Seven Bankruptcy Scams To Avoid

Both before and after you file bankruptcy you will run into a bunch of non-lawyers that will try to entice you into doing something that is not in your best interest. You need to try and avoid these obvious scams:

1. EMAIL AND SPAM. You get emails and spam that enter your mailbox trying to enticing you to consolidate your bills into one monthly payment without borrowing; stopping all credit harassment, foreclosures, repossessions, tax levies and garnishments; or wipe out your debts. These are then offered through the means of declaring bankruptcy, without the candidate or prospect being told that’s what it is. Only, these offers do not come from qualified attorneys. These come from companies who cannot practice law, who take you for a good deal of money upfront, do little work, and then pass you off to some less scrupulous attorney.

2. BANKRUPTCY CAR LOANS. After bankruptcy companies will offer you car loan financing at exorbitant rates, they will promise you the world, for an arm and a leg and then some, and they will making the real market for car loan after bankruptcy more complex than it has to be.

3. HOME EQUITY LOANS. Loans based on the equity in your home are right now being exploited despite the uncertainty in our home market, an economic downturn, and high foreclosure rates. The last thing you need is to get further over-extended. These schemes generally seek to hide a lot of costs in the money borrowed or just collect fees and never deliver the loans.

4, CREDIT REPAIR. There are the companies offering bankruptcy credit repair services under the guise to get your information, financial details, to ruin your credit, steal, conduct crime and leave you to sort out the mess and aftermath. There are no quick and easy ways to clean or wipe out a bad credit report; delete your bankruptcy record or create a new identity using a TIN or business tax number for example. These are all fraudulent practices.

5. FAKE IDENTITY. Do not laugh. A lot of people who are desperate for good credit fall for this stuff. These criminals to get you a fake identity, effectively concealing a bankruptcy This is a crime and is against the law. Further, getting an Employer Identification Number (EIN) that you will use in your credit application instead of your social security number actually proposes fraudulent intent, which can get you in legal trouble directly.

6. FORECLOSURE FRAUD SCAMS. There are many types of these. These scams take advantage of a bad situation. There are as many as five different kinds and rings of bankruptcy forecloser type scams identified by the U. S. Trustee. Most involve attempts to file bankruptcy to delay or defraud creditors, home lenders, without the clear intention and purpose to actually see it through and adhere to the requirements for obtaining a bankruptcy discharge or completing a repayment plan.

7. BILL CONSOLIDATIONS. And, we are not talking about bankruptcy consolidation under Chapter 13. This refers to get you to part with the little money that you do have to pay off creditors and then never paying off the debt.

If you have a legitimate debt or financial problem, give me a call. I will be happy to offer you sound advice.