Tuesday, December 24, 2013
I Filed Bankruptcy but the Collection Agency Keeps Calling!
Note: For those who have filed a previous bankruptcy case in the past year that was dismissed by the court, the automatic stay is limited and sometimes nonexistent, depending on how many times you filed previously in the last 12 months.
Violating the automatic stay in bankruptcy is illegal and if anybody knows illegal – its the debt collectors. Theyre all about illegal activity.
Does the Collection Agency Know you Filed Bankruptcy?
In some cases, collection agencies continue calling because they simply arent aware that you filed bankruptcy. Your attorney notifies your creditors, but sometimes attorneys send notices to the original creditor rather than the collection agency that bought your debt. The original creditor isnt under any obligation to inform the debt collector that an automatic stay is in place and it can no longer call you or send you letters. Thus, the illegal communication efforts continue.
Inform Debt Collectors About Your Pending Bankruptcy
If a collection agency is violating the automatic stay, stopping the behavior is usually as simple as answering the telephone when the collection agency calls, informing the debt collector on the other end that youve filed for bankruptcy and giving the debt collector your bankruptcy case number.
Unfortunately, as weve discussed so many times before, debt collectors have high turnover and, because of this, receive little training so as to ensure that they work as many days as possible before the company must hire yet another bill collector to take the old ones place when he burns out. If the debt collector isnt aware of the seriousness of the automatic stay, he may simply hang up the phone and move on to the next call – leaving your number in the automated dialer.
Be patient. Spend an entire day if you must just answering the telephone and calmly giving each bill collector your bankruptcy case number. Its unlikely youll have to dole out this information more than once or twice before the company gets the message and the collection calls stop.
Notify Collection Agency of the Automatic Stay in Writing
If your efforts to notify debt collectors of your pending bankruptcy case over the phone prove futile, put the notification in writing. Send a letter to the collection agency via certified mail, return receipt requested, informing it that you have a bankruptcy case pending and contacting you or otherwise pursuing collection activity during this time is a violation of the automatic stay and ILLEGAL. Once again, include your bankruptcy case number so that the company can verify your claims if it wishes. If you have an attorney who doesnt charge extra for this service (he shouldnt, since it was his responsibility to notify creditors of your bankruptcy in the first place) ask him to draft the letter for you. Collection agencies almost always take letters from attorneys more seriously than those of consumers – even if the letters content is the same.
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| Put it in writing |
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
10 000 Unsecured Personal Loans How to All But Guarantee Approval
There is no doubt that life without any access to loan sums is very difficult indeed. Dealing with the financial pressures of modern life means getting access to extra funds from time to time, and sometimes a large sum. But getting something like a $10,000 unsecured personal loan can be difficult.
The good news is that it is possible to get approval despite bad credit, as long as the set criteria are met and some careful attention is paid to some core aspects to the application process. For a start, there is little point in approaching traditional lenders if your credit score is very low, though having a working bank account and the addition of a cosigner can have huge benefits.
What is important to remember, however, is that a personal loan can be secured, even with very poor credit scores, if the right application is made to the right lender.
Search Amongst Alternative Lenders
Normally, the best place to go to get $10,000 unsecured personal loans is not to traditional lenders, like banks. The reason is simple: traditional lenders are extremely cautious and are more likely to turn down an application from a bad credit borrower. Alternative lenders, like online lenders, are much more open to these possibilities.
The great advantage of online lenders is that they are recognized experts in lending to bad credit borrowers, with packages that are designed to suit the needs of that niche market. So, interest rates are more competitive (though not always very low), and repayment schedules are more flexible. And because they address the needs of applicants with poor credit histories, approval despite bad credit is much more likely.
However, it is important to check out the reputation of any unfamiliar lender, so visit the Better Business Bureau website, or the Verify1st site, to check if there are any dubious connections with the lender before submitting a personal loan application.
Have an Active Bank Account
These days, we all have our bank account but for any loan application, it is necessary to prove to the lender that your own bank account is working. The reason is that, when getting a $10,000 unsecured personal loan, the lender wants to be able to send through the funds easily and be able to withdraw repayments with the minimum of fuss each month.
The great advantage with this system is that it becomes practically impossible for the borrower to forget to make the set repayment, with the sum simply taken out of their bank account on a pre-approved day. It makes approval despite bad credit easier as the risk of default is reduced so much.
Also, bank accounts provide lenders with a certain security, with the knowledge that a set income will be received each month. Without an active bank account, the lender can be suspicious of the reliability of income, thus impacting poorly on the chances of getting approval on the personal loan.
Consider Getting a Guarantor
The closest anyone can come to getting a guaranteed $10,000 unsecured personal loan, is to include a guarantor on the loan application, otherwise known as a cosigner. This individual basically offers a guarantee that the monthly repayments will be made, even if the borrower is unable to make them. And since this means the risk to the lender is reduced to practically nil, the interest charged is low and the debt becomes all the more affordable.
Getting approval despite bad credit is easy under these circumstances, but for a cosigner to be accepted, he or she must have an excellent credit history and have a large enough reliable income to cover the repayments if it should become necessary. Taking the time to find the right candidate can be worth the effort of course, with approval on the personal loan all but guaranteed.