Call me, call me anytime

Lots of things come in threes. Stooges. Little birds on my doorstep. Sheets to the wind. And the stages of collections. Stage one: your creditor calls you to demand payment. Stage two: your creditor sells your debt to a collector. The debt collector will call you, call you anytime until your phone is not your phone. Stage three: a creditor's attorney will summon you to court and it's judgment day. Bankruptcy stops the collection at whatever stage it stands.

Now, it takes time to file for bankruptcy. There's no Drive Thru, no combo #7 or combo #13 on a menu and it's not done at the push of a button. So, what is your part, Dear Client? The granting of bankruptcy relief requires the petitioner to provide detailed documentation and information. While the attorney directs the client as to what's required and provides the legal know-how, analysis and application, only the client can access her own financial and personal records. Some documents you may possess readily; others might evade you. There may be some hunting and gathering in store. Some homework, that's all. You're seeking a powerful remedy through bankruptcy and it takes devotion to the task. But until the homework's done and corrected, so we can file your petition, the creditors may continue to harass you, threaten and lie (with all kinds of nonsense like tellin' you you're going to prison. Fa!). Yet, once I represent you, they can call me, call me anytime. Thus, we can help during the preparation process, even before that petition has been filed with the court.

We provide a letter to creditors that spells out in no uncertain terms that further contact with you is a definite no-no. Further contact with you is subject to prosecution. Further contact is definitely uncool. So, when referred to me, creditors may call us to verify your representation. This is strictly unnecessary when my letter already spells that out. Originally, when called, we'd be patient and all, but this was generally rewarded with the same sort of ugly condescension and rudeness our clients would suffer. I don't take to rudeness. So, we've honed down to a science a supremely succinct stock response to creditors who call to verify what's already been said. I won't give you the script, but if it takes my staff a second over 10 seconds to say, then that's a second too much. The conversation must be ended before it's a conversation, because the creditor will want to know more than the creditor is entitled to know. We preserve our clients' confidentiality and what happens in my office stays in my office.

The Law Office of Asaph Abrams is a federally-designated debt relief agency. I am an attorney at law who helps people in debt with no way out. They're in quicksand; I lend them a rope. Okay, they buy the rope, but it's pretty good bang for the small amount of bucks.

www.bankonitsd.com

Bankruptcy relief you can afford. (But you still have to do your homework.)