House Judiciary leader wants to update Arizona bankruptcy laws

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Staff Writer

According to a recent article published by Verde Independent News, the head of the House Judiciary Committee would like to update Arizona’s dated bankruptcy laws.

Representative Eddie Farnsworth’s proposal does not include anything that would alter the process that allows individuals to seek protection from creditors, as those are set in federal law.

However, the same federal law that ensures protection does allow each state to decide what those declaring bankruptcy can keep. And according to Farnsworth, that list for the state of Arizona is long overdue for a revision. He believes it is far too specific.

Arizona’s current law allows debtors to keep one kitchen table and one dining room table with four chairs each. They can keep additional chairs if there are more than four in the house.

The list of items also includes three living room lamps, one radio alarm clock, one vacuum cleaner, and a choice of one television set, radio, or stereo….just to exemplify the specificity of the Arizona law. The total value of those items cannot exceed $4,000.

Farnsworth’s new bill would keep that $4,000 limit for household items. However, it does destroy the specifics of what can be included to give those in bankruptcy some individual choices; they can decide what’s important to them.

According to Farnsworth, “one person may have a hutch from their great grandmother that they want. Somebody else may have a clock that’s important, or two clocks that are family heirlooms. This just gives them flexibility within the already established cap on exempted property.”

Another part of the existing law gets specific when considering other kinds of items that are considered off-limits to creditors.

Individuals may keep all of their musical instruments- but only up to a market value of $200. Farnsworth’s revision would double that number. The same thing is true for engagement and wedding rings, with the new cap being raised to $2,000.

Farnsworth’s bill wants to modernize Arizona’s current law.

If you or somebody you know is considering declaring bankruptcy, it would be in your best interest to contact an experienced Arizona bankruptcy attorney to talk about your options.

When I File for Bankruptcy do you send notice to my creditors?

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Staff Writer

Actually, when you file for bankruptcy neither you nor your attorney send the Notice of Bankruptcy to your creditors. The bankruptcy court itself is the one that sends notice of your bankruptcy filing to all of your creditors. A “Master Mailing Matrix” will be created from the creditors you have listed in your Schedules. It is this Mailing Matrix that the Clerk of the bankruptcy court uses to notify your creditors. A hard copy of the notice of bankruptcy is mailed from the Bankruptcy Noticing Center in Virginia to each of your creditors.

Because the Mailing Matrix is made from the creditors listed in your schedules it is important that all creditors are listed. Thoroughly review the credit reports your attorney pulls and make sure all of your creditors are listed. If you know you owe money to a creditor that is not listed on your creditor report make sure you point this out to your attorney so that individual creditor is added to your schedules.

If a creditor is left off the Schedules they won’t be listed in the mailing matrix. If a creditor is not listed in the mailing matrix then they won’t get notice of your bankruptcy. If the creditor doesn’t get notice of your bankruptcy they won’t know that they discontinue their collection efforts. Let our Arizona bankruptcy attorneys help you with your bankruptcy.

Creditors will say just about anything to get you to pay up.

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Staff Writer

Creditors will say just about anything to get you to pay up. Most of these creditors are 3^rd party creditors who have invested money in your debt , pennies on the dollar. They’ll use scare tactics, such as threaten to send you to jail. This is not plausible, being in debt is not a crime. Some will go at lengths to try and reach family members , friends and even co-workers to try and shame you into a payment. Some will present themselves as lawyers or state they are calling from a law firm, but most of the time come back to being 3^rd party agencies. They can also threaten to reposes a vehicle put a lien on a home or property. I have even heard of creditors being nasty and foul on the phone even personally threaten to come look for you. Creditors cannot go into your bank account and withdraw money without your approval or for that matter wipe out your savings. Last but not least they’ll threaten you with legal action, such as summons you to court to try and get a writ of garnishment. They can always go down this route but will more than likely chose every other option before this. You always have to understand your rights, if you feel a creditor is crossing the line with their collection tactics keep track of those calls, record conversations anything that you may feel can beneficial sometime down the road if ever a FDCPA claim needs to be made.

THE CRAZY THINGS CREDITORS WILL SAY TO SCARE YOU

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Staff Writer

Times are rough right now and there is no denying that. At some point, everyone incurs debt but you still have rights. It’s important for you to note that this information is NOT legal advice.

Some of the most outlandish things that creditors will say is that if you don’t pay your debt, there will be a warrant out for your arrest and/or you will be arrested. Some creditors can be very vulgar as well using profanities, name calling etc. They will make up fake names for themselves, call under different company names, say they are calling from a different location then they are really located, etc. In a lot of cases these jobs are outsourced and they may even be in another country. They may also threaten to garnish your wages or draft your bank account.

You do not have to take the calls, you have the right to hang up on them, you do not have to deal with a collection agency, unless ordered to do so by a court. Collection agencies cannot go into your bank account or garnish your wages without your permission or a court order.

On top of everything they may call all hours of the day/night, multiple times, even at times they are not supposed to. A collection agency is not supposed to call you Mondays to Saturdays before 7 AM or after 9 PM or on certain holidays. A collection agent is not supposed to contact you more than three times per seven day week for the same creditor, once they have reached you. The key here is reaching you.

By law, a collection agent is not supposed to make what constitutes harassing telephone calls to you and/or your family. Keep a record of the dates, time, and how often they call you. If needed you can contact an FDCPA attorney to seek legal action and resolve.

The worst thing to do is let them stress you out even more, especially with everything else that you have going on. If you ever want to seek answers, get some good legal advice, etc contact an attorney as soon as possible. It is better to be proactive about your situation before anything drastic does happen. If you are being harassed by a creditor call an Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney today. We can help.