Kristy says:

January 22, 2008 2:11 am

I am 23 and I have went through identity theft. I have all my paperwork from the federal trade commission and every thing, yet my past creditors won't take that into consideration at all. I am considering filing bankruptcy because my bills are so outstanding. Just paying everyday bills is so hard on my own (deceased parents). I have tried talking to several legit credit counseling places and I don't have the kind of money to pay back certain bills. I have a medical bill that went to collections and is now a judgment that is about to go to garnishment bc I am not able to pay. I have a full time and part time job as well and am not able to make ends meets. I don't know what to do. I thought if I supplied all my information regarding the identity theft they would take that into consideration and try to work with me but they don't. I really am scared and I don't know what to do. I am not a party girl or a frivolous shopper....I am just a young girl who was in a bad situation. Please give me some sort of advice. Anything would be appreciated.

Travis says:

January 22, 2008 9:50 am

To Kristy:

Again, I would highly discourage bankruptcy until you've exhausted all options, and you haven't. You are not obligated to pay any bills that are not yours.

If you live in Missouri, you can file a consumer complaint with our office. If not, try your state's Attorney General.

If they won't help, see a credit counselor (you can find one here). You may need to hire a lawyer to help get you out of this mess. That sounds expensive, but filing bankruptcy for something that is not your fault is the worst possible outcome, and you must do everything possible to avoid it. NOTE: I don't normally give advice this strongly and directly, but you are in dire need of help. Keep looking until you find it.

John says:

January 25, 2008 5:07 pm

My 23 year old son has unpaid bills which I have had no part in. He does not live with me, however a collection agency has my telephone number and calls me frequently, hiding his number from our caller ID. I have told him on three occasions that this is not my son's telephone number and to stop calling me. I have refused to help him contact my son. He is very abrasive and often hangs up on me. Is there a way for me to complain and get law enforcement to stop him from harrassing me?

Travis says:

January 28, 2008 9:40 am

To John:

For answer, see today's post.

Lee says:

February 18, 2008 6:20 pm

I have a garnishment on my wages for an unpaid credit card.The debt was bought by an attorney's office. The garnishment started in 2004 and was about $5300. The first order had a 9% interest added to the debt. the orders are written for 60 to 90 days, and every time they write another order they add about $400 court costs. Only one other order had the interest on it, and all the other orders says 0 inerest. After having my wages ( $10.00 an hour ) garnished for 10% and sometimes 25%, my balance is still $4000. I called the attorney and they said it is still drawing in 9% interest. I asked if they would settle with my for a smaller amount, as I am thinking of getting a loan from my 401 at work to take care of this bill. I cannot make ends meet with this taken out of my wages. But they said they would not settle for any less than the total amount. is taking a loan out on my retirement a good idea? should they lower the debt if 4 of the orders had 0 for interest drawn? i have just bought a house and have cleared up a lot of my bad credit. Help! thanks, Lee

Travis says:

February 19, 2008 3:30 pm

To Lee:

I am not a credit or budget counselor, but you can find one here.

Travis says:

February 19, 2008 3:31 pm

To Lee:

I am not a credit or budget counselor, but you can find one here.

Kathy says:

March 24, 2008 1:44 pm

My brother moved to Mo in Oct his wife still lives in Oregon. He just returned from an alcohol rehab program and is trying to get his life in order. He is in debt for about $30,000 - from credit cards and medical all in his name only. He has no income and no resources except a house that his wife lives in, they are not divorced or legally seperated. He is considering bankruptcy and says he has talked to an attorney about this and that he can file for bankrupty without involving his wife. Is this true? Thank you.

Travis says:

March 25, 2008 3:43 pm

To Kathy:

First, let me repeat the headline of this blog post: bankruptcy should be a last resort. Follow the link in the response above to Lee to get referred to a good debt counselor.

Yes it is possible to file bankruptcy as an individual, but it would most likely affect the spouse. For one thing, she would be married to someone who has filed bankruptcy - a big negative in the credit world.

If your brother is not comfortable with the advice of the lawyer, he should go back and get clarification or get a second opinion.

Nio says:

March 27, 2008 9:06 am

Hello,
I originally filed for a Chapter 13 several years ago and after 2 years I decided to switch attorneys because I felt like they weren’t assisting me with doing enough to investigate who I actually owed money to. There were incorrect figures that came up when they viewed my creditor’s information some accounts were listed twice etc. I had also supplied the attorneys with all the information they said I should.
I went into this Chapter 13 because I was behind on my mortgage about 5 months on account of a job layoff. At the fifth month I was able to gather enough money to pay for two of the five months and shortly after sending my mortgage company this they still entered me into foreclosure which then took my fees, from $1600.00 to $5900.00.(They told me this was because of attorneys costs, fines etc. After two years I decided to re-file with different attorneys and within 30 days of doing this, the mortgage company tacked on another $6000.00 in attorneys fees which brought my total dollar amount for the mortgage alone to $11.000.00. I was never asked to bring in a list of creditors by my attorney as they pulled all from my credit report and told me who I owed and needed to be paid. I have been in this Chapter 13 now for 4 years and have one year to go, but now the attorney has told me they made a mistake with the amount I owed and they are trying to amend more debt to my plan which is taking my payments from $490.00 a month to $2600.00 a month. This is not debt that I accumulated while in the Chapter 13 and they are insisting this has to be paid. They will not investigate this even after my objections to this because they cannot show me how or who I owe these amounts to as they only want me to sign the amended plan.
Also my Chapter 13 was dismissed a couple of years ago, just for one day because the trustee claimed I never surrendered my income tax to him for any of the years that I was in the Chapter 13 (In Missouri this is the law). When I contacted the IRS they said I am not listed as being in a Chapter 13 and my attorneys would have to be the ones to validate this. The IRS has been keeping ALL of my income tax checks since I have been in the Chapter 13 and charging me interest and penalties on what’s owed. I have contacted the taxpayers advocate service and they have no record of me being in a Chapter 13 either. I have asked them over and over to please look into this and yet they still haven’t. They are telling me the IRS takes precedence over all other creditors but I have court papers saying specifically that I am required to surrender my income tax after receiving it, to the trustee. How can my case be dismissed for a day and reinstated if I am to surrender what I never receive? The attorneys said this doesn’t matter because the IRS comes first but on my court ledgers the attorney’s office has been collecting monies from my payments even before my mortgage company has. So far my mortgage company hasn’t received a dime from my payments. Something just doesn’t seem right about this and I don’t know what to do from here. I make just enough money in a month to cover these new fees with nothing but 10 dollars left over, and they are not concerned with this, they only want me to sign on the dotted line so they can receive their fees. I have doctor bills that I need to pay because I have been putting off my visits because I cannot afford to see the doctor but I had to recently because I would not have been able to work. They haven’t tried to assist me with finding a solution for this either. Is there any advice that you could give me on this? I would really appreciate it.

Thank you

Travis says:

March 27, 2008 11:10 am

To Nio:

The best suggestion I can make is to seek a good debt counseler (see link in response to Lee above) and file a complaint with our office (see link in response to Kristy above) on the issue of your payments not going toward your debt.

John says:

April 7, 2008 3:19 pm

I live in St louis Mo. I am being taken to court by a creditor who wants to garnish my wages. This is one credit card debt under 10,000 I do not want to file bankruptcy. what are my options and what lawyer will handle this they all seem to be bankruptcy lawyers.

Travis says:

April 7, 2008 3:42 pm

To John:

You can check with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (see link in above response to Lee).

They have credit counselors who may be able to stop the legal proceeding. If not, you should keep looking for a laywer to defend you in court. You should be able to find plenty of them in St. Louis. The Missouri Bar allows you to search for a lawyer on its Web site. In the "Area of Practice" section, I would choose General Practice.

Carolyn says:

June 8, 2008 8:52 pm

My husband works full-time but I can't seem to find full-time employment (and I have two degrees). I've worked some but we can't seem to pay our bills. We considered credit counseling but realized with such a small amount of income and large amount of debt we just couldn't see any way out so we decided to file bankruptcy. We have consulted with an attorney we just haven't done the pre-filing counseling yet. We haven't made mortgage payments or credit card payments since at least April. They are being referred to our attorney. I'm concerned about how long it will be before the mortgage companies (1st and 2nd) foreclose and make us move. We have very little saved and can't seem to even keep up with utilities, phone bill, etc. We are in SW Mo and have even tried to get help from OACAC but don't get return phone calls.

Travis says:

June 10, 2008 9:14 am

To Carolyn:

I have talked with OACAC and they are expecting your call.

Jessica says:

August 2, 2008 12:38 am

Help!! I have paid my wedding photographer in full and she has not delivered my order after 5 long months. She said she has filed bankruptcy and there is nothing I can do to recover my order or money. Is that true? Is there anything I can do to recover the $1700+ dollars I have already paid to her?? Please help me!!

Travis says:

August 5, 2008 10:49 am

To Jessica:

For answer, see today's blog post.

Adam says:

November 6, 2008 11:17 am

bankruptcy should be a last step in all situations. Any competent attorney will tell you that even the ones who are bankruptcy attorneys.