HOW TO FIND A GOOD SAN FRANCISCO BANKRUPTCY LAWYER

HOW TO FIND A GOOD SAN FRANCISCO BANKRUPTCY LAWYER

A good article titled “13 WAYS TO AVOID A BAD BANKRUPTCY LAWYER” by Bankrate.com appears in a recent online publication of MSN Money. You can find that article at http://articles.moneycentral.com/Banking/BankruptcyGuide/13waysToAvoidABadBankruptcyAttorney. I suggest this article to anyone looking for Bankruptcy help, as a quality bankruptcy lawyer is important when filing for bankruptcy in California.


Here is a shorter list making many of the same points as the MSN article in a different approach which I call “6 WAYS TO FIND A GOOD BANKRUPTCY LAWYER” They are:

1. Take action to resolve your financial issues. Taking that first step of going to a San Francisco bankruptcy lawyer’s office to explain the specifics of your difficult financial situation is humbling. But, once you have taken that step you will find, in many cases, that relief is available and attainable.


2. Get a professional referral - Go to your legal professionals for a referral. A local bar association or a national association of lawyers is good. In San Francisco the local bar association is at www.sfbar.org and the national association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers can be found at www.nacba.org. Check out the qualifications of the lawyer. Does the lawyer practice primarily in bankruptcy or is bankruptcy just a sideline of his? You want a lawyer who is filing a good number of bankruptcies and has experience in filing differnt types, such as California Chapter 7 bankruptcy and California chapter 13 bankruptcy, and can find his way around bankruptcy court and the legal issues associated with filing a petition in bankruptcy.


3. Ask for a free initial consultation with the lawyer- Once you have a list of 2 or 3 lawyers who seem to be a good match, call the lawyer’s office and ask for a free initial consultation. Most lawyers will agree to meet with a potential client for the first half hour or so for free so that it can be determined if you are a bankruptcy candidate or not.


4. Determine if you and the lawyer would be a good match - When you meet with a San Francisco bankruptcy lawyer for an initial consultation ask all the questions you want answered. There is no such thing as a bad question. Also ask yourself it you feel comfortable with the lawyer. Do you think you and the lawyer will work well together? If not, move on to the next lawyer on your list. After your interview with a lawyer make an appraisal of his/her abilities to represent and see if there is a good feel between the two of you. After you have interviewed a couple of lawyers chose the one with whom you feel most comfortable. Filing for bankruptcy in California can be a complex and stressful process and you want to make sure the lawyer you choose is both highly knowledgable in California bankruptcy law, as well as someone you can work well with.


5. Understand your role – This is very important. As a person who may file a bankruptcy you have the primary role to make sure you provide all the information accurately and fully. The lawyer’s job is to take that information and present it in your bankruptcy papers as required by law. Make sure you provide accurate and complete information to your lawyer.


6. The cheapest lawyer is not always the best – Most people facing bankruptcy don’t have a lot of money to spend on many things - including lawyers. But keep in mind the old adage “You get what you pay for.” If a lawyer is offering his services for significantly less than other lawyers ask yourself - how can he provide the service at such a discount? The cheapest lawyer is not always the best. Use you good sense to pick the best lawyer at the most reasonable price.

As you read this list of 6, I’m sure you can think of other items to add to the list, but if you follow the 6 points noted above and use good common sense you are well on your way to finding the best San Francisco bankruptcy lawyer for your needs. You can also find more information about California bankruptcy law on my website.

Patrick McMahon www.bklawclinic.com

Credit Card Company Abuse

Credit card companies use tricks to abuse the average consumer - watch out for universal default on all cards, bait and switch offers and over limit fees. Congress is now looking into these abuses.

Credit card companies have been abusing their customers for years and now Congress is finally looking into the matter. At a recent hearing in Washington, Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan said “I don’t believe that the average consumer understands it, believes it, thinks its fair, and I don’t either.” As an average consumer I can say I don’t understand all the tricks played by the credit card companies but I know it’s not fair. As a bankruptcy lawyer, I see people in my office every week overwhelmed by credit card debts who have been tricked by the credit card companies.

Executives from credit card companies including Chase, Capital One and Barclays were called to testify at the Washington hearings. The testimony was not pretty. A Chase credit card customer testified that he had made credit card charges in 2001 in an amount of $3,000 and never used the card again. The customer made payments of $6,300 on that original loan of $3,000 and still owed $4,400 at the time of the hearing in March of 2007. Richard J. Srednicki, the chief executive of Chase was asked to explain. There was not good answer. “We blew it” Srednicki said and “our policies and procedures failed and we deeply regret it.” Chase agreed to forgive the debt owed by this customer but what about the thousands of other consumers Chase abused? The testimony of the other credit card companies was equally unconvincing.

It seems the credit card companies use a number of tricks to abuse the customer including universal default, bait and switch offers and over limit fees.

UNIVERSAL DEFAULT - is a trick where the credit card company will increase your interest rates even if you are not late on any payments if you have been late on a payment to ANOTHER credit card. So if the interest rate goes up on one of your credit cards watch out – the interest rate may go up on all of your credit cards.

BAIT AND SWITCH – is a trick where a credit card company advertises a low interest rate but in the fine print state that if you don’t qualify for the low interest rate they can charge you the a high interest rate. Many customers don’t read the fine print and end up getting a high rate card.

OVERLIMIT FEES - the over limit fees have increased over the past several years and are now as high as $35 for being only $1 over your limit. Also if you go over your limit once and stay there for several months you get an over the limit fee EVERY MONTH that you are over. The guy who had a Chase card discussed above went over his limit 3 times but was charged over limit fees 47 times. A good website which discusses credit card hazards can be found at www.trustaboutcredit.org.

At the hearing, Christopher Dodd Democrat from Connecticut said to the bank executives “If you are currently engaged in any business practice that you would be ashamed to discuss before this committee, I would strongly encourage you to cease and desist that practice.” These companies should be ashamed of the tricks they pull on the average consumer, but they will not cease and desist these practices as long as they can get away with it.

These are the same companies who cried out for bankruptcy reform a few years ago claiming the customers were “abusing” the credit card companies. I think it is time to turn the tables. We should ask the Congress to pass a law prohibiting the credit card companies from abusing the consumer. You can find the e-mail address for your representative in Congress at http://www.house.gov/writerep. Write and tell your representative that you want the credit card companies to stop abusing the average customer.

-Patrick McMahon, San Francisco Bankruptcy Lawyer helping people in San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo Counties find relief in bankruptcy in California for over 10 years.

Mortgage companies may be ready to deal rather than foreclose.

Mortgage companies who lend money to people with less than perfect credit and who provide 100% loans are now in financial trouble themselves because they have a significant number of customers who are facing foreclosure. The CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp. said the mortgage company industry is facing a “liquidity crises” because of the large number of foreclosures and the NYSE suspended the sale of stock in New Century Financial with foreclosures as an issue.

Homeowners may benefit from the mortgage company’s difficulties in some small way. It may be that lenders are less likely to start foreclosure procedures because they don’t need any more foreclosed houses at this time. Hence the homeowner may be in a better position to negotiate with the lender and avoid foreclosure. However, the homeowner should watch out and make a smart business move in deciding whether to save the house from foreclosure or let it go.

Foreclosures- Keep the house or let it go?

If you are facing a foreclosure do you try to keep your house or let it go back to the lender? In the past many people who found themselves in financial difficulty (including late payments on their house mortgage) were able to find relief in the chapter 13 bankruptcy processes. Seeking protection from the court under the bankruptcy code may still be a wise solution for many homeowners facing foreclosure. With the downturn in the housing market this past year coupled with 100% financing from sub prime lenders homeowners may find themselves in financial difficulty and facing foreclosure. In some instances it may be better for the homeowner to let the house go into foreclosure.

For example, if you purchased a home in 2004 for $300,000 and made a down payment of $30,000 your outstanding loan would be $270,000 and your equity would be $30,000 plus any appreciation in the market which was significant over the past 3 years.

However if you purchases your home last year for $300,000 and got 100% financing your equity would be $ 0 and possibly a negative number if the home value has decreased over the past year which is the case in many areas or California. Let’s say the home values in your area went down by 5% in the last year. That being the case your $300,000 house purchased last year is now worth only $285,000 and you still owe the full $300,000 possibly at a high interest rate.

Some of the clients who come to my office considering filing bankruptcy in California find themselves in the latter category. It may be in their best interest to file for protection under that bankruptcy code but it may also be wise for them to abandon their home and its negative equity.