Yesterday, the Kansas City Star, had a feature by Dan Margolies reporting on law firms' preparations to weather the "subprime storm". Margolies wrote,
The subprime mortgage debacle and resulting credit crunch have slammed the U.S. economy, and the legal world is gearing up to deal with the fallout.
Law firms, it turns out, are well positioned to weather the coming economic storms. Because lawyers are invariably involved on both sides of the transactional fence, they tend to benefit whether the economy is up or down.
As Margolies points out, corporate lawyers who helped put together "subprime" securitization trusts have lost work. But those same corporate lawyers are now working on restructuring debts for corporations due to the credit crunch.
The corporations and their lawyers are preparing to weather the "subprime storm". Are you? Are you in danger of foreclosure due to a "subprime" mortgage? Are you fearful of the repoman because you cannot pay your predatory auto loan? Are high-interest monthly credit card payments dominating your household monthly budget?
A consumer lawyer can help you attack the predatory lender and their cronies before they get you. Due the the Bankruptcy Reform Act, your bankruptcy options are not as strong as they used to be. As recently reported in the Alabama Consumer Law Blog in a post on February 2, 2008.
Filing bankruptcy normally hurts your credit score and in particular when creditors refuse to follow the law accurately reorting your accounts that have been disharged. Sometimes there is no alternative but to file bankruptcy but other times the best option to deal with abusive collection agencies is simply to sue them. That's what we do - we sue debt collectors who break the law.
As these consumer lawyers explain, a consumer lawyer can sue the debt collector who is harassing you, can sue the credit reporting agency who is damaging your credit and can sue the predatory lender who decvied you in the first place.
Some people are turning to credit counseling and debt settlement programs as an alternative to bankruptcy. But the vast majority of credit counseling and debt settlement programs do not have lawyers who are prepared to sue your creditors.
Bankruptcy,credit counseling, debt settlement and credit repair programs may work for some people. But before you make the choice to take those options, talk to a consumer lawyer. Most consumer lawyers will provide you with a free consultation and let you know if you can strike first and sue your credit card company, mortgage servicer, auto finance company, a debt collector or credit reporting agency.
The corporations have lawyers to help them deal with the economic recession caused by the "subprime" economic disaster. Do you have a consumer lawyer to help you? Before you pay that next bill to a predatory lender; before you file bankruptcy; before you go to credit counseling; before you enroll in a debt settlement or debt negotiation program; before you seek "credit repair"; call a consumer lawyer to learn about your rights. You have consumers rights. You can fight back against predatory lenders, their debt collectors and the consumer reporting agencies.
I am a consumer lawyer. I have helped hundreds of consumers sue creditors, debt collectors and credit reporting agencies. I want to help more consumers fight against predatory lending. Share your story. Tell me about your credit problems. I will help if I can. If not, I will refer you to a fellow consumer advocate or consumer agency that can help you.
Mark T. Lavery
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