Bankruptcy Indiana

The Dallas debt settlement company's slogan read "We negotiate the past while you negotiate the future", and Linda Robertson responded to that ad, signing up for a debt settlement plan last year.  As a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy information in Indiana to clients and readers, I was "relieved" that the New York Times was using Linda Robertson's case to warn consumers about the dangers of debt settlement plans.

For close to 25 years, I've been a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana, with four Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices serving 55 counties in our state.  And, while I can more than understand how myths about bankruptcy in Indiana keep many individuals from considering filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana, it's a real pity when those individuals look for help in all the wrong places, falling prey to false hopes and even becoming the victims of scams.

Here's what happened:
 

• Linda Robertson's real estate appraisal business collapsed during the recession in housing. She lost her home to foreclosure.
   
• Failing to keep up with even the rent on an apartment while holding down two jobs and caring for her young son, Linda moved into a room in her aunt's home in Missouri.
   
• Linda took a night factory job, but could not keep the bills paid and ran up her credit card balances.
   
• When Linda signed on with the debt settlement company FF, the "deal" was that she would make monthly deposits of $427 into a new account and stop trying to pay the credit card bills.  FF would take $100 of that for fees.
   
• When enough money had accumulated in her account, FF promised, they would negotiate a lump sum settlement with Linda's credit card companies and she'd be debt free in three years.
   
• Linda proceeded to make nine payments, at which point a sheriff showed  up at her door with an order from the credit card company.
   
• When Linda called FF for help, she was told that they could do nothing, since her account had only $1470 in it (after the fees FF had taken) and that wasn't enough to settle with the creditor.

As a debt consolidation lawyer, I'm not happy to report the unhappy end to this story:
Linda Robertson filed a complaint with the attorney general and the Better Business Bureau.  She ended up receiving her $1,470 back, plus half the fees she'd paid. Linda is now in the process of filing bankruptcy.

All of us - the Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices in Indiana, have encoutered hundreds of similar situations.  Not for every one of them did filing individual bankruptcy in Indiana turn out to be the ideal solution to their problems.

What is always true, though, is that the earlier individuals ask for Indiana bankruptcy help, the greater their chance of being helped, and of avoiding situations like Linda Robertson's.  To learn more, check out the article I wrote last year for Indy's Child Magazine, in which there is detailed information about debt management and debt consolidation agencies and companies, called "When You Can't Do Debt Alone". 

As a longtime adviser on bankruptcy in Indiana, the message I want to spread is this:
Please - don't go into a deeper hole trying to dig out of debt!