Indiana Bankruptcy Information

This spring, news about student loan debt has been taking front and center stage, and all good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana are paying close attention.

The issue itself is hardly new.  In these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, I’ve pointed out many times that the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana, which follow federal guidelines, generally do not allow for student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy.  The ongoing efforts of Senator Dick Durbin to change the situation is something all of us in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices heartily applaud and support.

The Seattle Times wonders whether “the problem is shaping up to become America’s next economic crisis.” My colleagues the Bloomington, Indianapolis, Anderson, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers are concerned, too.  More and more former students visit us seeking student loan debt help, sometimes (in the worst cases) along with payday loan debt help.

Having served as a debt consolidation lawyer for more than 25 years, I’m glad to see the problem finally getting the attention it deserves.  What has been triggering all the latest news is a deadline, only six weeks from now.  Yes, on July 1, 2012, the interest rate on federal student loans is scheduled to double.  As rates go from 3.4% to 6.8%, a big, bad problem will become even worse.

“Unlike other forms of consumer debt, student loan debt is growing,” points out the Washington Post, adding that “the number of borrowers defaulting on federal loans has jumped sharply recently.” 

To put this information in perspective, let me add some qualifiers:

• Loans issued before July 1, 2012 will not be hit with the higher rate.
• The jump in rates will not affect Stafford loans (already at 6.8%) or PLUS loans for parents (now at 7.9%).

Now, if the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana DON”T change and the interest rate hike DOES happen, can filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana help in any way?  Make that a “yes”.  Here’s how:

Other consumer debt can be discharged through bankruptcy.  That is true for both bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana and for bankruptcies filed under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law.)  Those discharges can free up cash that can be used towards student loan repayments.

The debates go on, and the news can change every day.  Stay tuned here to these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, so you can stay up to date on student loan debt.

I can tell you, all the Indianapolis bankruptcy attorneys who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices were happy to read the Indianapolis Business Journal article explaining that “the Indianapolis jobs picture is brighter than previous reports indicated.” 

This won’t be the first time I’ve emphasized to Bankruptcy in Indiana readers how crucial it is for those who’ve filed personal bankruptcy in Indiana to have regular, sufficient income from jobs. That holds true not only for those debtors who file under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana (who must have income to keep up with their 3-5 year debt repayment plans), but even for those who file bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana (who need to keep the bills paid and re-establish their financial lives).

“But problems persist,” adds the IBJ. “There’s been no increase in the number of high-paying manufacturing jobs since early 2011….New jobs here tend to be lower-paying service jobs, meaning average wages aren’t keeping pace with inflation.”

Since every day we’re working with people who need payday loan debt help, student loan debt help (more about that topic next time), and help to stop foreclosure, we lawyers for bankruptcy are happy for each job announcement.  Two recent good-news items are:

• Steering manufacturing company ThyseenKrupp Presta in Terra Haute, Indiana, is expanding its manufacturing facility and plans to create 120 jobs over the next two years.
• Cummins  announced it’s building a new office building and warehouse in Seymour, Indiana, and plans to add 290 jobs over the next three years.
   

Statistics are moving along this kind of hopeful track as well, with the number of Indiana bankruptcy “terminations” increasing (meaning people emerging from bankruptcy to make a fresh financial start). Bank loan statistics are increasing as well.  In other words local bankers are seeing an increase in loan demand by Hoosier business owners, according to the IBJ. Since Indiana is home to so very many small businesses, their expansion is good for those who need to find jobs.

For all these reasons, I’ve considered it part of my job, part of offering Indiana bankruptcy information, to write about jobs in our state and to gather bankruptcy statistics. Here we are at the beginning of May, and the latest statistics that I’ve found going through the month of March. After more than 25 years practicing Indiana bankruptcy law, I know that March and April tend to be high months for bankruptcy filings (partly because of tax refunds providing cash for filing fees).
 

When it comes right down to it, for the process of Indiana bankruptcy – individual or small business bankruptcy in Indiana - to succeed, it takes jobs!

A recent news item in the Baltimore Sun gives me the chance to paint a clearer picture of the kind of work a bankruptcy trustee does. True, the story is about a newspaper company, not someone filing individual bankruptcy in Indiana. Still, it sheds light on the job description of a trustee, so that readers of these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles can get a better handle on the way the system works.

“The new face in the office of the publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times….is Zvi Guttman…who opened his laptop and began the work of a bankruptcy trustee, selling the business and searching for assets to pay creditors,” the feature story began.

When it comes to personal bankruptcy in Indiana, the trustee is typically a lawyer hired by the court.  That is the person we Indiana attorneys for bankruptcy deal with on behalf of our clients. 

The trustee will:

• Review the bankruptcy petition and all the financial statements we turn in to the court
   
• Chair the creditors’ meeting (once the trustee has given the debtor and the creditors a chance to comment on the bankruptcy petition and is satisfied that the information is correct, Stage One of the bankruptcy is complete)
   
• Sell any assets (Let me remind you that it’s very rare for any of our clients who file bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana to lose any assets)
   
• Distribute funds to creditors
   
• When clients file under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law, the trustee will collect each monthly payment, and then pay attorney fees and make payments to creditors
   

In other words, the bankruptcy trustee administers the process on behalf of the court.  The court, in the case of clients of the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, is the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Indiana’s Southern Bankruptcy District.

Courts, of course, have judges.  But almost always, as we Indiana bankruptcy lawyers represent our clients, it will be the bankruptcy trustee with whom we’re dealing.
 

“It’s got to be one of the most embarrassing things that can happen to a financial planner,” remarked Sheryl Garrett, who helps the Board of Certified Financial Planners hold disciplinary investigations for planners who file personal bankruptcy.

As every one of us lawyers for bankruptcy in Indiana knows, personal bankruptcy is not necessarily - in fact not even most of the time – the result of carelessness about financial matters, and of course, carelessness is even less likely to have been the case with financial planners.

As I’ve been explaining in recent Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, filings of individual bankruptcy are going down.  Still, bankruptcies are up 40% from pre-recession times.  The CFP board reports that 48 of its members filed bankruptcy in 2011, compared with 28 in 2010, and in January, discussions began about a proposal to change the rules for CFP® certificants who file bankruptcy.  Under the old rule, a planner would lose their CFP designation immediately upon reporting they’d filed personal bankruptcy. 

The March issue of Financial Planning, one of the several professional journals I read in order to offer my readers and clients the very latest in Indiana bankruptcy information, reports on the debate going on concerning bankruptcy among financial planners. The proposed change is that, while planners would have to report a bankruptcy filing, there would be no adverse consequences such as being disciplined or losing the CFP® marks because of only one bankruptcy filing.

On a recent visit with the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, we spent quite a bit of time discussing the things 250 respondents had to say in a survey of financial planners concerning the proposed rule change. The responses fell into two extremes:
Against the proposal: “If you are a CFP professional, you should never file a bankruptcy.”
For the proposal: “Financial planners should have the same rights as other people who file bankruptcy and get to keep their jobs.

From my point of view as a longtime debt consolidation lawyer and attorney for bankruptcy in Indiana, the most interesting comment by a financial planner was this: “Planners who file for bankruptcy may indeed receive valuable lessons from their insolvency that ultimately they could teach clients.”

 If you’re reading this Bankruptcy in Indiana article on a computer, you’re part of a challenge the court system is facing.  Since the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana aim to be fair to all parties – debtors and creditors alike, that means all the facts about the situation need to be known to all the parties.

Over the more than 25 years I’ve served as a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy services in Indiana, the one aspect that’s changed the most has to do with geting that information out.  Say someone files bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana, or files personal bankruptcy using Chapter 13 bankruptcy law.  And say the client has come to one of the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices asking for Indiana bankruptcy help.

A lot of planning then ensues, a lot of gathering information.  There’s a credit counseling process the debtor goes through.  But, all this time, the creditors don’t yet know about any of the goings-on.  They will be notified by the bankruptcy court, but only after a petition has been filed.

And, while the debtor will have listed all his or her creditors on the bankruptcy paperwork, the question still arises – just how will those creditors (plus any others that may have been inadvertently left off the list) be told that someone who owes them money has filed either personal bankruptcy in Indiana or small business bankruptcy in Indiana?

Used to be that the notice of advertisement would simply be placed in the local and/or the national newspaper.  But, with daily newspaper circulation down more than 30% in recent years, that’s no longer enough.  “This consumer shift to online media makes it imperative….to design a notice program that includes both print and Internet advertising,” explains the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal.

In cases of individual bankruptcy in Indiana, national newspaper notices would be less important than in cases of large corporate bankruptcy, of course.  Direct mailings to the list of creditors would go out from the court, in addition to notices in local newspapers, both hard copy and websites.  Even though, of the tens of thousands of cases in which I’ve been the attorney offering Indiana bankruptcy services, creditors rarely show up for the Creditors’ Meeting, they still need to be “invited”.

Anything else just wouldn’t be fair, and, after all, fairness to all the parties involved is what Indiana bankruptcy is all about!

Readers of both genders have been commenting on these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles..  But the fact is, the majority of clients who seek the help of the debt consolidation lawyers in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices are female. That’s due to no special effort on our part to attract women, but to hard statistics:  In each recent year, more than one million women in our country have found themselves in bankruptcy court.

The Journal of Financial Planning, one of the many professional journals I read in order to offer readers and clients the most up-to-date Indiana bankruptcy information, comments on that statistic, titling an entire article “Women Hit Hardest by Life Crises.”  An AARP study agreed: :”After a crisis”, it found, “women struggled more than men.”

Over my more than twenty-five years offering Indiana bankruptcy help, I’ve worked with women from every walk of life – single, married, divorced, homemakers, career women, entrepreneurs, young and old. My experience is congruent with what I hear from the Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers – a large number of our women clients who file personal bankruptcy in Indiana either had already gone through a divorce or were dealing with an upcoming divorce.  Statistics show that fewer than half of single moms receive all the child support they were awarded in divorce court.

The Woodstock Institution researched the bankruptcy situation in Cook County, Illinois, concluding that “women make up a larger share of individual bankruptcy filers in all communities…than men do.”  In fact, they found that “of all bankruptcy cases in Cook Country between 2006 and 2010, 45% were filed by women-headed households, while only 31.8% were filed by male-headed households.

Often I find myself working with a single mom who needs payday loan debt help, student loan debt help, or both.  Or, there might be a female entrepreneur forced into small business bankruptcy in Indiana after her divorce.  Quite often, I’m called upon to help stop foreclosure, so that children won’t need to change school districts.

Whatever the situation, I know that careful Indiana bankruptcy planning results in better outcomes.  And, really, that’s the whole idea behind the help we offer – making sure the outcome is the best it can be in each situation – most especially when there are children!

If I were forced to create a tagline summarizing all the benefits of bankruptcy in Indiana in just a few words, I’d choose “Stop ‘N Start”.

Whether I was addressing you Bankruptcy in Indiana readers or lecturing to professionals around the country on the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana, those two and a half words would serve to recap all the important features and benefits of

• Bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana
   
• Individual bankruptcy using Chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana
   
• Small business bankruptcy in Indiana
   

First, let’s talk about the “stop” capabilities of bankruptcy in Indiana.  While I wish this weren’t the case, what I, along with all the Anderson, Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers find is that vistors to our offices are harried and under tremendous pressure.  They need those calls from debt collectors stopped!  They need efforts to garnish their wages stopped!  They need foreclosure attempts stopped!  They need lawsuits stopped!
 

That’s precisely what filing bankruptcy does – stop all collection efforts and legal proceedings, turning down all the “noise”, so that individuals have time to think and plan their next moves.  That’s why the automatic stay feature of bankruptcy is such a good thing. 

The reason I say I wish it weren’t so is that I wish clients facing financial troubles would come in earlier before all the pressures have mounted.

So, as debt consolidation lawyers offering Indiana bankruptcy help, what can my colleagues in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices do on the “start” side? We: 
 

• Help you decide whether there are options still open besides personal bankruptcy in Indiana
   
• Help determine which form of bankruptcy applies to your situation
   
• Help you negotiate a mortgage modification in order to help stop foreclosure
   
• Help you go through the debt counseling process
   
• Help you create a new budget plan
   
• Help you gather and organize all the information for the  paperwork you’ll need to submit

You see, after more than 25 years practicing Indiana bankruptcy law, helping tens of thousands of individuals with everything from student loan debt help to payday loan debt help, I know that the “Start” button is far, far more important that the “Stop” button.  In other words, emerging from bankruptcy is really your chance for a fresh financial start.

No one really gets a total “do over” in life, but bankruptcy in Indiana gives honest debtors a chance to start moving forward.  And for me, over all the years, that fresh start has been what my work is all about!

This week I’m taking Bankruptcy in Indiana readers to court.  Not actually, of course.  I’m sharing lessons from actual court cases as summarized in a recent issue of Consumer Bankruptcy News.

Today’s cases illustrate one very important principle of bankruptcy: the importance of telling the truth. After twenty-five years as a debt consolidation lawyer in Indiana, I can tell you that the entire bankruptcy process is based on compromise.  The new bankruptcy laws of Indiana are designed to treat everyone, debtors and creditors alike, as fairly as possible.  And while none of the parties is likely to get everything on their “wish list”, the idea is that no one party is supposed to get favorable treatment at the expense of another party.

Now, in any situation, for real compromise to take place, everyone has to have the same information, and that information needs to be correct and honestly portrayed. It’s the same with bankruptcy in Indiana.  Whether someone is coming to one of the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices for help to stop foreclosure, or payday loan debt help, or simply to file personal bankruptcy in Indiana, the first and most important task is to gather all the information that will be needed for the bankruptcy petition.

If less than full disclosure of the facts is what is served up, and the bankruptcy court finds out, there cannot be a happy ending to that story.
 

• One New Jersey debtor, C., after pleading guilty to giving false testimony in his bankruptcy case and misusing a Social Security number that was not his own, was sentenced to twelve months in prison.
   
• In Louisiana, R., a local businessman, was indicted by a federal grand jury for concealing nearly $2 million in assets from his creditors at his bankruptcy hearing.

Now, I’ve helped more than 30,000 people file bankruptcy in Indiana, and I can tell you that most of them have no intention of lying or of concealing assets – they just need relief from debt and the chance for a fresh financial start.  But, because they don’t know how to properly fill out the bankruptcy paperwork, (and of course they’re tense and upset after months of suffering under the burden of their financial problems) they leave out important information.  They haven’t kept good records, they’ve been dealing with medical problems or perhaps a divorce – there are many reasons. The bottom line is they need a lawyer for bankruptcy to make sure the needed information is submitted in the needed way..

Today’s lesson from the court is simple: When people exploit the court system by lying about their assets, they are cheating creditors of their rights, and the bankruptcy system can’t work properly.
 

There’s nothing like a true life story to get a point across, and that’s why this week I’m devoting all my Bankruptcy in Indiana articles to actual court cases as summarized in a recent issue of Consumer Bankruptcy News.

As part of providing Indiana bankruptcy information, I need to stress that exemptions make up a very, very important part of the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana. I know, because, back a number of years ago, I (as a longtime debt consolidation lawyer in Indiana) was called upon to help write that exemptions portion of the law in our state. When an asset is “exempted”, that means the debtor is allowed to keep it, and that resource does not need to go towards repaying creditors.

Well, in one Wisconsin bankruptcy case, an interesting question arose about an exemption.

• A young woman named V. was injured in an auto accident. She suffered no permanent damage, and did not lose any wages.  However, she could not pay the medical expenses of more than $6,000.
   
• While V. had filed a personal injury claim which she valued at $10,500, she could not be sure she’d ever get that award.
   
• Meanwhile she was being harassed by her creditors, so V. decided to file personal bankruptcy under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law, five months after her accident.
   
• The question before the bankruptcy court was whether the projected proceeds of the personal injury claim should be included in V’s projected disposable income (in figuring out how much she could afford to pay on her debt repayment plan.)
   
• The court ruled in favor of allowing V. to proceed with filing individual bankruptcy.
   

My colleagues in the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices understood the reasoning behind this decision, but I want to explain to readers of Bankruptcy in Indiana what this is all about.
Anyone seeking Indiana bankruptcy help must understand that the facts about one’s financial situation need to be set out in the bankruptcy paperwork.  All of the known facts must be included in that bankruptcy petition – what assets you have, what debts you owe, what money you have coming in from income or investments, or rentals – ALL income. The dispute here centered around whether V. $10,500 from the personal injury settlement should have been included.

In this case, though, as one of my Columbus bankruptcy lawyer colleagues pointed out, V. had applied for a settlement, but really had no way of knowing how much, if any, of that money she would actually receive.  That’s why the court did not penalize her for not including the settlement money.

Bankruptcy law, for both individual bankruptcy in Indiana and small business bankruptcy in Indiana, can be complex, but today’s highlighted “lesson from court” is rather simple:

It all centers around providing accurate, complete, and honest information to the bankruptcy trustee.  In fact, a very large part of the work I do in both bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana and in cases like V.s involving Chapter 13 bankruptcy law, lies in gathering, organizing, and presenting facts!  Just the facts.  ALL the facts..

Twenty five years is a long period of time. Over all those years in practice as a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy services in Indiana, I’ve been doing a lot of learning – and a lot of teaching. I lead courses for Indiana lawyers for bankruptcy, lecture all over the country, and helped write a portion of Indiana bankruptcy law.  And what I’ve found through all of this is that there’s nothing like true life stories to get a point across.

That’s why, this week I’m devoting all my Bankruptcy in Indiana articles to actual court cases as summarized in a recent issue of Consumer Bankruptcy News.

When an individual or perhaps a married couple visits one of the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, they usually want our help filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana or possibly small business bankruptcy in Indiana.  The question these clients came to discuss typically begins with the word “should”  (“Should we file?”)  Rarely do potential filers consider the possibility that the court might not LET them file bankruptcy in Indiana!  In today’s true life story, we learn about that…

Facts of the case:

• Pennsylvania debtors Mr. & Mrs. W. intended to file under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law.
   
• One of their creditors, a Mr. D., tried to prove to the court that the W’s did not deserve to have the debt they owed him discharged through bankruptcy.  Mr. D. wanted to sue the couple directly.

The “tests”:
Just as happens in cases of individual bankruptcy in Indiana, the court applied a number of “tests” to help decide if the couple should be allowed to gain bankruptcy relief.

• Were the debtors living extravagantly?  The answer was “no”, so they “passed” that test.
  
  (One function my Columbus bankruptcy lawyer colleagues and I serve is helping our clients gain better control of their budgets, not only in order to qualify for Indiana bankruptcy, but so that they can successfully emerge from bankruptcy and get onto a better financial path.)
   
• Did the debtors fully and accurately disclose all their financial affairs?  The court found that the wife had “passed the test”, but that the husband had made some less than truthful statements and had concealed some information.
   
• The court then looked at the most important “test” of all - fairness. Realizing that the couple did not have enough money to pay Mr. D. even if he were to be allowed to sue them, and realizing that Mrs. W. would suffer if her husband did not also receive a bankruptcy discharge, the court decided that fundamental fairness is the most important principle of all, and the bankruptcy was allowed to proceed.

After having offered Indiana bankruptcy help to literally tens of thousands of people, there are two things I know to be true:

1. Justice, as we’re fond of saying, isn’t perfect.

2. The new bankruptcy laws of Indiana are designed to offer debtors the chance for a fresh financial start while treating both debtor and creditor as fairly and equally AS POSSIBLE!

It’s bad enough for anyone when family medical bills are spiraling out of control while they can’t work or can’t find a job, and they’re trying desperately to help stop foreclosure on their home. .   But what really makes me indignant is when that happens to veterans who deserve better after having served our country.  And, when it’s senior citizens who are the veterans showing up at the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, it’s an even sadder situation.

That’s why I, a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy services in Indiana, want to remind readers of one very important benefit that not every veteran knows about. The program I’m highlighting today in Bankruptcy in Indiana is called Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit, and, as one of my Columbus bankruptcy lawyer colleagues reminded me, goes all the way back to 1952, when Congress created the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Why, you may ask, does it fall to a lawyer for bankruptcy in Indiana like me (and to elder law attorneys and financial planners) to spread the word that these benefits are available to veterans and to their surviving spouses?  Why isn’t the VA telling people about them?

Well, as someone who makes a tremendous effort to spread Indiana bankruptcy information, I was just plain shocked to learn the answer to that question: Fact is, the VA has a “non-information” policy.  Even though the VA must set aside funds every year, they are under no obligation to inform potential recipients that they qualify for benefits!

So here I am, dealing with veterans needing payday loan debt help and sometimes student loan debt help, desperately in need of more income, and I learn that, nationally, $22 BILLION a year in veterans’ pension money goes unspent because many vets are complete unaware the program exists!

That’s just one more big reason I hope that Hoosiers (and disabled or senior veterans in particular) will consult with an Indiana bankruptcy attorney at the very first signs of financial difficulty, and not wait until things have gotten so bad they can’t stand it any more!

When I’m helping clients prepare to file either bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana, or to file using Chapter 13 bankruptcy law, a good number of the decisions I discuss with them center around income. And that’s precisely where the VA Regular Aid and Attendance pension could play such an important role.  Here are some general features of the program:
 

• It’s meant for veterans (or their surviving spouses) who need another person in their home to help them with activities of daily living, such as help with eating, bathing, dressing, handling financial affairs, taking medications, etc.. The program also covers blind people.
  It’s easy to see how such a pension might help veterans who file Chapter 13 bankruptcy to keep up with their 3-5 year debt repayment plans and successfully emerge from bankruptcy.
   
• The veteran or spouse is in an assisted living facility or nursing home.
   
• The benefit is a monthly pension to help with non-service-related disabilities (in other words, they don’t have to have sustained the damage in the course of serving in the military).
  It’s easy to see how having this kind of income can save homes and help stop foreclosure!
   
• The veteran can have served in World War I or II, the Korean War, the Viet Nam war, or in the Persian Gulf war.
   
• In 2012, the benefit can be as high as $1703 per month (tax-free) per veteran (as much as $2019 for a married veteran).

Anyone can see how these monthly pension amounts could make an enormous difference to veterans struggling with debt.  Fortunately, the good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana have no “non-information” policy!

For twenty five years I’ve been helping Indiana debtors seek protection.  You see, protection is the whole point of the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana – they’re designed to protect honest debtors from harassment by creditors.

I polled all the Indiana bankruptcy attorneys who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices to see what they see as the main point of personal bankruptcy in Indiana.

• Anderson bankruptcy lawyers chose: 
  Buying time for debtors to recover from problem situations beyond their control.
  
• Indianapolis bankruptcy lawyers chose:
  Offering debtors a chance for a fresh financial start.
  
• Columbus bankruptcy lawyers chose:
  Protecting honest debtors from harassment by creditors.

So, what exactly makes the difference between creditors just trying to get what’s due them and those who break the law? I thought it might be useful to my Bankruptcy in Indiana readers to present this list of “no-no’s” – things debt collectors are forbidden to do:

Creditors can’t “inflate”. In other words, they can’t ask for more than you owe, or add extra fees onto the sum.

Creditors can’t “pester”.  They can’t call before 8AM or after 9PM or on Sunday, and they’re not allowed to call you at work if you’ve asked for that not to happen. (And here’s an important one for after bankruptcy:) They can’t call twice, once they’ve been told the debt has already been discharged in bankruptcy.

Creditors can’t be violent.  They can’t do intentional damage either to your possessions or to your reputation.

Creditors can’t threaten.  They can’t hold over your head promises to sue, to garnish wages, or to wreck your credit score.

Creditors can't “gossip”. They can’t disclose your debt to a third party.

If these things are happening despite the law, your next step might be to inform the Indiana Attorney General’s office or the Better Business Bureau.  But, if that doesn’t help, it’s time to call a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana. And it doesn’t matter if you used a bankruptcy lawyer for filing individual bankruptcy in Indiana or if you took the do-it-yourself route.

If a creditor is breaking the law, it’s time to strike back.  After all, you filed bankruptcy to gain protection from creditors, protection you’re not getting.  When the courts discover that rules are being disregarded and disrespected, you might even qualify for financial damages. 

There’s a law against post-bankruptcy discharge debt collections, but some creditors still don’t get the point. After 25 years helping tens of thousands of debtors file personal bankruptcy in Indiana, I’m finding more and more that it’s not always over when it’s over.

The way it’s supposed to work is that, after you’ve emerged from individual bankruptcy in Indiana and some or even all of your debts have been discharged, creditors are required to report zero debt.  That allows your credit report to recover, and allows you to make that fresh financial start that Indiana bankruptcy is all about.

The bankruptcy discharge “recipe” calls for:

• You’re released from liability on any debt for which you received a discharge.
  
• Creditors are barred by legal order from making any collection efforts.
  
• Creditors are not allowed to harass or threaten you.
  
• Creditors can’t sell your already discharged debt to another collection agency.
  
• Creditors can’t give a negative report about you to a credit bureau.

OK, as all of us attorneys in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices are often asked, so what if that’s not what happens? What are we supposed to do next, debtors ask?

 First, contact those creditors in writing, informing them that the debt was discharged in your bankruptcy proceedings.  If that doesn’t work, call your lawyer for bankruptcy in Indiana! This is what you should do whether or not you used the help of an Indiana bankruptcy lawyer to file in the first case, because, now that your creditor has broken the law, it’s time to get serious.

My colleagues the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers have been following creditor harassment cases around the country, reporting that courts are taking a very strong stand against creditors who break the rules.  In fact, it’s not unusual, they report, for courts to award  damages to debtors for lost wages, attorneys’ fees, and even “emotional harm”.

The new bankruptcy laws of Indiana (including both bankruptcy Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy law) are designed to bring your old financial life to an end and offer you a chance to start over on a better track.  When that doesn’t happen, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you legal rights to sue debt collectors who threaten, intimidate, or harass you.

I help debtors – I help stop foreclosure, offer payday loan debt help and even student loan debt help, all under the bankruptcy laws of Indiana.  But, when those very laws are being broken by creditors that threaten to undo all the good work I’ve done, I’m ready to take up arms!

Getting back to good is what it’s all about in my work as an Indianapolis bankruptcy attorney, and really what all the new bankruptcy laws in Indiana are designed to help you do. 

All my colleagues in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices talk periodically with financial planners and loan officers at banks and mortgage companies, and I also read financial planning journals. The whole idea is to bring the most up-to-date approach to our work, which is offering  Indiana bankruptcy help.

Most people we talk to have more than one credit card, with some having quite a number of them. There seem to be two different schools of thought in terms of paying those off:

1. One financial adviser shared with my Columbus bankruptcy lawyer colleague that he tells clients to begin by paying off the card debts that carry the highest interest rates.
   
2. Many magazine advice columns, on the other hand, seem to lean towards paying off the cards with the smallest debts first (in order to gain a sense of accomplishment)m then turning your attention to larger debts.

After twenty five years of helping debtors prepare for filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana, and then helping them emerge from bankruptcy to make a fresh financial start, I have some important items to add to this list of ways to handle debt:

• It’s very, very important not to have any one credit card debt that is above 50% of the credit limit for that card. So, in choosing where to start, debtors must keep that over-arching rule in mind.
  
• As Steve Bucci points out in the book Credit Repair Kit for Dummies, there are creditors who don’t report to the credit bureaus at all, which means that payments made on those debts won’t help in terms of positive points on your credit score. Bucci lists credit unions, utilities, tradespeople, landlords, and insurance companies, who often don’t want to pay a fee to submit information to the credit bureaus.

As someone providing bankruptcy services in Indiana, I certainly don’t mean to imply these debts shouldn’t be paid, or that there won’t be negative consequences if you don’t (turning off utilities, evictions, harassment, etc.).  It simply means that when you’re creating a plan for getting out of debt, you want to focus on generating positive items to appear on the credit report.

• Rebuilding a credit score (either before or after filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana) is about showing you can be responsible in handling credit and that you’re making payments on time. Smaller purchases (hence more manageable repayments) can help you establish a positive repayment history quicker.

Having said all that, I suspect that if you’re reading this page, it may be that your credit standing is NOT in good shape and that your financial life has taken a downward path. Counseling on how to manage your budget may not be of little help now, because your bills are mounting every day.

Any experienced bankruptcy attorney in Indiana would be able to provide budgeting advice, but what you need to know is that an attorney is the ONLY person who can offer the legal advice you need to get you back to good!

What’s ahead when it comes to bankruptcy in Indiana?   In fact, what’s going on around our country?  (It’s easy to understand why I, as a debt consolidation lawyer offering Indiana bankruptcy help would be interested in statistics about bankruptcy, but why would you, readers of these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, care about anybody else’s bankruptcy but your own?)

Well, for a number of reasons.  Remember the “ripple effect” I’m always discussing, the one where a company has financial problems and lays off employees?  Those employees then have no money to buy stuff, so the small business owners in the area are hurt.  Problems – and solutions to problems – are contagious.  Knowing what’s going on around you keeps you prepared to deal with whatever life dishes up. That’s why I think it’s so important for me, in these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, to stay on top of news from around the globe and to encourage all my colleagues the Bloomington, Anderson, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers to read everything they can get their hands on and then share information.

Take the item from the Milwaukee Business Journal, for example, reporting that eastern Wisconsin bankruptcy filings declined by 7% in 2011, while at the same time quoting a local attorney who believes filing personal bankruptcy will increase in 2012, because people remain underemployed and because many homeowners will not be able to arrange mortgage modifications on their homes.

In our own four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, we work hard to help people negotiate mortgage modifications, but the fact remains that Chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana has proven to be a much more effective tool to help stop foreclosure.

A second article out of Washington State also notes that bankruptcy filings appear to have slowed down a little, but that a future jump is expected as bank try to recoup their losses from some of the foreclosures.

The statistics tell us there were 22754 cases filed in Southern District of Indiana in 2011, compared with 27394 the prior year.  But, as someone who’s helped tens of thousands of Indiana debtors make a fresh financial start by filing individual bankruptcy in Indiana, I believe we’re not nearly out of the woods yet.

An Indiana University study says that 46 million Americans are living below the poverty line, and that those numbers will continue to rise.  Although the recession is officially over, the scarcity of well-paying jobs will have the effect of increasing poverty levels.

Predictions won’t help you individually, but what I’m hoping is that knowing how widespread the problems are will help you realize that time is on your side only if you, early on, seek help in exploring different options. No, you may not be ready to actually file personal bankruptcy in Indiana or small business bankruptcy in Indiana, but, are you ready to get your own personal statistics (your “ducks”) in a row, ready to handle whatever the new year brings?

When it comes to bankruptcy in Indiana, I’ve learned after 25 years offering Indiana bankruptcy help, it’s not a matter of “poor– it’s a matter of “debt”.

As a debt consolidation lawyer, I often find my advice being sought not by shabbily dressed clients driving rattletrap cars, but by people who are used to extremely luxurious lifestyles. Some combination of job loss, divorce, medical emergencies, and the drop in real estate values forced them to face up to their spiraling debt situation and to seek Indiana bankruptcy help.

Usually, visitors to the Zuckerberg law offices come in feeling they’re very much alone.  Actually, though, that’s far from the case. That’s why, in these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, I find it useful to highlight stories of very famous sports figures, movie stars, and political leaders who filed personal bankruptcy not because they were “poor”, but because their debts got the better of them.

One of the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who works in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices brought in an interesting story about something that happened only last month. A tycoon once called the richest man in Ireland was declared bankrupt by the High Court in Dublin. Sean Quinn, whose real estate fortune was valued at $6 billion just a few years ago, now has debts of approximately $3 billion.

This Sean Quinn saga makes for an interesting tidbit, to be sure, but is the story really valuable to “regular folks” in Indiana who need me to help stop foreclosure on their homes or who need student loan debt help? Here’s why I'm including this article as part of providing bankruptcy information in Indiana:

• The new bankruptcy laws of Indiana are designed to offer a chance for a fresh financial start, and that means every honest debtor regardless of the number of zeros after the numbers.

• Sean Quinn became a billionaire by taking risks in business. As every business person – and every Indiana small business bankruptcy lawyer – knows, not always do risks pay off as hoped.

There’s little pleasure in Sean Quinn’s bankruptcy,” remarks irishcentral.com, explaining that Quinn’s “downfall was as unexpected as it was dramatic.”  As all good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana would agree, though, there may be no pleasure in ANY bankruptcy, but what there is, is RELIEF!

For years now in these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, I’ve been reassuring readers that, contrary to popular myth, bankruptcy does not spell d-e-a-d-b-e-a-t.  In other words, filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana is not necessarily (and not even most of the time) the result of careless handling of one’s finances.  In fact, every one of us lawyers for bankruptcy in Indiana who works in any of the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices is used to seeing just the opposite: bad things happening to very good, very financially responsible people.

In order to provide the very latest Indiana bankruptcy information to readers and clients, as you know by now, I read a lot – journals, magazines, newsletters, websites, books – you name it. And, just two weeks ago, I happened on the most amazing headline in Investment News:  “CFP Board Eases Up on Advisers Who Go Bust.”

I really hope that, once you “get” what this headline means, you’re going to find it as reassuring and comforting as I did.  Why? Well, for one thing, the very last people you’d imagine would be irresponsible with money are financial planning professionals, especially those who’ve devoted years of extra study to earn the CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) mark in order to offer even more comprehensive and thorough advice to their clients.

Up until now, as one planner explained to one of the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who is my colleague, if planners filed individual bankruptcy in Indiana (or small business bankruptcy in Indiana, for that matter), they would have lost their CFP® certification.

As you may imagine, someone like me who’s been offering Indiana bankruptcy help for 25 years would be gratified to learn that situation is about to change. The CFP Board realizes that everything from unexpected medical expenses, a spouse’s job loss, or divorce to a general business downturn can negatively affect even the most responsible and financial savvy individuals. (I know this very well as I work to help stop foreclosure for very good people!)

The latest proposal is that, while a CFP® certificant must report a bankruptcy, there will be no disciplinary proceedings for a first bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy in Indiana, as I’ve always stressed to clients, readers, and even to my own colleagues, was never designed to be an escape hatch for deadbeats.  Quite the contrary, the bankruptcy safety net is for situations “when bad things happen to good people”. I’m so glad the CFP® Board has come around to seeing the same thing!

Just two weeks ago, I gave Bankruptcy in Indiana readers a Mark Zuckerberg tip-off – a piece of Indiana bankruptcy information that had to do with a tax break.

I’ve been a debt consolidation lawyer practicing Indiana bankruptcy law for 25 years, but only in the last five of those years has there been this tax break when it comes to foreclosure.  To us in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, the reason we're interested is that we Indiana bankruptcy attorneys have worked very hard, within the new bankruptcy laws of indiana, to help stop foreclosure on clients' homes.

Knowing how important it is to many single moms and parent couples to keep their children from having to change schools, we do our best to negotiate mortgage modifications.  But, as one of the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who is my colleague puts it, there’s nothing simple about that process!

The other day I read in USA Today how every government program designed to help Americans keep their homes “has fallen far short of goals.”  HAMP, which was supposed to help 3-4 million people, has resulted in only 800,000 modifications.  One of my Bloomington  bankruptcy lawyer colleagues quoted the Federal Reserve Government officials, who plan on fining mortgage servicers because they’re doing such a poor job. We KNOW they are – our own efforts to help stop foreclosure are being met with lost paperwork and incompetent customer service. Very occasionally, the very fact that an attorney is involved helps hurry things along a bit.

The silver lining, though, is this tax break I’ve referred to.  Yes, Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Indiana can itself help stop foreclosure.  But, even in a worst-case scenario where a foreclosure cannot be prevented, the tax forgiveness which applies to mortgage debt during calendar years 2007-2012 only means that debt discharged through foreclosure (like debt discharged through bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana or under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law) will not be considered taxable income.

In short, because of this temporary “break”, the combination of Indiana personal bankruptcy AND foreclosure in 2012 can increase the level of assets you’re allowed to keep.  The overall goal of bankruptcy in Indiana, remember, is for debtors to have a chance at a fresh financial start!

Not everyone qualifies to file under chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana. But, as BankruptcyAction.com points out, there are several reasons why people choose Chapter 13 over Chapter 7 when given the choice.  As for me, a debt consolidation lawyer offering Indiana bankruptcy help, whenever it’s important for a client to save a home and help stop foreclosure, I choose Chapter 13 bankruptcy as the perfect tool for the job.

Here are just a few of the situations when you as a debtor might opt for Chapter 13:

• You think it’s the “right thing to do”, to make every attempt to pay your own debts – you just need more time.
  
• You’re behind on your mortgage or car payments and need time to make up the missed payments without late fees and interest making that ever more impossible. This is one piece of bankruptcy information in Indiana I believe is so important to convey to consumers, and that’s why I keep coming back to this idea in these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles.
  
• You have valuable pieces of property (could be a home or it could be other property that is not exempt under bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana).
  
• You filed a Chapter 7 within the past eight years.
  
• You have a big federal tax debt.

All of the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who are my colleagues, along with the Indiana bankruptcy attorneys who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices in Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Anderson, Indiana use Chapter 13 to accomplish things that cannot be accomplished under bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana.  Chapter 13 is sometimes referred to as the “bill consolidation: version of bankruptcy or the “wage earner’s bankruptcy plan”.  Under the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana, one of the main things that Chapter 13 accomplishes is saving homes. 

How does Chapter 13 help stop foreclosure? When you’re behind on house payments, sooner or later (unfortunately it’s usually sooner), your lender or mortgagor is going to take legal action to collect what you owe, or threaten to evict you from the house and take the property back.  If you can file individual bankruptcy in Indiana using Chapter 13 bankruptcy law, and if you do it prior to the sheriff’s sale of your home, the bankruptcy court can cancel your mortgage debt (this is particularly true of a second mortgage or home equity loan) or give you the opportunity to stop the foreclosure and make the missed back payments over time.

Can you see why, over my 25 years practicing Indiana bankruptcy law, I consider myself as part of the Chapter 13 home rescue squad?

At the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, many of the questions we’re asked center around income and credit ratings. People are worried about the effect filing individual bankruptcy in Indiana might have on their credit score.

As a debt consolidation lawyer for 25 years, I've learned that many clients find it hard to believe - income basically isn’t even considered as part of a credit score! Lenders use credit scores, of course, to decide whether to loan money to you, and whether to charge you whatever the standard interest rate is at that time, or to charge more.

The FICO score developed by Fair Isaac program, depends on information Fair Isaac gathers from the three main credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. The basic weighting formula is this:

• Payment history accounts for 35% of the rating.
  
• Length of credit history accounts for 15%.
  
• New credit, types of credit used, and debt totals account for 10% each.

As WorldBookandNews.com notes, “Income is not a factor”.

By contrast, as all good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana know, income is a very big factor when it comes to filing bankruptcy, particularly if you’re filing under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana.  In offering bankruptcy services in Indiana, I need to be sure my clients have sufficient regular income coming in to make monthly debt repayments over a three to five year period of time.

Let’s face it – for most people who decide to seek Indiana bankruptcy help, their credit rating has probably already suffered. One of my Columbus bankruptcy lawyer colleagues often shocks clients by saying “Want to fix your credit?  Start with a bankruptcy!”  What she means is that filing personal bankruptcy in Indiana can turn out to be the first step in rebuilding credit, not overnight, to be sure, but over the next few years.

How can that be? Well, to put yourself in a position where you can demonstrate you’ll be able to pay back new loans, you must get rid of some of the debt you already have. Bankruptcy in Indiana helps you do that.  Bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana, if you qualify, is the fastest way to get rid of unsecured debts. But even using the new Chapter 13 bankruptcy laws in Indiana, some of your debt can be forgiven, freeing you to devote your income to getting rid of the rest

Income may not directly affect your credit score, but when it comes right down to it, income is pretty important in rebuilding credit after emerging from bankruptcy in Indiana!