the documents upon which &#013;<br />
bankruptcy is filed with the Court for bankruptcy processing, while the &#013;<br />
attorney (or, more accurately, the help he hires that does such work) &#013;<br />
prepares the same set of documents, EXCEPT that the lawyer &#013;<br />
assistance-provider can supposedly give a debtor &#8220;legal advice,&#8221; and can&#013;<br />
 appear, on the debtor&#8217;s behalf, in the administrative hearing on the &#013;<br />
bankruptcy case administered by the Court &#8220;Trustee&#8221; (who is not a Judge,&#013;<br />
 but a court-appointed administrator) that will oversee the bankruptcy &#013;<br />
case.</p>
<p><b>Alright, How Do the Services and Fees Compare, Between &#013;<br />
the Bankruptcy Attorney and those of the Full Service bankruptcy &#013;<br />
petition preparer?</b></p>
<p>But what are the Costs of filing Bankruptcy&#013;<br />
 using Bankruptcy attorney? Can debtors afford bankruptcy without &#013;<br />
lawyers? And, is there really any real, tangible, legitimate difference &#013;<br />
for the DEBTOR, both qualitatively and nominally, between the Full &#013;<br />
Service bankruptcy assistance that online-based non-attorney BPP &#013;<br />
agencies provide debtors, and that which is provided by online &#013;<br />
bankruptcy attorneys to debtors?</p>
<p>One view of it, popular in &#013;<br />
certain quarters among non-attorney online providers of bankruptcy &#013;<br />
filing assistance, is simply that there is &#8220;no difference,&#8221; or &#8220;little &#013;<br />
to none,&#8221; in terms of the actual or qualitative value of their work &#013;<br />
products for the debtor. The principal argument is that for each side, &#013;<br />
the actual, principal work that each side does or turns up for the &#013;<br />
debtor &#8211; the relatively simple but time-consuming, paperwork required to&#013;<br />
 be prepared for the debtor&#8217;s use in filing for bankruptcy &#8211; is more or &#013;<br />
less basically the same content and quality for the non-lawyer prepared &#013;<br />
document, as it is for the lawyer prepared. In each case, the argument &#013;<br />
goes, the same set of documents are turned up by people who are &#013;<br />
seemingly experienced and trained or skilled in document preparation, &#013;<br />
and, in deed, in many real instances, are one and the same paralegals &#013;<br />
who work, or might have previously worked, for the bankruptcy lawyer&#8217;s &#013;<br />
office or the non-lawyer document preparer&#8217;s company. Or for both.</p>
<p>But,&#013;<br />
 in any event, in the final analysis, the finished bankruptcy documents &#013;<br />
that both sides, the lawyer as well as the non-lawyer, provide the &#013;<br />
debtor, are generally the same and of the same quality. The Bankruptcy &#013;<br />
Courts generally accept them, process them, and act on them, just the &#013;<br />
same! In deed, it is a specific provision in the Bankruptcy Code that &#013;<br />
authorizes and sanctions that such persons may prepare such documents, &#013;<br />
and not just lawyers!</p>
<p><b>The Prices the non-attorney helper charges and what the attorney charges for Bankruptcy work</b></p>
<p>To&#013;<br />
 a hard pressed and destitute debtor, the vexing, bothersome issue, is &#013;<br />
what justification, then, is there for the great disparity that exists &#013;<br />
in the prices the bankruptcy lawyers charge for bankruptcy work, &#013;<br />
relative to what the non-attorney bankruptcy document preparers charge &#013;<br />
for turning up essentially the same work for the debtor? Bankruptcy &#013;<br />
lawyers would, of course, advance all sorts of convoluted arguments and &#013;<br />
conceive all kinds of fancy justifications in defense of their extremely&#013;<br />
 higher and disproportionate charges. That aspect, however, is a matter &#013;<br />
for another place and another day for us.</p>
<p>But is it a matter of no&#013;<br />
 bankruptcy attorney, and cheap, low-low cost bankruptcy? For the &#013;<br />
benefit and information of debtors contemplating bankruptcy, just so &#013;<br />
you&#8217;ll at least have an idea, here are the differences in prices between&#013;<br />
 what the non-lawyer assistance-provider charges, and what the attorney &#013;<br />
assistance-provider charges.</p>
<p><b>NON-ATTORNEY BANKRUPTCY HELPER&#8217;S SERVICES &amp; PRICES</b></p>
<p><b>Service:</b>&#013;<br />
 In full Service bankruptcy work, the service of the non-lawyer debt &#013;<br />
relief agent or agency basically involves their staff gathering the &#013;<br />
various documents and required tons of papers and information together, &#013;<br />
and orderly arranging them and preparing all the legal forms and &#013;<br />
paperwork required by the debtor to file for bankruptcy with the &#013;<br />
bankruptcy court. For the better ones among them (they are not at all &#013;<br />
equal, some are far better than others, and quite a number of them are &#013;<br />
just about worthless!), these agencies use workers who are often highly &#013;<br />
trained and experienced paralegals (they average several years of work &#013;<br />
and/or training in the industry), and who are skilled at the preparation&#013;<br />
 of legal documents and bankruptcy papers, and are often well versed and&#013;<br />
 knowledgeable in bankruptcy filing law and procedures. With the Full &#013;<br />
Service bankruptcy petition preparers (at least those of them who are of&#013;<br />
 the reputable and better categories), the debtor tends generally to get&#013;<br />
 a better service and greater attention, and more one-on-one interaction&#013;<br />
 for his or her case, along with the obvious far lower prices.</p>
<p><b>The Charges.</b>&#013;<br />
 There is usually a ONE-Time PAYMENT ONLY amount. One of such agency&#8217;s &#013;<br />
charge, for example, is $239 for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy; and $359 for &#013;<br />
Chapter 13. The price charged by these agencies tend strictly to follow &#013;<br />
an honest, upfront pricing that&#8217;s based ONLY on &#8220;per project,&#8221; rather &#013;<br />
than on &#8220;per hour.&#8221; (That&#8217;s in contrast to the attorneys&#8217; charges, which&#013;<br />
 are frequently based on &#8220;per hour&#8221; hourly rate).</p>
<p>This means that,&#013;<br />
 once a reputable Bankruptcy Petition Preparer (BPP) takes any case from&#013;<br />
 a debtor, you pay the BPP Agency, assuming it&#8217;s, say, a Chapter 7 case,&#013;<br />
 just $239, and NOT a penny more on it, ever &#8211; no matter how many &#013;<br />
creditors you have (whether they&#8217;re 10 or 20, or 200), or you happen to &#013;<br />
start out with 10 creditors, but turn up 100 or 200 more later. Or, you &#013;<br />
have to file some additional papers to get some of your secured debts &#013;<br />
&#8220;affirmed&#8221; so you can keep, say, your car, etc. YOU JUST PAY THEM NOT &#013;<br />
ONE PENNY MORE. PERIOD! Thus, for most debtors, bankruptcy with no &#013;<br />
bankruptcy attorney assistance, offers the debtor low-low affordable &#013;<br />
costs and rates and is the only way to go.</p>
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<p><b>The Time line.</b> For the credible BPP, it takes &#013;<br />
an average of roughly one to two days to crank out the prepared, almost &#013;<br />
completed package of bankruptcy documents for, say, a Chapter 7 case &#013;<br />
filing (in a case, that is, where the debtor has hastened and &#013;<br />
substantially provides them the required financial information and &#013;<br />
documents necessary to do the papers). As a matter of policy, however, &#013;<br />
the BPP will hold off furnishing the papers to the debtor right away &#013;<br />
just so that the finishing touches, corrections and proper checking can &#013;<br />
be made before the debtor gets them. Bankruptcy, file with no bankruptcy&#013;<br />
 attorney?</p>
<p><b>THE BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEYS&#8217; SERVICES &amp; PRICES</b></p>
<p><b>Service:</b>&#013;<br />
 What the bankruptcy lawyer (that is, the one who is competent and &#013;<br />
knowledgeable in bankruptcy, as not all attorneys are so equipped) does,&#013;<br />
 is essentially akin to the Full Service bankruptcy type of work that &#013;<br />
the non-lawyer assistance-provider provides. Here, this involves the &#013;<br />
lawyer &#8211; or, more accurately, a staff of paralegals the he or she might &#013;<br />
have hired to actually do the work &#8211; gathering the various documents and&#013;<br />
 required tons of documents and information together, and orderly &#013;<br />
arranging them, and preparing all the legal forms and paperwork required&#013;<br />
 to file for the debtor&#8217;s bankruptcy with the bankruptcy court. As with &#013;<br />
the case of the non-attorney Full Service paper preparation providers, &#013;<br />
these workers who directly do the papers (the ones who are the persons &#013;<br />
that actually do the work in the lawyers&#8217; the lawyers), are often highly&#013;<br />
 trained and experienced paralegals (average several years of work &#013;<br />
and/or training in the industry) who are skilled at preparation of legal&#013;<br />
 documents and bankruptcy papers, and often, well versed in bankruptcy &#013;<br />
filing law and procedures.</p>
<p>Furthermore, in terms of quality of &#013;<br />
service, with the lawyers, within the ranks of the lawyers who do &#013;<br />
bankruptcy work in the current times, those who file the bulk of the &#013;<br />
bankruptcy cases seem to be what one practicing bankruptcy lawyer, &#013;<br />
Jonathan Ginsburg, the Atlanta Georgia, calls &#8220;high volume filers.&#8221; &#013;<br />
These lawyers file 100 to 500 or more bankruptcy cases per month, using &#013;<br />
largely paralegals and some younger lawyers to do the paperwork, and for&#013;<br />
 one thing, such high volume filers have a reputation for not offering &#013;<br />
much in the way of personal attention, but charge somewhat smaller fees &#013;<br />
relative to the &#8220;boutique&#8221; bankruptcy lawyers (those who file more &#013;<br />
limited number of cases) &#8211; a &#8220;smaller&#8221; amount of fees which Attorney &#013;<br />
Ginsburg admits, however, often still &#8220;appear to be too expensive&#8221; for &#013;<br />
some people &#8220;even [with] the lower fees and generous terms&#8221; that such &#013;<br />
volume filers think their charges represent.</p>
<p><b>Lawyers&#8217; Charges:</b>&#013;<br />
 For Chapter 7, there&#8217;s the &#8220;initial&#8221; charge of $2,000 &#8211; 2,500; and for &#013;<br />
Chapter 13, the &#8220;initial&#8221; charge of $4,000 &#8211; $4,500. Unlike the BPP&#8217;s &#013;<br />
prices which strictly follow an honest, upfront pricing that&#8217;s based &#013;<br />
ONLY on one-time-only &#8220;per project&#8221; basis, the attorneys&#8217; charges are &#013;<br />
frequently based on &#8220;per hour&#8221; hourly rate. (For example, the attorneys&#8217;&#013;<br />
 &#8220;per hour&#8221; hourly rate charge, was given as $228 (per hour) for their &#013;<br />
services in 2002, according to a respected independent research study, &#013;<br />
the 2002 Survey of Law Firm Economics, made by Altman Weil Pensa &#013;<br />
Publication).</p>
<p>Further more, as a rule, the lawyers&#8217; fees for &#013;<br />
bankruptcy (the same, as well, in other issues) vary from lawyer to &#013;<br />
lawyer, and from one location to another location, even from a lawyer in&#013;<br />
 one block to another lawyer just in the next block. The original charge&#013;<br />
 (it&#8217;s usually referred to as the &#8220;initial&#8221; charge) you&#8217;re quoted by the&#013;<br />
 lawyer, is often only for the run-of-the-mill, routine kind of case &#8211; &#013;<br />
the simplest, most ordinary kind of bankruptcy there is. So, if it turns&#013;<br />
 out that you have, say, more creditors than the &#8220;average&#8221; (say, above &#013;<br />
15 or so, depending on which lawyer or what part of the country), it &#013;<br />
will mean additional charge slapped onto your &#8220;initial&#8221; quoted charge. &#013;<br />
And, it can cost even more if it&#8217;s a &#8220;complicated&#8221; case in the lawyer&#8217;s &#013;<br />
opinion.</p>
<p>And further, God-forbid if there&#8217;s &#8220;litigation&#8221; or some &#013;<br />
creditor challenge to a debt, that means additional cost for you, a BIG &#013;<br />
one. If you are in a high-priced urban area, that alone will almost &#013;<br />
certainly guarantee more cost for you in filing for bankruptcy. Also, &#013;<br />
your lawyer will generally want his payment made IN FULL and upfront &#013;<br />
before he&#8217;ll represent you, especially if it&#8217;s a Chapter 7 case.</p>
<p><b>The Time line.</b> Lawyers generally take an average of 2 to 3 weeks (if not more) to do the bankruptcy paper work for Chapter 7.</p>
<p><b>BOTTOM LINE:</b></p>
<p>In&#013;<br />
 sum, for you as a debtor, what you should know is that bankruptcy &#013;<br />
lawyers&#8217; generally make the allowance for themselves so they&#8217;d be able &#013;<br />
and in a position, after the &#8220;initial&#8221; fee shall have been paid them, to&#013;<br />
 tack on additional fees beyond the &#8220;initial&#8221; fees you are quoted when &#013;<br />
you first signed on. The fee you are quoted by a lawyer in a bankruptcy &#013;<br />
case (even if you view it as excessive, already), may not be &#8211; and is &#013;<br />
often not &#8211; the final charge; you may still have to pay more. And &#013;<br />
probably will, generally!</p>
<p>Not so, though, with the non-lawyer &#013;<br />
bankruptcy assistance provider. Here, in contrast, that same very EXACT &#013;<br />
amount you&#8217;re quoted on day one, is the final and ONLY charge you&#8217;ll &#013;<br />
get, almost always, from them on the case &#8211; ever! PERIOD! The motto &#013;<br />
seems to be, no bankruptcy attorney &amp; cheap, low-low cost &#013;<br />
bankruptcy!</p>
<p>Do you do your bankruptcy filing using the no attorney bankruptcy assistance, or the attorney?. What do you think?</p>
<p><b>FURTHER INFORMATION</b>&#013;<br />
<br />For more on the details of the fundamental differences between the &#013;<br />
bankruptcy lawyer&#8217;s differential services, costs and benefits to the &#013;<br />
debtor, as compared to those provided the debtor by the non-lawyer &#013;<br />
helper&#8217;s services, or to find out how you or any others may use the &#013;<br />
services of one of the major non-attorney Debt Relief Agencies in the &#013;<br />
field of bankruptcy filing to file for your own bankruptcy, please visit&#013;<br />
 this website: <a target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://WWW.Afford-Bankruptcy.Com</a></p>
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		<title>Debtors Seek Cheap, Low Cost Affordable Bankruptcy With Rising Bankruptcy &amp; Here&#8217;s How You Get It</title>
		<link>http://financialservices.hol.es/debtors-seek-cheap-low-cost-affordable-bankruptcy-with-rising-bankruptcy-heres-how-you-get-it/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2016 00:34:08 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Bankruptcy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bankruptcy Code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BAPCPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BPPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FIRST]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[&#013; With the trend towards rapidly rising filings in bankruptcy &#013; becoming the norm once again in today&#8217;s dire American economic and &#013; unemployment climate, a growing number of consumers are increasingly &#013; seeking cheap, low cost affordable bankruptcy, usually meaning without &#013; the lawyer. They seek nonlawyer system of bankruptcy filing that provide&#013; them [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#013;</p>
<p>With the trend towards rapidly rising filings in bankruptcy &#013;<br />
becoming the norm once again in today&#8217;s dire American economic and &#013;<br />
unemployment climate, a growing number of consumers are increasingly &#013;<br />
seeking cheap, low cost affordable bankruptcy, usually meaning without &#013;<br />
the lawyer. They seek nonlawyer system of bankruptcy filing that provide&#013;<br />
 them affordable, cost-effective bankruptcy, while yielding them the &#013;<br />
same end result as would using a high cost bankruptcy lawyer &#8211; having in&#013;<br />
 hand the bankruptcy court document that shows you&#8217;re officially &#013;<br />
declared a BANKRUPT.</p>
<p><b>THE NEW REFORMED LAW: ITS BASIC MISSIONS &amp; OBJECTIVES</b></p>
<p>On&#013;<br />
 October 17 2005, amidst highly charged tense drama, robust promises and&#013;<br />
 high expectations, the new &#8220;reformed&#8221; bankruptcy law enacted by &#013;<br />
Congress, the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act or &#013;<br />
BAPCPA, went into effect. Largely enacted at the instigation principally&#013;<br />
 of the powerful, well-financed credit and financial industries, among &#013;<br />
other special interests, the law had been touted as something of a &#013;<br />
bankruptcy cure-all that was going to fix a &#8220;broken&#8221; bankruptcy system &#013;<br />
in America. Principally, it was going to reverse, or at least &#013;<br />
drastically reduce, the high volume of bankruptcy filings and the &#013;<br />
increased use of bankruptcy by American consumers in resolving their &#013;<br />
debt problem. The overarching argument and premise expressed by the &#013;<br />
banking and financial industry advocates and supporters of the reform &#013;<br />
law in urging the law&#8217;s enactment, had been that the steady upward trend&#013;<br />
 at the time in bankruptcy filings was due primarily to &#8220;fraudulent &#013;<br />
bankruptcy filings&#8221; by consumers and the &#8220;excessive generosity&#8221; of the &#013;<br />
old bankruptcy system which, it was said, encouraged &#8220;abuse&#8221; and allowed&#013;<br />
 a great many number of debtors to repudiate debts that they could quite&#013;<br />
 well pay, at least in part. Ironically, almost in the entire debate &#013;<br />
about the enactment of the 2005 law, virtually no mention or discussion &#013;<br />
was made concerning the debtors&#8217; being able to find, or to afford or to &#013;<br />
get, low cost or cheap bankruptcy filing, either with bankruptcy lawyers&#013;<br />
 or without it.</p>
<p>The stated and yet unmistakable mechanism by which&#013;<br />
 the new 2005 law was to pursue this primary objective of the new law, &#013;<br />
was essentially to force debtors who could supposedly afford to repay &#013;<br />
some of their debts, into filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, in stead of &#013;<br />
Chapter 7. That is, filing the type of bankruptcy (Chapter 13) that &#013;<br />
requires one to repay his debt, or at least some of it. Briefly summed &#013;<br />
up, primarily by restricting access to eligibility for Chapter 7 &#8211; as &#013;<br />
primarily determined through the so-called &#8220;means test&#8221; calculation on a&#013;<br />
 debtor&#8217;s income &#8211; the new law was to drastically weed out and curtail &#013;<br />
the number of debtors filing for bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Alright, today it is &#013;<br />
now going to 4 years since the BAPCPA law was put into effect, and has &#013;<br />
it attained its sponsors&#8217; stated mission? And if so, to what extent so &#013;<br />
far?</p>
<p>In point of fact, for the first few years after the &#013;<br />
implementation of the law in October 2005, the original objective of &#013;<br />
that law at least in the area of drastically curtailing the number of &#013;<br />
bankruptcy filings, actually seemed not only to have been attained, but &#013;<br />
to have in fact been dramatically surpassed. Almost immediately after &#013;<br />
the law came into effect, there was a blunt, vivid dramatic drop seen in&#013;<br />
 the number of bankruptcies filed in the system in the years immediately&#013;<br />
 following the law &#8211; the filings went from 1,597,462 in 2004 (the last &#013;<br />
normal year of filings before the new law was enacted), to a mere &#013;<br />
590,544 in 2006, and only 826,665 in 2007. No bankruptcy filings that &#013;<br />
were low cost or affordable to debtors, were largely available in this &#013;<br />
earlier post-2005 law, however, since most filers at the time were &#013;<br />
largely intimidated by the lawyers&#8217; common talk about the supposed &#013;<br />
&#8220;complexity&#8221; of the new law, and simply used only the lawyers to do &#013;<br />
their bankruptcy almost exclusively.</p>
<p>Thus, clearly, a direct &#013;<br />
effect of the new law, at least in the immediate aftermath of the law, &#013;<br />
was that it did in fact definitely push, as intended, a great number of &#013;<br />
debtors out of the Chapter 7 option range altogether, forcing them &#013;<br />
exclusively into the Chapter 13 option in which they find themselves &#013;<br />
forced to pay at least some of their debts, thus substantially &#013;<br />
increasing the proportion of debtors who paid up some of their debts. &#013;<br />
For example, in years prior to the new 2005 law, Chapter 7 bankruptcy &#013;<br />
filings accounted for roughly 70% of all non-business or consumer &#013;<br />
bankruptcies (it was precisely 71.5% in 2004, the last year before 2005 &#013;<br />
when the new law took effect), while Chapter 13 bankruptcies accounted &#013;<br />
for approximately 30% or less. The post-2005 year bankruptcy filings for&#013;<br />
 the earlier years after the 2005 law, showed, however, a marked &#013;<br />
increase in the number of bankruptcies filed under Chapter 13, to the &#013;<br />
extent of some additional 10%,. Thus, for example, the number of Chapter&#013;<br />
 13 bankruptcies filed in the 12-month period ending December 2007 &#013;<br />
(321,359), represented, not the usual 30%, but 39.1% of the total &#013;<br />
consumer filings for that year.</p>
<p>The situation described so far was&#013;<br />
 what obtained with respect to the EARLIER period of the time after the &#013;<br />
new 2005 law came into effect. But now, fast forward to the LATER &#013;<br />
period, however &#8211; to today, in July 2009. And what we find is that the &#013;<br />
American debtors, once again, are fast returning to the same high rate &#013;<br />
of bankruptcy filings as the pre-2005 levels. In deed, informed expert &#013;<br />
projections are now that we&#8217;ll land right back pretty soon at the same &#013;<br />
old &#8220;square one&#8221; heights in bankruptcy filing &#8211; back to the old &#8220;bad&#8221; &#013;<br />
high pre-2005 bankruptcy filing levels which the 2005 &#8220;reform&#8221; law just &#013;<br />
enactment by Congress had been meant to cure and reverse.</p>
<p>According&#013;<br />
 to data from the Automated Access to Court Electronic Records &#013;<br />
(&#8220;AACER&#8221;), there were over 120,000 U.S. bankruptcy filings in May 2009 &#013;<br />
or 6,020 for each of the 20 business days in May, marking the first time&#013;<br />
 that daily bankruptcy filings have topped the 6,000 mark since the 2005&#013;<br />
 bankruptcy law was adopted. According to one widely respected expert at&#013;<br />
 bankruptcy filing figure crunching, <b>Professor Robert Lawless</b> of &#013;<br />
the University of Illinois School of Law whose calculations place the &#013;<br />
average daily filing rate for 2004 (6,339) as the &#8220;benchmark&#8221; for the &#013;<br />
pre-2005 filing rate, what America is currently seeing is a filing trend&#013;<br />
 which is already hitting the high pre-2005 mark, and right now the &#013;<br />
long-term trend is directly towards the same filing rate as before the &#013;<br />
2005 bankruptcy law was adopted.</p>
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<p>Thus, the returns from the May filings on an &#013;<br />
annualized basis, keep us on track for a projected filing of 1.45 &#8211; 1.50&#013;<br />
 million bankruptcies this 2009, depending on how closely the current &#013;<br />
trend adheres to, or deviates from, the bankruptcy filing trend for the &#013;<br />
remaining part of the year.</p>
<p><b>THE 2005 LAW HAS FAILED ON TWO &#013;<br />
FUNDAMENTAL COUNTS: FAILS TO STEM THE GROWTH IN BANKRUPTCY FILING RATE &#013;<br />
&amp; IN KEEPING BANKRUPTCY AFFORDABLE</b></p>
<p>Clearly, then, the &#013;<br />
&#8220;reformed&#8221; 2005 BAPCPA law has woefully failed in its FIRST avowed &#013;<br />
fundamental objective of drastically curtailing the upward trend in &#013;<br />
bankruptcy filings by the American debtors. But, in addition to that, &#013;<br />
there is another very important way, in deed even a more profound way, &#013;<br />
in which that law has woefully failed for the American debtor: it has &#013;<br />
made the bankruptcy system far more difficult and cumbersome, and far &#013;<br />
more expensive and even unaffordable for debtors. <b>For example, among the primary anti-debtor provisions of this new law, this current law:!</b></p>
<p>== now makes it harder for debtors to discharge certain types of debts</p>
<p>== now forces a greater proportion of debtors to repay their debts</p>
<p>==&#013;<br />
 now imposes special responsibilities and restrictions that are &#013;<br />
uncommon, even upon bankruptcy lawyers and bankruptcy document preparers&#013;<br />
 (e.g., lawyers are now required to personally vouch for the accuracy of&#013;<br />
 the debt and financial information their clients providing, and to do &#013;<br />
more unnecessary paperwork) thereby giving the lawyers more excuses for &#013;<br />
jacking up their fees for bankruptcy even higher</p>
<p>o now imposes tremendous restrictions and undue scrutiny upon the Bankruptcy Petition Preparers&#013;<br />
<br />(the name given by the Bankruptcy Code for nonlawyers who help debtors with their&#013;<br />
<br />bankruptcy paperwork, as generally far lower costs), the net result &#013;<br />
of which has been to discourage affordable assistance for bankruptcy &#013;<br />
filers and thus chase them into the offices of bankruptcy lawyers who &#013;<br />
charge some 50 times the fee of the BPPS to do basically the same thing &#013;<br />
for the debtor</p>
<p>o now imposes a new requirement (and additional expense) which requires debtors to undergo credit and budget counseling, and</p>
<p>o&#013;<br />
 subjects bankruptcy filers to a mountain of paperwork, documentation &#013;<br />
and procedures that could be quite daunting for anyone in order to file &#013;<br />
for bankruptcy.</p>
<p><b>EXORBITANT LAWYERS&#8217; FEES FOR BANKRUPTCY FILERS AS THE BIGGEST ANTI-DEBTOR CONSEQUENCE OF THE NEW LAW!</b></p>
<p>But&#013;<br />
 perhaps the biggest anti-debtor consequence brought about by the new &#013;<br />
law &#8211; the consequence which, by most expert opinion, is precisely what &#013;<br />
had been intended by the banking and credit industries which were &#013;<br />
principal sponsors of the new law &#8211; is that by introducing far more &#013;<br />
paperwork and unnecessary extra complexity and protocols in the way the &#013;<br />
bankruptcy process is undertaken, it has enabled the lawyers&#8217; to find an&#013;<br />
 excuse by which they have been able to jack up and to justify the fees &#013;<br />
and the costs of filing for bankruptcy. Consequently, the costs of &#013;<br />
filing for bankruptcy since after the 2005 law, have become &#013;<br />
prohibitively high, in deed unaffordable, for the average bankruptcy &#013;<br />
filer. The average lawyers&#8217; fee for a simple bankruptcy in parts of the &#013;<br />
country today, has shut up to a whopping sum of $2,500 for a simple &#013;<br />
Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and about $4,500 for a Chapter 13, among other new&#013;<br />
 complications now to be confronted by the debtor who wishes to file for&#013;<br />
 bankruptcy. For many debtors, this therefore leaves the low-cost &#013;<br />
nonlawyer bankruptcy method, as the ONLY real remaining, practical, but &#013;<br />
affordable and effective alternative to the use of lawyers for their &#013;<br />
bankruptcy.</p>
<p><b>But Don&#8217;t Despair. There are Still Some Open Avenues of Cheap, Low Cost Affordable Bankruptcy Remedy For Debtors!</b></p>
<p><b>Here&#8217;s the good news, though.</b>&#013;<br />
 True, filing for bankruptcy under the new 2005 law has become &#013;<br />
considerably more cumbersome and certainly more expensive as compared to&#013;<br />
 what had been the case previously. Nevertheless, however, even under &#013;<br />
the new law, filing for bankruptcy, especially Chapter 7, is still a &#013;<br />
fairly straightforward process for a large number of filers. This is so &#013;<br />
more especially when you (the debtor) do it using basically one unique &#013;<br />
alternative system to traditional use of lawyers in bankruptcy &#8211; namely,&#013;<br />
 using a nonlawyer, self help system, or one which uses a competent &#013;<br />
reliable Debt Relief Agency or Full Service Bankruptcy Document &#013;<br />
Preparer, in doing your bankruptcy paperwork. This kind of service, &#013;<br />
which utilizes skilled persons possessed of great skill and competence &#013;<br />
in the process to prepare the required bankruptcy papers for a debtor &#013;<br />
for a mere fraction of the lawyer&#8217;s fees, could often be one of the &#013;<br />
wisest, most cost-effective and yet simple alternative in getting one&#8217;s &#013;<br />
bankruptcy done.</p>
<p>For more on the methods for obtaining a cheap, or&#013;<br />
 low cost, affordable bankruptcy but with high level quality and &#013;<br />
reliability, or of finding some of the oldest and most reliable agencies&#013;<br />
 that specialize in providing such service and objective, visit: <a target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.afford-bankruptcy.com</a></p>
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