Fremont, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

That depends on what chapter you are filing. If you file a Chapter 7 and want to keep your car, most lenders will not modify the amount of your monthly payments. However, if you can get a new lender to loan you enough to purchase the car for its value at that time (called "redeem"), you can lower your car payments in a Chapter 7 case. In a 13, if you purchased the car more than 910 days before the date of the bankruptcy filing, you can reduce the amount of your car payment roughly to the value of the car. However, a Chapter 13 case requires that you pay at the end of the month what you have left over after you pay your expenses as determined by the Court or at least an amount equal to the unexempt value of your assets over 36-60 months. Whether you have to file a Chapter 13 case depends on your income. If your income among the to half incomes in the State and you cannot otherwise qualify for Chapter 7, you may have to file a 13. In any event, if that sounds too complicated, it's because it is. We offer a free initial consultation to go over your options.

Right now they are just threatening and pressuring you to pay but sooner or later if you do not pay the credit card company has only two choices: 1. write off the debt which is unlikely unless they know the debt is already too old to collect or 2. sue you to obtain a judgment. If the credit card company sues you then someone will come to your house to serve you with a summons and complaint. It will usually be a process server and not a uniformed officer of the law. You will have 30 days to answer the complaint. If you answer the court will set the case for trial and most likely you will lose the case if you do owe the money. However, you might have a legal defense if the debt is too old because of the statute of limitations that generally requires that you be sued within 4 years on a debt in writing and two years on a debt based on an oral contract. When you answer the complaint you will have to state the statute of limitations as one of your defenses to not paying. There are many other legal defenses that might be applicable to your case. You will have the opportunity to work out a settlement while the case is pending in court unless you have a complete defense to the debt. If you do not answer the complaint timely then a judgment will be issued by the court for the full amount owed plus interest, cost and attorneys' fees. There is probably no way to collect the money from you right now because you are not employed but the judgment is good for 10 years initially and can be renewed over and over. They will wait until they can collect from you and might drag you to court to answer questions about your income and assets. Once you get served you should have a consultation with an attorney to explore your options. Depending on the size of the debt you have and many other factors bankruptcy to discharge your debts may be an option so a consultation with a local bankruptcy attorney may be your best choice right away even if you do not get sued now so that you can have peace of mind and start fresh. Once you start working you might not qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case if you income is too high so this may be the best time to explore your bankruptcy option.

No, you cannot alter the first mortgage on your home in any bankruptcy case. Congress said long ago that no principal or interest reduction on first loans. Call your Congressman since there have been many proposals to allow that but so far everyone has been knocked out mostly by Republicans in the House and Senate.