Handling Debt with Dignity – Options for Consolidation and Repayment

Transcript

well welcome facebook viewers we appreciate you joining for this week's episode of the bond and botes facebook live this week we are very fortunate to have my good friend and long-time law partner even though she looks like she just finished high school amy tanner amy thanks for joining us hi thanks for having me today so folks just as a reminder at bond and botes we help people that are having money problems and and we know that after this last year a lot of people are facing financial challenges we want all of you to know that we are offering absolutely free initial consultations right now we'll do them uh in person if you'd like we'll do them by phone we'll do them like amy and i are meeting today by video however you feel comfortable but we want to help you and we encourage you to please reach out for help before things get too bad we're approaching the end of moratoriums on student loan collection on foreclosures on evictions so a lot of things unfortunately are going to start happening soon don't wait to the last minute don't stick your head in the sand reach out we offer again absolutely free initial consultations with a experienced attorney who can walk you through the options that are available today what i want to focus on is an aspect of bankruptcy that many people really don't know about now folks think about bankruptcy and they think of a straight bankruptcy they think of losing assets they think of perhaps losing a home or a car but many of the people that we help don't file a straight bankruptcy many of the people we help use federal law to help restructure or reorganize their debt and amy is one of the best we have at doing that and that's why i wanted amy to join me today to talk to talk about debt consolidation under the federal code um amy as as way of a little bit better introduction has practiced consumer law now amy for well i won't say exactly how many years we'll just say 20 bucks and leave it there for quite a long time she started in high school now she's she's been with us she works primarily out of her office in huntsville alabama and has counseled thousands of consumers over the years facing financial problems amy does a great job in addition to being a good friend and a good attorney amy is a triathlete she competes in triathlons which i think is amazing she teaches aerobics she teaches spin classes she and her husband robert are just great people great citizens of the huntsville area and amy we're grateful to have you here what else am i missing about your background what can you tell our viewers about amy tanner well thank you for the nice introduction and that that part would probably be highly classified well actually i grew up in montgomery um and went just with one of our other attorneys gail donaldson down in montgomery i went to college and law school with her and that's kind of how i found you guys way back when and i went to auburn and montgomery down there many years ago and followed up at jones law school and moved to huntsville while in law school and here i am now um so there's there's not a whole lot to tell i usually lead a pretty boring life um been with the bond and voters firm for 20 plus years and for sure i'll finish off my days here well we uh we are grateful to have you you do a great job for our clients um so folks what we want to talk about today again people have so many negative misconceptions about bankruptcy um you know whenever somebody sits down in front of my desk amy uh i know what they're they're thinking i never in my life thought that i would be sitting in front of a bankruptcy attorney nobody plans on getting into financial trouble but the bankruptcy code exists so that a good honest person can get a fresh start a chance to start over to protect their assets uh to preserve what they've built up and we'll talk a ton out of debt their dignity maintaining their assets maintaining their possessions and rebuilding from a bad situation um amy when somebody comes in and talks to you i imagine like me there's all kinds of feelings there's guilt there's um there's stress that they're dealing with um if people are just overwhelmed what's one of the first things you tell people when they sit down with you at your desk for a consultation and you're right the biggest the biggest thing is stress and really the first thing i do is is try to find out what's giving the person the most problem what what what are what are we here to fix what did you come to see me about today um and most people think and they're not sure what to say and you can see the wheels turning in their head and the stress and what answers she looking for and i'll say are you just overwhelmed and you can see the the the light bulb yes this is it i'm overwhelmed i said well there's nothing wrong with that i said we all get overwhelmed you know it's it's a lot i see you have quite a few creditors here i'm sure that you know you know it's not fun to think about who am i going to pay every month especially if you can't pay everybody every month but i'll say we have let's talk about how we can fix this there's there's opportunities to fix it there are ways to fix it and generally i can see the stress well as soon as we start talking about hey i can when i say i know i can help you we'll get to the details later um but i'll help you with this overwhelming situation you can see the relief kind of fall off a little bit and lots of my clients after they spend the first 20 or 30 minutes here with me and look out the door or get off the phone with them they're like i feel better already so we we keep boxes of tissue on our desk for a good reason um it's an emotional thing but but it's great to be able to give somebody a plan to work their way out of debt um they leave our offices and they feel like there's a big weight off of their shoulders because they have a way to move forward again i want to focus today on how folks can restructure their debt the the primary bankruptcy code section that most people think of is straight chapter 7 liquidation type bankruptcy and for some people that's what we do for some people a complete fresh start is right but a lot of folks want to repay what they can they want to make sure they maintain their assets so we talked to them about a chapter 13 personal reorganization many folks are familiar with a chapter 11 business reorganization they've heard of big businesses restructuring their debt but chapter 13 is similar but it's for individuals so amy tell our viewers what's the main difference between a chapter 7 straight bankruptcy and a debt consolidation well many people think of the chapter 7 as a fresh start and and we tend to ourselves call it the fresh start and it can be a fresh start for the right individual um it's a quicker process you discharge the debt which is basically not pay the debt um you know i always tend to use the word discharge but then i think you know some folks may not really realize what that means it basically means a forgiving of your debt it's a terminology i like to use with a lot of clients your debts are forgiven that sounds great and fine and everybody you know kind of wants to be a candidate for that um not everybody because there are a lot of folks who feel guilt about not repaying the debt but the chapter seven in with the right client in the right situation can get you out from under debt typically medical debt is is what we look at sometimes there are reasons we may not look at a seven for medical debt um you know strictly unsecured debt um it's not going to give you a lot of help all the time with maintaining your assets of course what i tell everybody everybody's individual situation is different so general generally speaking it's right for certain individuals but not for everyone it is the fresh start you do get your debts forgiven um but it's not necessarily the best case scenario for everybody and probably not for most folks um typically i file more chapter 13s and sevens i kind of love the chapter 13. i like to call chapter 13 the safe haven of bankruptcy or the we can fix everything in chapter 13. um kind of bankruptcy it's a little more of a long-term commitment you're going to be in a repayment plan with the bankruptcy court via a trustee and you're going to repay some or all of your debt yeah you you you still may get to pick and choose if there are assets you you you could let go that would alleviate some of the financial pressure but you want to keep other assets you've got some choices with what you can keep and pay for through a chapter 15 planner which you might be willing to let go to alleviate a portion of the debt and in the end you're going to receive that discharge that you're seeking that the forgiving of the debt whether you pay all of it some of it you know zero to five percent of it doesn't matter it's just a longer term commitment to get to that fresh start but for many many people and most of the folks i represent that is the way to go it just fits what their needs are better there's so many things we can do i may be jumping ahead here but there's so many things we can do in a chapter 13 bankruptcy saving your home if it's in foreclosure we can't accomplish that in a chapter seven saving your car if you're behind on payments you know that's very hard to accomplish in chapter seven um it's typically you've got less up front costs with the chapter 13. that can make it a lot easier to get immediate relief from your creditors there are other types of debts that can be managed in a chapter 13. tax debt um can sometimes be paid back in a chapter 13 when it can't be discharged in a chapter seven you can gain the benefits of uh discharging certain interest and penalty on that tax debt that would accrue otherwise outside of any form of bankruptcy under certain circumstances so there's just so much more we can do with a chapter 13 repayment plan you know it it's it's it's not a it's not a uh a debtor's prison sentence um it's not involuntary servitude you're you're coming into this voluntarily to restructure your debt make payments to your creditors maintain pretty much your your liv your way of living and and get get financial freedom in a three or five year plan you know and that's an excellent answer um the thing i like to tell people you know i start with the beginning chapter seven the good things about it it's quick and it's pretty complete um the entire process of a straight bankruptcy normally takes four or five months and we can get rid of most that you have now there are certain debts that you can't get rid of most taxes student loans child support alimony and as amy pointed out if you want to keep your home and you want to keep your car you have to be prepared to stay current on that and and make those payments following the bankruptcy but there are some bad things about a straight bankruptcy or potentially bad things first i always say you know it's going to be more expensive as you pointed out to get started for most people we can get you into a reorganization plan for sometimes for little or no money down it may be a hundred dollars it may be a few hundred dollars just depending on the situation but with a straight bankruptcy it's normally going to be in excess of a thousand dollars and it could be significantly more that you're going to have to pay before the bankruptcy is even filed and then i ask people amy i say well what's the biggest thing you lose when you file a straight bankruptcy and most people look at me and they say well i'll lose my credit and for most people you and i can honestly say by the time they get to us their credit's already shot the thing people lose when they file a straight bankruptcy is their right to file and receive a discharge in another straight bankruptcy for an eight year period so you know after this last year there's still a lot of uncertainty for people out there you may have amassed some debt but we're not sure how things look going forward if you file the straight bankruptcy now there may not be good options available in the future if you get behind whereas in a chapter 13 you have an attorney like amy tanner there guiding you through the next three to five years available to answer questions and available to make changes if your situation changes you can always switch over to a straight bankruptcy or modify your plan there are things we can do to help if you're in a chapter 13 going forward amy you talk briefly about some of the way different debt is impacted if we restructure debt as opposed to just discharging it right now there are more people percentage-wise behind on their mortgage payments than at any time since the great depression been almost 100 years since this number of people have been behind on their mortgage payments so if somebody comes in to see you and they're four five six and maybe even a year behind on their mortgage payments they're facing a foreclosure how can you help them with that brad that that's some i said slam dunk chapter 13 right there um and a big if if that's your only problem if you have no other debt issues that's still enough of an issue to come see me or come you know come see you or come see one of our other attorneys you know some people are under the impression you've got to have all this debt or multiple creditors to be of for bankruptcy to be available to you that is not true um that's a definite reason to come in and see about filing a chapter 13. the way we can fix that is typically we can take everything you're behind that three months six months 12 months we call it the arrearage that can go into the chapter 13 repayment plan you become current on paper with the mortgage company immediately if we filed you today and you were 12 months behind i would say you don't have to make a mortgage payment until august 1. starting all this going on forward you're going to resume making a direct mortgage payment the mortgage company is going to accept it they're going to stop this foreclosure and they're going to consider you current on paper once we file this case with the court and then you've got a three to five year plan period to pay back all that arrearage that has accumulated over time and so it's it's a real relief if you're facing a foreclosure um i'll throw in something here if you if you that you've mentioned the moratoriums are coming close to an end i suspect the mortgage companies are going to start firing off foreclosure notice this is quick as possible getting off another little tangent to let people know alabama is what's called a non-judicial foreclosure state that means foreclosures happen fast and furious when you get that first foreclosure notice or if you get a a pre-foreclosure notice from an attorney's office that says your your your mortgage has been assigned to me to begin foreclosure proceedings if i don't hear from you in 30 days you know your house is going to begin foreclosure please don't hesitate to call at that time you know it never hurts to talk i mean we do as brad pointed out earlier free consultations you can come in you can talk to me you can talk to one of our other attorneys at that point in the game um and we can go ahead and give you advice on that um the earlier the better if you're facing a foreclosure to get to us to stop it by finding chapter 13. yeah again excellent answer what i want to add to that is of course the bond and botes law offices are located throughout alabama and mississippi mississippi is also a non-judicial foreclosure state and what that means folks is as amy said that process is quick you don't get something from the court you aren't really given a lot of notice before a foreclosure sale takes place and once that foreclosure sale takes place there's not much we can do um you have very limited rights under both alabama and mississippi law to retain your home um so you want to reach out to one of us just as soon as you can again it's a free consultation we'll do it over the phone we'll do it by video we'll do it however you want to but learn what your options are one further warning is many of the mortgage companies right now are talking about mortgages which is some sort of arrangement to let you get caught up on your mortgage payments outside of bankruptcy be cautious you know if you get a good modification and you can get it approved and everything's signed great but but we hear all the time from individuals that they're talking to one department at the mortgage company about modification and the other department is going full speed ahead on the foreclosure so don't just assume because you're talking to somebody about a modification that everything's all right um amy another common situation we see somebody comes to see us they've had a job loss they've had a maybe their unemployment rate out and they haven't been able to get back to work yet but they're behind two three four car payments now the way we deal with a car payment is a little bit different than a mortgage payment can you explain how we can help somebody that's behind on their car payment no afraid of a repossession sure and just to repeat myself that's almost another slam dunk chapter 13. uh like i said earlier there's so much you can do with the chapter 13 and so many issues and problems you can fix and within the limits of a chapter 13. um i would look to quickly follow chapter 13 as i said about foreclosures very fast furious possessions are even faster and more furious um a a creditor can pick up a car very very quickly so what we do is work to get a chapter 13 5 to stop the repossession of your car immediately when a chapter 13 inside your creditor cannot come repossess your car um our phone will do an extra touch for you we will call your car creditor the day we file your case to let them know don't bother their car you know they have file bankruptcy uh but the way we handle vehicles uh unlike mortgages where all we just do is put the arrearage in the plan and you would resume a regular monthly payment in your mortgage because that is a long-term debt carl and john are a short-term loan period so we're going to take the entire balance remaining on your automobile debt and we're going to place that into the repayment plan so in essence we're restructuring the contracts you have with the car lender so and kind of being a conduit for your payment you're going to put the entire balance in here you will not make any more direct payments to your auto loan lender once we file this chapter 13 with the court your payment for your vehicle will get made through your consolidation chapter 13 payment uh over that three to five year crime period and you will get your title when that that plan is complete so you still drive your car you still have your car you're still required to maintain insurance to require required to maintain insurance on your car you will not make payment to the car lender you will not be harassed by the car lender every month whereas a payment where's your payment um you you if if if your car lender has once we filed the chapter 13 if your card or has one of those crazy shut off devices on it uh they they can no longer use that shut off device um so in any attempt that they might make to repossess your car the minute after that bankruptcy is filed chapter 13 is filed is a violation of the law that's what you get when you file a chapter 13 you get something called the automatic stay and that's against any assets you have no any collection efforts you have your creditors can't continue to try to collect from you they can't repossess your car they can't foreclose your house if if they do then we're talking about a whole other bug in the bankruptcy called adversaries proceedings where you can actually sue your creditors for trying to collect debt repossess your car foreclosure house whatever it may be post chapter 13 filing yeah again excellent amy kind of breezed over she said you can kind of modify that agreement with your car lender but that's big you know sometimes not only can we help you keep your car but we can reduce the interest rate reduce the amount you're paying each month and allow you to keep that car sometimes we can reduce the actual balance you owe on the car there are nuances of the bankruptcy and of reorganization and you need to have a good qualified attorney to work you through this but there are all kinds of tools you can use to protect yourself and again that automatic stay that amy referred to that's an order from a federal judge so you know if bob's used cars is looking for your car and trying to repossess it the day we file your chapter 13 reorganization often for little or no money down the day we file it there's an order from a federal judge telling those folks to leave your car alone and if they take it we're going to protect you adversary proceeding means sue we're going to sue that creditor if they do something they're not supposed to after your bankruptcy's filed because you're our client we're going to protect you amy another issue you alluded to earlier um in our conversation something that may cause somebody to look at a chapter 13 is if they come to see us and you know maybe they they failed to file taxes for a few years and had to get caught up or maybe their income for some reason was reported improperly for a previous year but they've got the irs or state tax department contacting them saying you owe x number of dollars in back taxes we're going to put a levy on your paycheck we're going to put a lien against your house what can we do in that situation for an individual who owes back taxes well it's not like a broken record here but almost another slam dunk chapter 13. um because you can do so much with taxes especially well you know so you know in in rare circumstances in some circumstances taxes are dischargeable i don't see that a ton of times um because in some of the situations you just described maybe it's back taxes for a return of a filed or um maybe they have already placed a lien on your house or some of these things these are these these would make it definitely non-dischargeable but a late file tax return if it's back taxes that you never filed your tax return first and foremost you know we need you we need you to be completely current with filing your federal and state tax returns but if you don't don't not come talk to me because you haven't filed them let's even talk about that we can help in that process too but if you do have back tax debt whether it's federal or state that is something that can be included in a chapter 13 bankruptcy you can pay it back over time in certain circumstances no more interest or penalty accrues you just discharge that or that's forgiven is the word i sometimes like to use in place of discharge um so it's actually a savings to you on future tax debt uh this automatic stay we've mentioned a few times also goes into place against your taxing authorities they can't then offset your future tax refunds to pay that post petition or post or pre-petition or pre-chapter 13 tax debt that you're paying in your chapter 13. so it protects your future right to refunds from the taxing authorities um stops them from placing leads on your home stops them from garnishing or levying your pay or other assets at all so it's it's a real good tool for handling any bike type set that you just just can't handle i mean the kind of key is i tell clients all the time lots of folks come to me who haven't filed taxes for the last years because they know they're gonna owe so in conjunction with getting their chapter 13 filed we make sure they get their taxes filed as well we can do that kind of coincidentally or hand in hand um and and so that we can manage that tax debt they've just been scared to file because they know they're gonna owe well we can put in this chapter 13 keep the taxing authorities from ever contacting you again during the life of that 13 get the top step paid um and and don't be afraid too we've mentioned both of us have mentioned you know what if they're threatening placing a lien on your home so what they puzzling on your home we can still pay for the chapter 13 save your home um from them seizing it for that matter and you may come to this but going off on a tangent with liens that's another big thing i see um with a lot of debtors you might come to see me you've been sued in the past maybe you didn't address that lawsuit there was a judgment against you and lo and behold you decide you want to do something with your property and you find that there is what's called a judicial lien out there against your property again another seemingly large problem that we can fix in a chapter 13. i thought i'd go on into this since we mentioned tax liens um you know it it's and that's one of the things that i typically tell all my clients all people who come to see me are all people who are concerned about what the crap creditors are going to do there's pretty much nothing your creditor can do that i can't undo unless they've already foreclosed on your home or already repossessed your car if you make it to me before either of those two things happens there's pretty much i can undo anything they've done to you okay garnishments liens probably getting a little ahead of you here but one thing leads to another um as i told you earlier i could talk about chapter 13 all day long uh well i do right and and so this is this is just another example of so many things that can be fixed in a chapter 13 plan if you have a lien against your property just just like a foreclosure those can come fast and furious you're not they're not going to call you up or send you a nice little letter that says hey guess what we just placed celine against your home it's going to sit there and accrue interest these are these are judgment creditors a lot of people are under the the mythology that oh a credit card can't take my house oh yes they can okay they can they can sue you and they can take a judgment from a lawsuit and they can file that with the probate court the county where you own any real estate or where you may hope to own real estate in the future and they could choose to execute that lien on your real estate meaning take your property from you so chapter 13 can fix all of this so amy alluded when we asked about taxes she alluded again to that automatic stay thingy so folks that automatic stay thingy that means again a federal judge is telling not only bob's used cars but the internal revenue service leave you alone we can help you get into a chapter 13 debt consolidation get an order from a federal judge telling these folks to leave you alone and we'll protect you once we get you there amy we have had some questions that are coming in from our viewers that i want to give you a chance to ask but i'm going to take a quick just side track here before i do so folks to recap the bond and botes law offices are located throughout alabama throughout mississippi we help people with money problems and we've done so for well over 30 years but our attorneys have hundreds of years of combined experience in at this point with what we've been through over the last year we are offering absolutely free initial consultations we'll do them by phone we'll do them by video we'll do them in our office if you prefer to meet with us in person we'll meet with you however you're comfortable but don't stick your head in the sand there are deadlines approaching that will allow mortgage companies to start foreclosing on homes landlords to begin evicting tenants student loans will become payable again we've been through a tough time reach out and get some good advice there's no cost you can call the number on your screen or if you're not quite ready go to our website look around a little bit get to know us and then when you're comfortable there's a form on our website you can fill out and let us know how you want to be contacted we'll reach out and again you're not going to meet with a secretary or you're going to meet with a practicing experienced attorney um amy tanner has been doing this for over 20 years now she does great work and has represented many many people facing financial situation so please if we can help you reach out for help now to get some advice so amy what we're going to do is we're about halfway through here i am going to let you answer some of these questions that have come in um and then i always like to warn my guests when we get near finishing up i'm going to give you a chance to uh throw in anything that we may not have addressed anything that you think is important so you might want to be thinking about that as we move forward amy our first question is how do all right so this person maybe is not working how do social security disability or pension or other payments factor into a personal reorganization okay perfect answer those are all sources of income that can be used to fund a chapter 13 reorganization so no problem there you don't have to be employed to file a chapter 13. um you just any regular source of income is good now the benefit to some of those things you mentioned social security and social security disability and va disability are this is going to get in the weeds a little bit here they are exempt from what's called the means test in a bankruptcy and that is a benefit to you because the means test helps us show your median income it's a test of the median income in state and county where you reside and if you are over that median income it could mean that you must pay more or a higher percentage of debt to your credit to your creditors through an organization whereas if you are under the median income you may be able to pay a less percentage back to your creditors through the reorganization discharge some debt pay some debt um so that's important too the big thing is is you don't have to have a huge income you don't have to get a paycheck you don't have to be you know gainfully employed social security disability va disability pension unemployment those are all sources of income that can be used to fund or make your chapter 13 plan payment you just have to have some source of income sometimes it's just temporary help from a family member but you have to be able to show the court that you have some sense of income uh some source of income again great answer i want to i want to emphasize a couple of things here number one although we can help this is not a a simple process amy we try not to get into the weeds as amy said but there are factors to be considered like the means test which can impact everybody a little bit differently the term of your repayment plan how different debt can be traded in every organization all good reasons why you need to talk to a competent and experienced attorney and the other thing you know and i always think of this when i hear social security disability i mean even though we're bankruptcy attorneys and that's what we do for a living and our first objective if we can help somebody avoid bankruptcy that's what we're going to do bankruptcy should not be your first option a reorganization should not be your first option many people don't realize that if they're receiving social security disability that your creditors in most cases cannot touch that money um so there may be no meat no need to file bankruptcy if you don't own any property your only income is social security disability make sure you attorney factors necessary at bonded voters and i know amy who's been with us for a long time believes this bankruptcy is not the first option we look at all your options and we talk about all of your options um reorganization is often a great option as opposed to a straight bankruptcy but we want to make sure we do what's right for you and that's why we want to talk to you because because everybody that consults with us everybody that comes to us is different everybody's needs are different so we want to help you amy um next question if i'm about to get divorced is it better to do a debt consolidation before the bankruptcy or after the bankruptcy or after before the divorce or after the divorce i think everyone knows yeah uh well that that's a really good question and that's that's a question where i'll kind of come back to one thing you just said everybody's situation is different um definitely and i tell folks this i tell my divorce lawyer friends this if there are money problems heading into a divorce two things i'll say please come see me before you get that divorce if if you know you know i prefer to come in together if you can sit in the room together please come see me and hear your options whether it be you know the the reorganization chapter 13 or even if we do end up needing to file chapter seven because first and foremost number one financial problems could be what's causing your divorce and we can fix that and then no divorce is necessary um that is the as everyone pretty much knows the number one problem with divorce financial problems um so that's why i encourage you talk talk to me talk to one of our attorneys first because we may just be able to put you into a organization plan save your assets you know save your marriage okay number two if you're headed for divorce no matter what it's not financial reasons there's some other reason that you need the divorce but you have you have joint debt you have his mind and ours debt there's just all kind of debts out there i encourage you to still come and talk to me first because it may be beneficial to both of you and probably in 90 80 90 of people's divorces where there is joint debt if it's if it's if the debt is problem it's probably beneficial to file the bankruptcy before you file the divorce there are many reasons why and this gets into the weeds of everybody's personal situation and how it affects everyone but it's when you file that divorce there's going to be a divorce decree hence a court order out there that says husband is to pay this and hold wife harmless wife is to pay this and hold husband harmless um and there are a couple of things that can happen with that number one wife or husband may not pay that debt and you are going to be harmed because the creditor who's trying to pull that debt that joint debt from you that you signed the agreement with a creditor they don't care what your bankruptcy i mean what your divorce decree says they know you're obligated to them on your debt a divorce decree does not take you off that debt obligation just because it says your the other spouse should pay that debt and hold you harmless they're still going to collect from you they're still going to ding your credit when it doesn't get paid so that's one issue you have with debt and divorce decree versus handling the debt and bankruptcy pre-divorce another thing that can happen is if you're i like to say awarded a debt in your divorce degree then then it may not be dischargeable in a bankruptcy you may not be able to include it in a bankruptcy you may be out on an island with that one debt that you are to pay and hold expounds harmless so it can't hurt at all to come and talk to one of our experienced attorneys pre-divorce for those main two reasons a number one first and foremost we may save your marriage okay um because debt just that can hurt you know hurt america when my husband and i were first married that's the thing we had the most fights about you know was you know buying a a four dollar pack of dental floss we could have bought a two dollar pack uh you know and and that's the way it is most of the time um so it's just very important to come talk to a bankruptcy attorney first if there's any debt when you're looking for divorce yeah you know i i want to brag on amy a little bit here she kind of skimmed over it but i know amy tanner has saved many a marriage during the time she's been practicing bankruptcy law um helping people do personal reorganizations um you know money problems can tear people up they can tear relationships up that could keep you from being a good wife or a good husband they could keep you from being a good parent you can't sleep at night you argue all the time uh you may have a wonderful marriage bought for these financial issues come in and talk to us you know even if you're not at that point where or you're thinking about a divorce come in and talk to us and let us see if we can put together a plan to help y'all work together to overcome the financial problems you have amy you know i don't want to get specific with this but i know you've helped young couples that have been in just this situation work together they come in bickering you come up with a plan where they can reorganize their debt work their way out of debt and their marriage becomes healthy again and they're looking out for each other going forward um so so again all the more reason folks to if there are marital issues if money is causing problems like that reach out to one of us again it is an absolutely free initial consultation you have nothing to lose and so much to gain um amy will my employer be notified if i file for a personal reorganization good question and a lot of people are concerned about that when you shouldn't be i'm going to tell you no your employer doesn't get a notice that you file bankruptcy but we're looking at a couple of things here typically in 90 plus percent of chapter 13 organizations your payment is going to be made via a payroll deduction that is sent to your employer a payroll deduction a lot of folks where a payroll deduction is a different legal animal than a garnishment it's not the same your employer cannot punish you or or take any action against you or or or or okay think of the word i'm looking any rebuttal against you for the payroll deduction from the federal court okay they have to abide by it but they can't fire you over it you can't lose your employment so they're not so much noticed that you filed the bankruptcy itself but your in most circumstances if you are employed your payroll department is going to receive that deduction order to take that from your pay which they will send it directly to the trustee of the bankruptcy court to make your chapter 13 payment every month um another thing here bankruptcy is public record um in some some places they actually do still publish it in the newspaper uh it's very rare they don't hear in north alabama um so so it's not as usual i don't they don't scream it from the rooftops um but it is something someone can find out if they want to um and to that end i encourage anybody who may be vying for a job or answering questions to a current or prospective employer be honest about your bankruptcy you know the old saying honesty is always the best policy be honest about it especially here in north alabama where i practice we've got the redstone arsenal got a lot of folks with security clearances that that's that's another reason to come talk to me about chapter 13. um to help with your security clearance help save your security clearance help help get your security clearance back so um that's another employer sort of related question about a reorganization but man it probably files many chapter 13s to save security clearances or more than i do to save marriages um here in north alabama but you know it it's that it's that same thing amy um we talked about how money problems can cause problems within a family keep you from being the best husband or the best wife you can folks money problems can also keep you from being the best employee that you can be you know i can speak from the perspective of an employee i've been fortunate to have a lot of folks work with us at bonn and voters over the years and i can tell you i really don't want somebody working for me that is dealing with the stress of collectors calling they're up at night because they don't know how they're going to pay their bills i'd rather have somebody that had put together a plan of reorganization that had been proactive and he filed a plan to pay back their debt and alleviate that stress we don't want creditor calls we we don't want the stress that goes along with owing debt amy also mentioned the important aspect of security clearance so we have a partner ron sixtus who's one of the top security clearance attorneys uh nationally and ron's written up internationally actually he's written a book about security clearance and ron makes it clear you're going to look better if you've got a plan to deal with your debt than if you have bills you're behind on bills that are going unmanaged um you know for the same reasons you want to protect your family getting your debt under control can actually help you protect your job and also reduce any risks that you may represent to a prospective employer again because you have your money issues under control amy um do i have to sell my home car or their assets if i'm going to reorganize my debt well the quick answer is no no and that's one good thing about the the chapter 13 reorganization the consolidation you can keep your assets okay most chapter 13 bankruptcy trustees don't want you to sell your assets you know they want you to save them they they want you to file this plan and protect those assets um you know i said way back in the beginning you have the power and circumstances to maybe pick and choose if you decide to keep your house or car but you will not be forced to sell those assets in chapter 13. different story in a chapter 7 in certain circumstances so another reason to stay off that chapter 7 if you've got got some assets but in a chapter 13 you're not required to sell your assets to pay creditors you put them you you protect those assets by paying your creditors to its plan that's one of the major reasons for chapter 13 as well yeah absolutely folks um i've been doing this for well over 30 years and i could probably count on one hand the number of times that one of my clients has lost an asset a home or a car an asset that they didn't intend on losing so what i mean there sometimes you go into a bankruptcy and you say well i can no longer afford this house or i can no longer afford this car and you intentionally surrender that asset and wipe out any balance owed um but if we realize that that's a potential problem in a straight bankruptcy scenario we're going to put you into or recommend a plan of reorganization to help you keep your assets so a good attorney is going to be able to tell you before your bankruptcy is filed whether or not you're going to lose any assets um but get good advice get good counseling ahead of time it's very important um so we're working with an attorney and i i guess this this person is concerned about a debt relief attorney specifically uh impact my ability to continue to save for retirement and no the answer to that is no um several things i can say about your retirement um in and and again everybody's situation varies and this point could vary depending upon where you file your chapter 13 reorganization so i will say that but for the most part you can continue to contribute to retirement plans as your normal whether it's through a 401k at your job even if it's a match 401k from your employer you can still do that if you make regular contributions to iras um something like that you can continue to make those contributions to those plans for your future to build for your future on the flip side of that as you discuss protecting assets by filing a reorganization if you already have funds built up in a retirement account 401ks that that is protected in chapter 13. that is that is what's called an exempt asset in the chapter 13. so and that's another thing i see people come to me some sometimes before they've done this which is good because i'll head it up at the past sometimes after and i'm like oh i wish you would have talked to me first never ever ever ever i can't say ever enough times cash out your retirement funds your future security and pay your creditors right much your net you know you're never gonna get that money back i mean you're gonna in some situations required to pay that 401k loan back and but it could have been double that if you keep contributing you're paying that paying back yourself is not the answer to debt problems ever because your creditors cannot touch that money you have built up in your 401k do not liquidate that 401k to pay your creditors come see me before you even think of that because you you are taking what is your future security to pay these credits and that is not necessary because your creditors can't get to that money otherwise for folks so um you know dealing with your debt for some people early in life people have made mistakes early doing a marriage uh maybe fresh out of college or the first time you have a job making a significant amount of money they amassed debt by dealing with that debt whether it be through a straight bankruptcy or a personal reorganization you can get that doubt out of the way so that going forward you can make sure to prepare for your retirement but the second point amy made it i i just i can't emphasize highly enough i know a lot of you out there have had a reduction in income over the last year you've been out of work um you have not been able to bring in the same amount of money you have in the past so you know you look at you've got this 401k with money in it or this ira with money in it you think to yourself well maybe i should just start pulling money out of that to pay my bills or to get through this period of time don't do that as amy said do not do that until you talk to a good qualified financial attorney because while that money is in that retirement vehicle most retirement vehicles again we want to look at your particular situation most 401ks most iras most retirements that are most completely protected from your creditors but once you pull that money out it's just cash and your creditors can get at it so at least get advice from a good qualified attorney again which is absolutely free right now before you start pulling money from a retirement vehicle amy we have a few more questions and i'm not going to be able to get to all of them folks but what i want to remind you is that these facebook live episodes live on our firm's facebook page and they're on our website so perhaps you've only caught part of this or perhaps you know somebody that may not have heard it but may benefit or may need to know about what their rights are under federal law how they can restructure their debt how they can protect their assets please remember refer them back to our facebook page or to the bonnet botus website and our website address is is on the screen now this information will be there uh for the future and available for people to review um amy the i guess the biggest factor that i see that often will push people into a chapter 13 reorganization as opposed to a straight bankruptcy is pride and i mean i'm using pride here in a good way you know people you and i have counseled over the years say i you know i was taught to pay my bills i was taught to pay my debt now not everybody's capable of doing that but you know somebody comes to you they've just got behind it's been a tough last year 15 months but now they've got a job that's paying them more than they were making pre-pandemic they've got some money coming in they just need some help pulling everything together that again is a great fit for a personal reorganization do you help somebody like that how do you help them retain their dignity i mean that and that is a great great way to do it um lots of folks just once you fall behind there's almost no coming back by working directly with the creditors they don't care um you know there's hardly any way to come back from that the the thing to do the reorganization many people come they're like i really want to pay these people but i just can't do it you know i've got money coming in now but they want a thousand dollars a month i've offered to pay them 150 which is what i can afford but they don't want it and they just you know they won't take it and what do i do so this is the this is the way you can pay your creditors uh most folks feel better i i've tried to argue people if a time or two into a chapter seven it would for whatever reason they had would be better for your for you no no ma'am i want to pay i want to pay my creditors fine great i think that's that's admirable that's respectful again nothing wrong if you're a perfect chapter 7 client let's do it but for most folks they just have a better sense of feeling by paying the creditors back through a chapter 13. um you know we're going to navigate that process for you we're going to help you through it um you know there's no shame in it um and and another thing i was going to try to throw this in at some point anyway you don't wait your point is free consultation what do you have to lose i have people come talk to me well we really didn't think we wanted to file you know bankruptcy well a lot of folks aren't aware of the chapter 13. so that's a good thing hey let me tell you about this chapter 13 because here's kind of the best of both worlds i call it the middle of the rotor kind of bankruptcy it's the best of both worlds getting the relief from the creditors yet still paying creditors back and maintaining your obligations with them um and and don't don't put it off if you're struggling if you're if you're if you're you know your mailbox is full of debt bills every day don't don't put it on i see too many people who try to muddle through throw a little money at those creditors for two a year two years they're in here talking to me then we'll find a chapter 13 years when we could be two years on the road in time um um it's just very very hard as you know unfortunately to work with the creditors people come to me and say can't you work with the creditors and not violate currency i can't really look in the magic that you can with the creditors that they have their reasons for you know acting being being the way they are about collecting the debt so a chapter 13 is i tell them you know real real proper southern grammar it's the middle of the rotor um pay your creditors on your own time and a plan that's right for you you know i i i can say this you've already shared that you grew up at montgomery alabama folks i've lived in alabama for close to 45 years now i've lived here most of my life but yes i did grow up up north i think you all have a term for people that move from up north and stay down here but i can tell you one of the things i love about the south again are people want to pay their debts people it's it's a matter of integrity um and if that's that's what you want to do if you want to you just need some relief you just need a way to do it you need some protection and a plan to work your way out of debt we can help you do that and we want to help you do that we are offering again absolutely free no obligation consultations with an experienced attorney even if you just have a question or two that you want an answer to please reach out to us and do it now before things get bad i have helped people a day or two before a foreclosure sale but i'd really rather help you several weeks before a foreclosure sale the bond and botes law offices are located throughout alabama mississippi we have experienced attorneys some of our attorneys are board certified we work with one another to provide the absolutely best representation possible amy before i close i do want to thank you for joining us is there anything that i may have missed that you want to share with our viewers here well i said i could talk more and more and more about chapter 13 but it's really best to see us individually because everyone's personal situation is different don't rely on what mother mother daddy brother cousin sister twice tries to tell you about your finances or whether or not to file bankruptcy come talk to us we'll bust all the myths for you um we'll we will get it done in in a good manner and help you through don't wait don't wait until it's too late wait like i said there's almost nothing a creditor can do to you that i can undo but you know the sooner the sooner we can start fixing your financial problems the better amen now amy thank you so much to our viewers i want to thank you for joining us again um i hope it's clear to you um that the attorneys that work at the bond and botes law offices and amy is a perfect example we care about you uh we want uh you know i often say we treat you like one of our family members if they had financial problems reach out to us we'll talk about your situation we'll try to come up with the best solution for you and your family we want to do what's best for you our faith's important to us our family here at bonding voters is important and uh we want to help you with your finances so until next week on behalf of all of us here at bond and botes thanks for joining us thanks amy appreciate it thanks for having me see you later