Sacramento Sacramento Attorney

Using a Home Equity Loan to “get out of debt”

If you have debt that is no longer manageable, then bankruptcy could be an option. While there are bankruptcy alternatives which can be utilized to deal with debt, using a home equity loan to pay off credit cards or get out of debt as opposed to filing for bankruptcy may not be the best thing you can do.

Borrowing from a secured creditor to pay an unsecured creditor is not a good idea. Borrowing your way out of debt doesn’t always work out. In fact, there are many people who get a home equity loan to pay off their credit cards but end up losing their home because they can’t afford to make the payments on the home equity loan.

Home Equity Loans shouldn’t be used to pay off huge credit card balances. When you get a home equity loan to payoff credit card debt, you essentially make unsecured debt secured. When your credit cards don’t get paid, the credit card company will call and harass you to pay. Even if they sue you still have your home. If you don’t pay the payments on your home equity loan, you can lose your home. Don’t get a home equity loan to pay off debt until you get a free initial consultation from a Bankruptcy Attorney.

Trying to hide your assets from the judge or trustee

When you go through Chapter 7, the trustee will try to get whatever he can on behalf of the creditors. Some assets are protected by state or federal law, including your primary residence and a modest vehicle. The details vary from state to state, and some states have limits depending on how much you owe and how much your house is worth.

Other assets, however, are not exempt. You need to make sure to list all of your assets accurately on your bankruptcy forms. You don’t want to get a federal judge angry because you lied about what you owned just to avoid paying off some of your debt. Read More »

Real estate developer Robert Patch’s bankruptcy filing is disclosing liabilities of $79.5 million, making it one of the largest personal bankruptcy cases filed locally during the recent economic downturn.

Patch’s personal assets, which include his Elm Grove home, total $4.6 million, according to information filed in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.

His liabilities include unsecured claims by banks and other creditors totaling $68.8 million, U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents show.

The amount of those unsecured claims will decline substantially as the banks pursue foreclosure suits against Patch’s investment partnerships that own his various developments, and acquire the real estate that secured the loans, said Mark Metz, Patch’s bankruptcy attorney.

Those loans are listed as unsecured in Patch’s Chapter 7 filing because he didn’t pledge personal assets as collateral, Metz said. The loans were made to various partnerships organized by Patch, and were secured with land and other real estate owned by those partnerships, Metz said.

Patch, who operates Glendale-based Heartland Development Group Ltd., becomes the latest among Milwaukee-area real estate developers who have declared bankruptcy in recent years. Read More »

CHARLESTON — A former employee is suing Nitro Electric Company after he claims he was fired because of his disability.

From May 17 until May 27, Larry A. Ranson was employed by the defendant, according to a complaint filed Oct. 1 in Kanawha Circuit Court. Read More »

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Better Business Bureau has received several reports of fraudulent and aggressive collection calls targeting area consumers. In some cases, consumers have been threatened with arrest if they don’t pay off alleged debts immediately.

The BBB urges the public not to be intimidated by debt collectors or people claiming to be debt collectors, and to keep in mind they have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Under that Act, debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse debtors or any third parties they contact, nor can they state that anyone will be arrested if they don’t pay their debt.

Consumers who have reported these calls to the BBB have all either received or applied for a payday loan. However, all have stated that when they received these collection calls they were either not behind on their loans or had decided not to receive a payday loan. They also stated that when they contacted the payday loan companies they worked with, they were told these companies were not aware of or affiliated with any collection efforts. Some consumers have said the people making these collection calls had heavy foreign accents.

The fraudulent debt collectors, who have claimed to be both the Law Group of California and the Cyber Crime Unit of California, seem to have sensitive personal information of the people they’re calling. In one case, they had the last four digits of the consumer’s bank account and Social Security number. It’s unclear how this information was obtained. The Law Group of California (DBA United Attorney Services) has an F rating with the BBB of Los Angeles. A company with the same name has done business in the Central Valley using the same street address (1365 Chula Vista Ave.) in Bear Creek, as in Southern California, but mail sent to that address was returned as “return to sender, no such street, unable to forward.” Read More »

Toni Braxton has reportedly filed for bankruptcy a second time, claiming that she could owe as much as $50 million to various creditors. The “Un-Break My Heart” hit-maker first filed for bankruptcy in 1998.

According to a new report from TMZ.com, Braxton claims she has debts with American Express, AT&T, DirecTV, the Four Seasons Hotels, Neiman Marcus and Westin Hotels. The singer claims that her estimated net worth is between $1 million and $10 million and that is insufficient to pay off her creditors.

Braxton has struggled with money woes in her career before. She famously filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998, after launching a lawsuit against her then-label, LaFace Records. She maintained that her recording deal was far below other top-selling artists and said she was earning 35 cents per album. (Fellow onetime LaFace artists TLC also took the record label to task in 1995 over a contract dispute and filed for bankruptcy at the height of their career.) Read More »

District Attorney Jerry S. Moore announced Thursday that two nonpaying parents were jailed for 180 days and two more face the same fate for failing to appear and pay their child support at the Adair County District Court child support docket on Oct.6.

District Judge Mike Norman immediately sentenced Samuel Fisher and Richard Murray to 180 days in jail for nonpayment of support and issued bench warrants for those who failed to appear. The two non-custodial parents for whom warrants were issued are:

-Gregory Baltazar who owes $48,880, and

-Raymond McCollum who owes $9,759.77

The district attorney’s child support office asks that anyone with information about where these or other wanted persons can be located should call any local law enforcement officer for immediate arrest.

Other non-custodial parents whose cases are worked through Moore’s Sallisaw Child Support Office paid a total of $79,109.95, so far, for the month of October.

Moore said, “The mission of the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) is to enhance the well-being of children by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing reliable sources of support for families entitled to child support.” Read More »

Truck accidents, such as those involving 18-wheelers, semi-trucks, and tractor trailers, can cause devastating amounts of damage in a short amount of time, no matter where in the country the accident occurs. With so many semi-trucks on the roads and highways throughout America, truck accidents are a sad and inevitable reality of modern life. When these accidents cause personal injury or even death, knowing experienced legal help to contact in the aftermath of such a cataclysmic event can be of the utmost importance so that you can receive compensation that is likely necessary to your future well-being. By knowing the following essentials, you will be better prepared to inquire of your legal representation about the ways in which they will, or are, investigating your Texas truck accident claim.

When Texas 18-wheeler accident attorney Michael Grossman is contacted to work an accident involving a semi-truck that has resulted in a personal injury or death, he will employ certain investigative techniques as soon as possible in order to maintain maximum preservation of evidence. As 18-wheeler accident scenes can be some of the most complex types of accident sites due to the sheer size and weight of the vehicles involved, preserving evidence is often of the utmost importance in these kinds of cases.

More often than not, defense attorneys employed by the truck driver’s employer or by the employer’s insurance agencies will have likely already been deployed to the accident site, building a case against a victim before the victim’s even contacted legal help. By ensuring that you contact experienced legal help quickly in the aftermath of an 18-wheeler wreck, you can help ensure that the best possible case is built in your behalf, even against rapid-response defense attorneys. Read More »

The divorce process begins when one spouse files a Summons and Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with the proper court in the state of residence to essentially terminate a valid marriage. The petition lists the names of both spouses and children, and can list property and assets, and details the financial status of the couple. One of the spouses must serve the other with both the Summons and Petition, and in California, the Respondent must be personally served by an individual who is not a party to the action and over the age of eighteen (18). The party may also accept service via mail. However, signing an Acknowledgment is required.

Once the papers are served on the Respondent, that is when the clock officially starts on the six (6) month waiting period. During this waiting period, temporary orders are established and if the matter is taken to trial, the temporary orders are normally then convert to permanent orders. However, in most cases, the orders can be modified.

Once the temporary orders are established, spouses have the opportunity for discovery. The process is called Disclosure Exchange. The parties must draft and exchange Judicial Council forms setting forth all assets and debts. This process can take months, depending on how forthcoming the spouses are. After the exchange, the couple can negotiate a settlement through mediation without having to resort to a formal trial. It is often easier for couples to abide by an agreement they set themselves, rather than have a court mandate one.

Unfortunately, many divorces often have to enter a formal trial. These affairs can be physically and emotionally exhausting, but may be necessary in order to finalize a troubled marriage. Trials can also help determine appropriate levels of child custody, visitation, child support, alimony, property division and miscellaneous items. Unfortunately, divorce trials are not always the final word, as spouses can appeal to a higher court if the findings of the lower court are not satisfactory. This process would be dealt with in another court called the Appellate Court. Read More »

On October 1, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger signed one important bill into law that protects California homeowners who sell their homes for less than they owe but vetoed a more sweeping bill providing protection following a refinance.

SB 931 has become law. Previously, mortgage holders who accepted “short sales” of real property and received less than the full amount of debt owing could pursue their borrowers for the deficiency. While many lenders routinely granted waivers of the deficiency left after a short sale such willingness was by no means uniform. The issue is resolved by new California Code of Civil Procedure section 580e: if the mortgage holder consents in writing to a short sale it is required to accept the sale proceeds as full payment and to discharge any remaining claims against the borrower.

On the other hand, SB 1178 was vetoed. This bill would have retroactively extended to borrowers who refinance their loans the protection that only original purchase money borrowers receive against deficiency judgments in the event of a judicial foreclosure. Protection would have been limited to the extent that the refinance was used to pay the debt incurred to purchase the property. The Governor’s veto message to the California State Senate was as follows:

“I am returning Senate Bill 1178 without my signature. This bill, by extending anti-deficiency protection to refinancing, would fundamentally alter and impair the nature of pre-existing, previously negotiated mortgage loan contracts. In addition, the bill would encourage borrowers to strategically default on loans they have the capacity to repay simply because the mortgaged properties have lost value.” [source]

This bill’s anti-deficiency protection would apply to pre-existing, previously negotiated mortgage loan contracts that are the subject of actions filed on or after June 1, 2011. As a result, this bill fundamentally alters the nature and impairs the value of previously negotiated contracts, leading to negative consequences for the value of those loans held in a lender’s portfolio and a deleterious impact on the secondary market. Fundamentally altering the nature of a contract after its consummation is a bad precedent and will provide uncertainty for future lending transactions. Read More »

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a $60 million lawsuit on October 6, 2010 against a pair of Sacramento companies that lured desperate homeowners with a deceptive marketing scheme that promised to obtain mortgage modifications through the use of computer-generated “forensic loan audits.”

“These defendants dangled the term ‘forensic loan audit’ as a sure-fire remedy for the mortgage problems of homeowners in distress,” Brown said. “In fact, it was no remedy at all, and hundreds of desperate California homeowners took the bait and lost their money — and sometimes their homes.”

Brown filed the $60 million lawsuit against US Loan Auditors, My US Legal Services, and five individuals, including two attorneys, who operate a fraudulent mortgage audit scheme that preys on desperate homeowners anxious to save their homes. The suit demands civil penalties, restitution for victims, and permanent injunctions to keep the companies and other defendants from fraudulently marketing forensic loan audits and legal services of little value.

The companies, based in Rancho Cordova, work together to market and sell “forensic loan audits” to homeowners, who pay thousands of dollars in up-front fees for a dubious computer-generated review of their mortgages. The audits purport to show violations of law by lenders, which sales agents cite to convince homeowners they have a strong legal case. Sales agents use these findings to encourage homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments and instead pay additional fees to bring “predatory lending” lawsuits against their lenders. Read More »