Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

If you are considering the possibility of filing for consumer bankruptcy , you are probably wondering how your bankruptcy filing will affect your property. Indeed, many consumers are worried that filing for bankruptcy will mean that they will lose all of their assets, or that all of their property will be liquidated. This is not how consumer bankruptcy works, and our Oak Park bankruptcy attorneys want to make sure you have the information you need. The following are three key things to know about asset liquidation in personal bankruptcy cases. 1. Assets are Only Liquidated in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases First, you should know that assets will only be liquidated in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case if you are an individual or married couple filing for bankruptcy. In Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, assets are not liquidated. Instead, in a Chapter 13 case, the debtor creates an approved repayment plan through which she or he repays debts over a period of three to five years and is able to get caug...

A recent Illinois debt collection case concerning a debtor’s privacy resulted in a ruling for the debt collector. That case, Brewer v. The Law Offices of Mitchell D. Blum & Associates (2021), centered around a debt collector revealing a portion of a debtor’s account number in a mailing. The debtor argued that the debt collector violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by revealing private information about the debtor. A judge for the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois disagreed. Our Oak Park consumer protection lawyers want to tell you more about the case. Facts of Brewer In the recent case, the plaintiff, Tyrone Brewer, filed a claim against debt collectors who “sent him a debt collection letter with part of his account number showing through the envelope’s glassine address window.” According to Brewer, revealing the portion of his account number in the mailing violated the FDCPA. The plaintiff cited a specific portion of the FDC...

If you are considering the possibility of filing for personal bankruptcy under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, you might have encountered information about a recently proposed law that would change the consumer bankruptcy process. In December, Elizabeth Warren and Jerrold Nadler introduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 (CBRA), which aims to streamline the consumer bankruptcy process and to make it easier for certain types of debts to be discharged. You may be wondering if this proposed legislation can affect your existing bankruptcy case. In other words, if you file for consumer bankruptcy at some point in the coming weeks or months, and if this law passes, can it change your case or affect your discharge? Or, if you have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and are making payments on a repayment plan that will last from three to five years, can the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act change the nature of your repayment plan or your ultimate discharge? In short, if the law does pass, it ...

For many Americans who are struggling with debt, one of the most difficult aspects of owing money is the constant contact from creditors and debt collectors. Even though consumers do have clear rights outlined in the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which include limitations on the times at which a debt collector can call and the ability for a debt collector to contact debtors at their places of employment, many people who owe substantial consumer debt still face seemingly relentless phone calls, emails, and other forms of communication from creditors or debt collection companies. If you are in this situation, you might be wondering: can consumer bankruptcy prevent creditor or debt collector harassment? Or, in other words, can filing for bankruptcy stop these creditors or debt collectors from engaging in this kind of constant contact? In short, the answer is yes due to the automatic stay in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. We want to provide you with more ...

If you are thinking about filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy , you might have heard the term “priority debt.” While the term might sound like it is referring to debts that are the priority of the consumer who is seeking bankruptcy protection, in fact, the opposite is true. When a consumer in Oak Park files for personal bankruptcy, some debts are considered priority debts under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code . In other words, federal law says that some debts need to be prioritized over others when creditors are being compensated from the bankruptcy estate. How will your bankruptcy case be affected by priority debt? Understanding How Priority Debts are Related to Secured and Unsecured Debt When an individual thinks about filing for bankruptcy, she or he likely has two different types of debt - secured debt and unsecured debt. Secured debt is the type of debt with collateral. In other words, the creditor has an interest in the property you have and can repossess that property if ...

Efforts to address harmful consumer practices through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) appear to have stagnated under the Trump administration. According to a recent report from NPR Illinois , the new head of the CFPB, former Republic Rep. Mick Mulvaney, there are changes to the Bureau’s work to address payday lending rules and consumer injuries. More specifically, “under Mulvaney, the CFPB has put on hold a rule that would restrict payday lenders and their high-interest-rate loans,” according to the report. In addition, the CFPB has not dropped a lawsuit that sought to hold accountable payday lenders who were charging 900% interest rates. What could the shift at the CFPB mean for consumer bankruptcy with regard to payday loans? Payday Loan Rule and the CFPB What is the payday loan rule that Mulvaney has decided to put on hold at the CFPB? The rule would require lenders to set interest rates and fees in such a way as to “make sure people can affo...

Are there state-specific protections in place to prevent student loan borrowers from abusive debt collection practices ? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) provides protections at the federal level, but according to a recent article in Consumer Affairs , Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is supporting a bill that is designed to provide specific consumer protections in the state of Illinois. More specifically, the proposed legislation, Senate Bill 1351 , is designed to “create a Student Loan Bill of Rights to protect borrowers from abuse.” What protections would the bill provide on a more specific level, and what else needs to happen for it to become law? Bill Passes in the Senate As the article explains, SB 1351 has already passed in the Illinois Senate by a 34 to 15 vote. It is now time for the bill to be considered by the Illinois House of Representatives. Attorney General Madigan’s office drafted the bill along with Senator Daniel Biss. Repre...

A recent press release from the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection reported that a debt collector violated federal law when they used misleading text messages to collect consumer debt.  The two debt collection agencies, National Attorney Collection Services, Inc. and National Attorney Services LLC, are based out of California.  However, Illinois residents are no strangers to large debt collection companies, such as CACH, Calvary SPC, or Midland Funding. Debt collectors must abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when they seek to recover money from consumers, and when they don’t, they can beheld liable for their actions.  In the recent FTC case, the California-based debt collector agreed to pay $1 million to settle the charges that involved violations of both the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the FTC Act.  If you believe you have been harassed or abused by a debt collection company, you’ll need an experienced c...

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Fines Payment Processor According to an article in American Banker , the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently charged Meracord LLC, one of America’s “largest payment processors,” with a fine totaling $1.4 million.  The company received the fine after processing about $11.5 million “in illegal upfront fees from consumers on behalf of debt-relief service providers,” the article reported.  While Meracord LLC is based in Washington, there are several payment processors and debt collection companies that operate in Illinois, such as Midland Funding and Portfolio Recovery Associates.  In some cases, debt collectors and payment processors illegally solicit funds from debtors.  As the recent Meracord fine makes clear, these companies can be held accountable if they act in ways that hurt consumers. If you have been harassed by a debt collector or if you believe you have been forced to pay illegal upfront fees...