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Debtors may not be harassed by collection agencies
Illinois residents may know that debt collectors are restricted by federal law from harassing the debtor. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ...
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Unsecured debt and property seizures
Some residents of Chicago may be interested in learning more about unsecured debt collection. Although many people know that secured creditors can ...
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Ways to avoid foreclosure
As Illinois homeowners may know, the rate of foreclosures has been high since the economic downturn of 2008. This is a complex situation but often ...
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Debt relief and bankruptcy
Consumers in Illinois may benefit from learning more about the distinguishing factors that differentiate filing bankruptcy from obtaining debt relief. ...
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New York State Unveils New Debt Collection Regulations
New York governor Andrew Quomo recently announced New York's new debt collection regulations. The regulations, issued under a provision of the New ...
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Personal bankruptcy and credit card debt
Many people throughout Illinois are struggling with credit card debt. It is all too easy to swipe a credit card for a few purchases and eventually ...
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Alternatives to foreclosure in Illinois
The mortgage payment is often an Illinois resident's largest monthly expense, and an unexpected illness or layoff may make meeting this obligation a ...
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American Bar Association Issues New Ethics Opinion Regarding Debt Collectors Renting Prosecutor Letterhead
Two years ago, I wrote a blog post about debt collectors using prosecutors' letterhead to collect a debt . This is generally done because the ...
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Understanding corporate bankruptcy
Investors in Illinois may benefit from learning more about the principles of corporate bankruptcy as described by the Security and Exchange ...
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Peer To Peer Lending -- Great Idea or Major Pitfall?
We're back from a long hiatus. We've seen the usual in the past few months: sources conflicting on whether foreclosures are up or down; the return of ...
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Fighting vehicle repossession in Illinois
Many Illinois residents have run into difficulty making their monthly car or truck payments in an economy that has yet to fully recover from the ...
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What is the role of a U.S. trustee in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy?
During bankruptcy, a trustee is assigned to assist with the process. In Chapter 11, the U.S. trustee's role is important in monitoring the case as it ...
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Why should I use an attorney to file a personal bankruptcy?
While a corporation or partnership that files for bankruptcy must do so through an attorney, individual debtors who are filing for bankruptcy in ...
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What are the eligibility requirements of Chapter 7 bankruptcy?
An Illinois individual, partnership, corporation or other business entity can file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, though the only people who qualify for ...
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What is Chapter 13 bankruptcy and how does it work?
Two of the most common types of personal bankruptcy are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Unlike a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, where a debtor's ...
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What is Chapter 11 bankruptcy and how does it work?
Illinois businesses may be familiar with a form of bankruptcy that allow a business to reorganize debt and refinance it in order to prevent final ...
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What is predatory lending and what legal protections do I have?
Some Illinois consumers are growing increasingly wary of the terms and conditions associated with taking on debt, and with good reason. Predatory ...
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What is chapter 7 bankruptcy?
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is one of two options available for most individuals filing for bankruptcy in Illinois. Chapter 7 is also known as liquidation ...
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Help for Illinois homeowners facing foreclosure
Homeowners in the Chicago area may be among the many individuals across the nation who are facing foreclosure. However, our firm offers individuals a ...
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Securing a credit card is possible after bankruptcy
Illinois residents who have gone through bankruptcy may wonder how it will affect their ability to get a credit card. While it may take some time to ...
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Study finds bankruptcy effective against foreclosure
Illinois readers may be interested in the findings of a university study regarding the effectiveness of bankruptcy actions in forestalling or avoiding ...
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Understanding discharge dates in different bankruptcies
An Illinois resident may be eager to see their debt gone when filing for bankruptcy, but the discharge rules can be different based on the type of ...
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DOJ Settling With Citi and (Maybe) BoA Over Mortgage Securities
The Department of Justice took a lot of flak for failing to prosecute the banks whose mortgage lending practices contributed to the collapse of the ...
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How to use bankruptcy to delay foreclosure
For Illinois homeowners who are facing foreclosure, bankruptcy may be a powerful tool to stave off any action by a lender to take their home away. The ...
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FICO Scoring System Changing To Reduce Impact Of Medical Debt
According to the Chicago Tribune , the formula used to determine FICO scores is being changed to minimize the negative impact of bad medical debts. ...
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Paying credit card debt owed by a deceased loved one
Residents of Illinois might wonder who pays a deceased consumer's credit card debt. When the consumer is a parent, grandparent or spouse, grief is the ...
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Small bad debt is still bad debt on a credit report
As many Illinois residents may know, forgotten debt may pop up on a credit report at the worst possible time. Being alert to this possibility and ...
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Retirement accounts and credit card default
Some debtors in Illinois may wonder if defaulting on a credit card can affect retirement funds. According to a recent article, a creditor must file ...
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Debt collection companies must prove debt is legitimate
Some Illinois residents who have lost a parent may face harassment by debt collectors who insist they are responsible for paying bills their parent ...
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What rights do Illinois debtors have?
A woman is refusing to pay a $20 charge that she incurred on her Kohl's credit card in November of 2013 due to claims that the company harassed her ...
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Thinking about bankruptcy and personal credit scores
Americans have learned to be very protective of their credit scores. Even if we don’t know exactly how our scores are calculated, we know that this ...
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How to deal with past medical debt in Illinois
Routinely checking one's credit report can be a good habit to get into. Sometimes, it will alert an individual to an unpaid medical debt that may have ...
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CFPB report sheds light on illegal debt collection practices
Late last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report citing illegal practices among some American debt collectors and so-called ...
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Forget About Trump, Look At Our Blighted Neighborhoods
Dawn Turner Trice, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, wrote a great column today . She took the opportunity to turn the current brouhaha about ...
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How Foreclosures Have Impacted Chicago
Last month, I wrote a post about the number of vacant properties in Chicago and how long those properties had been vacant. Now, to elaborate on that ...
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Why Collecting Time-Barred Debts Hurts Consumers
The FDCPA Defense Blog recently published a post decrying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and FTC's position regarding debt collectors ...
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The evolution of mortgage modification litigation
In the wake of the most recent financial crisis, many homeowners who had either lost their homes to foreclosure or who were fighting to keep their ...
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Are SSD and SSI benefits protected in bankruptcy?
We frequently write about both the benefits and temporary drawbacks of filing for personal bankruptcy. When individuals are struggling to cope with ...
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20% of Vacant Properties In Chicago Have Been Empty For More Than Five Years
That's right. According to the Chicago Reporter , one in five vacant properties in Chicago have been empty for more than five years. These are the ...
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How to use credit cards when rebuilding your credit score
The idea that you could possibly use credit cards for your benefit when recovering from overwhelming debt seems counterintuitive. However, if you use ...
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Why individuals get bogged down in credit card debt
We have previously discussed the fact that the American public generally views debt differently in the wake of the 2008 economic downturn. After the ...
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Why We Need To Create New Rules For Debt Collection Lawsuits
Judge Jonathan Lippman, New York's chief judge, recently proposed a new set of rules for debt collection lawsuits filed in the State of New York. ...
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Beware of payday lenders for numerous reasons
When you have fallen a few hundred dollars short of what you need to pay your bills, eat and put gas in your car, visiting a payday lender may seem ...
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Independent Foreclosure Review -- The GAO Report
The Independent Foreclosure Review remains the biggest failure of our regulatory system. It turns out that it was an even bigger failure than ...
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Why co-signing a loan may not be the best choice you can make
Loved ones tend to support one another, especially when times get tough. Although there is no one correct way to support another person, loved ones do ...
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When a student loan co-signer dies
Many young adults opt to attend college within the first few years following their graduation from high school. At such a young age, rarely do any of ...
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Four Easy Ways To Improve Your Credit...
I found an article today that describes four lazy ways to improve your credit. The ideas are pretty good. The first is to let your credit accounts ...
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Do you still need to be battling foreclosure?
Since the beginning of the foreclosure crisis, millions of American homeowners have weathered with the process of fighting to keep their homes. The ...
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Bankruptcy Filing Fees To Increase on June 1, 2014
During its March 2014 session, the Judicial Conference decided to raise the bankruptcy filing fees effective on June 1, 2014. The fee to file an ...
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Supreme Court considers personal bankruptcy case
Parents almost always work to fulfill the dream that their children will have more opportunities and even fuller lives than they themselves have had. ...
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Will filing for bankruptcy result in significant tax liabilities?
Tax season is nearly over. However, many individuals struggling with overwhelming debt are already thinking ahead to next tax season and to the next ...
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Have you inherited a home affected by a reverse mortgage?
A number of individuals in the financial industry convinced a staggering number of elderly homeowners to enter into reverse mortgages before the ...
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Watchdog comes down hard on U.S. due to mortgage fraud response
When the subprime mortgage crisis exploded in 2007 and helped to spark the nation's most recent recession, lawmakers, experts and the general public ...
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CFPB tries to secure free credit scores for consumers
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) serves as a consumer-friendly watchdog with its eyes on the financial industry. According to ...
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Thinking about business-related debt loads
The entrepreneurial spirit has long been praised throughout American history. Ours is a society which prides itself on invention, innovation and ...
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Sharp uptick in consumer debt is more frightening than fun
Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released data about the amount of debt that Americans are currently juggling and struggling ...
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Debt Collectors Calling? Why You Should Always Answer Your Phone.
The natural response to a phone call from a debt collector is to ignore it. After all, that's what voice mail is for, right? In my opinion, it's ...
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Homeowners in trouble are filing more and more lender complaints
The nation’s largest banks have been under fire for several years now due to shady, unethical and even illegal lending practices. However, a new group ...
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When your loved one is in debt at the time of his or her death
When a loved one dies, the emotional toll that this loss can take on you can understandably leave you feeling incapable of handling the everyday tasks ...
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Affordable Care Act will not eliminate overwhelming medical debt
A great deal of controversy surrounded the creation of the Affordable Care Act. This piece of legislation, also known as “Obamacare” remains a subject ...
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Zombie Foreclosures Are Back -- Again
The Woodstock Institute recently revived the concept of zombie foreclosures and mortgages by issuing a new report . The report details the patterns of ...
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Holiday spending, leftover holiday debt and you
It is the end of January. As a result, you are probably receiving bills associated with holiday spending in your mailbox. Perhaps you steadfastly ...
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Credit Tips From The National Association of Consumer Advocates
The National Association of Consumer Advocates has written a five-step guide to improving your credit score. The guide rather useful, in particular ...
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The Top 5 Things That You Should Not Do When Sued
The longer I practice law, the longer my list of "what not to do" becomes. Here's my updated list of what not to do when you are sued by a creditor. ...
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The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act Has Expired -- What It Means For You
In 2007, Congress enacted the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act. It was designed to remove the negative tax consequences of a short sale, deed in ...
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