Scared to answer the phone or open your “overdue” stamped mail? Worried about going to work and your boss calling you into his office to talk about your financial situation? Concerned about walking to the parking garage and not finding your car in its spot because it has been towed?
It seems like such a simple question doesn’t it? What is a creditor? A creditor is someone who you either owe money to or claims you owe money to.
For example, you might have a 10k balance on your Master Card account. Master Card is a creditor of yours. You owe them 10k and they would like you to pay them 10k.
Right before his son went off to the big city in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius told Laertes “Neither a borrower nor lender be/For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” In other words, be careful about borrowing and lending money to friends. If you lend, they won’t pay it back; if you borrow, you’ll fall out of favor. But loaning and borrowing is not bad. In fact, sometimes both are very good.
His advice is still valid in today’s Minneapolis. People haven’t really changed much since the sixteenth century. So, mixing money and friendship still ends badly most of the time. But sometimes, you need to borrow money. In fact, over two-thirds of the nation’s $13.2 trillion in household debt is mortgage debt. Most of the time, mortgage debt is “good debt.”
Just before Laertes went off to Paris in Hamlet, his father (Polonius) gave him a slew of fatherly advice. One suggestion was “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”
But most of us have ignored that advice. We are both borrowers and lenders. So, it’s very important for us to understand how bankruptcy affects both groups. Many of our previous posts focus on the rights of debtors in bankruptcy. That makes sense, because we are a debt-relief law firm. But we also need to examine creditors rights in bankruptcy. Believe it or not, moneylenders are people too.
Here we will discuss what a Summons is and what you can do to protect yourself now that you’ve received one. Receiving a Summons can be terrifying, especially if this is unfamiliar territory.
Do any of the following situations sound familiar?
*This article includes some Minnesota specific regulations and guidelines in addition to the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If being in debt isn’t stressful enough, creditors sure know how to make it worse. When you fall behind in payments, creditors will begin to bother you for the money you owe them. The further you fall behind, the more action creditors are going to take, progressively adding stress and embarrassment to your difficult financial situation. This non-stop pressure and continual reminder of your debt can begin to affect your livelihood, causing increased panic and anxiety.
Have you ever wondered why there is such a stigma associated with bankruptcy? After all, companies file bankruptcy all the time and reorganize themselves to live another day. The number of companies that have filed bankruptcy only to rise out of the ashes of debt are way too numerous to even mention.
Financial hardship is one of the most stressful situations many people unfortunately experience at some point in their lives. This stress is magnified by the pressure creditors apply through their attempts to collect on your debt. Common collection attempts include notification letters and phone calls. Although they may sound harmless – after all it’s just a note in the mail or a brief conversation – these reminders can be embarrassing and cause unwanted anxiety.
Debt collectors can take several actions if you ignore their letters, including filing a lawsuit, reporting to credit bureaus, and using debt collection tactics. To avoid these consequences, it's important to respond to collection letters promptly and take steps to resolve the debt.
Debt is one of those situations that cause people to place blame, become depressed and experience intense emotions, such as relentless anger and the feeling of hopelessness. These then trickle into your daily life and cause poor performance at work or tense marital interactions, for example. A challenging financial situation can have a snowball effect, tirelessly enhancing your stress and contaminating your life and relationships.
We receive calls every day from people just like you who are trying to pay their bills but have suffered a financial crisis and have fallen behind. They report that creditors and collection agencies are threatening to take their homes, garnish their wages or levy their bank accounts unless the bill is paid immediately. We hear horror stories of collection agents repeatedly calling their homes, their families or their place of employment to scare them into paying their debts. Angry collection agents bang on their doors or yell into the phone using abusive language and threatening legal action if the bill is not paid. All of these actions are considered creditor harassment and you have rights to make them stop.
If you fear going to the mailbox each day because you dread seeing collection letters, you are not alone. Many Americans are unable to pay their bills and they are facing the same financial stress that you are experiencing. Even with the restrictions imposed on collection agencies through the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collection agencies still find ways to harass people in an attempt to collect a past due debt. For most people, this becomes an ongoing nightmare as their financial situation worsens and the collection letters not only continue but also become increasingly threatening and ominous.
As consumers, we spend billions of dollars each year on goods and services, both online and in traditional stores. An increasing number of those purchases are made with some type of credit. As debt has increased, the need to protect consumers against credit fraud and unfair or deceptive trade practices has also increased. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the federal agency that enforces consumer protection laws. Below are descriptions of the three most well known consumer protection laws and details about how each one is designed to protect you against unfair creditor practices.
Scared to answer the phone or open your “overdue” stamped mail? Worried about going to work and...
It seems like such a simple question doesn’t it? What is a creditor? A creditor is someone who you...
Right before his son went off to the big city in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius told Laertes...
Just before Laertes went off to Paris in Hamlet, his father (Polonius) gave him a slew of fatherly...
Here we will discuss what a Summons is and what you can do to protect yourself now that you’ve...
Do any of the following situations sound familiar? Do you have creditors breathing down your neck,...
*This article includes some Minnesota specific regulations and guidelines in addition to the...
If being in debt isn’t stressful enough, creditors sure know how to make it worse. When you fall...
Have you ever wondered why there is such a stigma associated with bankruptcy? After all, companies...
Financial hardship is one of the most stressful situations many people unfortunately experience at...
Debt collectors can take several actions if you ignore their letters, including filing a lawsuit,...
Debt is one of those situations that cause people to place blame, become depressed and experience...
We receive calls every day from people just like you who are trying to pay their bills but have...
If you fear going to the mailbox each day because you dread seeing collection letters, you are not...
As consumers, we spend billions of dollars each year on goods and services, both online and in...
