Law Office of Jeff D. Hoffman

Don't hesitate to file bankruptcy if you are facing foreclosure because you are concerned about your credit. There are two reasons that prioritizing your credit over fixing your financial problems is foolish. First, if you are behind on your bills, including mortgage and car payments, you already have bad credit. Some of my clients' credit had been so bad when they filed bankruptcy that their credit score went up after they filed! Second, if you are about to lose your home... or car, or are in danger of having your wages garnished or the money in your bank account taken because of debts that you cannot pay, those things are far more important than your credit score. If you are in foreclosure or have other serious debts that you cannot afford to pay, contact a bankruptcy lawyer today at jdhoffmanlaw.com. Don't let a bad financial situation ruin your life because you are concerned about your credit or about how it would look if you were to file bankruptcy.

Filing bankruptcy will probably not ruin your credit, contrary to popular opinion. In fact, filing bankruptcy can actually fix your credit in addition to its main benefits of getting rid of your debts and protecting you from creditors. First, if you are behind on your bills, your credit is not your biggest problem. Not paying bills can result in your car being repossessed, your home being foreclosed, your income being garnished, and your bank account being emptied, all in a...ddition to being constantly harassed by creditors. Bankruptcy can prevent all of these things from happening to you. Compare this to having bad credit. Second, if you are behind on your bills your credit is already bad and filing bankruptcy will not make your credit significantly worse than it already is. Many of my clients' credit scores actually increase when they file bankruptcy. Finally, we can show you how to increase your credit score after filing bankruptcy. If you follow our instructions, your credit score will be about average after a year, and will continue to increase to above average if you continue to work on it. If you have in serious debt problems, contact a bankruptcy attorney today at jdhoffmanlaw.com. Don't let fear about your credit keep you from getting the debt relief help that you need.

If you can't pay your debts because of the coronavirus pandemic, bankruptcy might be the solution for you. You can eliminate your credit card and other general unsecured debts with a chapter 7 bankruptcy, almost always without paying anything for those debts. Many people have lost income and even their jobs because of the pandemic. If this happened to you and you can't pay your debts, this is a good solution. Whatever the reason that you honestly got into debt that you are u...nable to pay, chapter 7 bankruptcy may be the solution for you. More than 90% of consumers who file chapter 7 bankruptcy do not pay anything for their credit card and other unsecured debts, and those debts are completely eliminated in three to four months after they file their case. If you have debt that you cannot afford to pay because of the coronavirus or for any other reason, contact a bankruptcy attorney at jdhoffmanlaw.com to discuss whether this would be right for you. Our video and phone consultations are free and this could be the best financial move that you make.

Coronavirus stimulus checks are protected from garnishment in California. On April 23, 2020 Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order exempting the coronavirus stimulus checks from garnishments and levies. This means that if you have a garnishment and/or bank levy order because of a judgement against you, that creditor may not intercept your stimulus check or take it from your bank account. This is very good news for people in need of this relief who have money judge...ments against them by creditors. The stimulus checks aren't much, but they're better than nothing, and some people need all the help they can get. Your bank or credit union may honor a bank levy or garnishment order by freezing your account. Your bank or credit union may also try to take this money if you owe them money. This is known as a setoff, and is also prohibited by the executive order. If your bank or credit union tried to keep you from getting your stimulus money, you should immediately contact them and demand that they release these funds to you pursuant to the executive order. If you need legal help with this, contact an attorney today at https://jdhoffmanlaw.com/.

There are now unemployment benefits available for self-employed people in California. If you earn 1099 wages, which means that you are a contractor, a business-owner, or are self-employed, you may now apply for unemployment benefits under a new program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. You may apply for those benefits at https://www.edd.ca.gov/Unemployment/UI_Online.htm. Previously, you had to be a a laid-off employee in order to apply for and collect unemployment ...benefits. Now, if you are any type of self-employed person, which includes contractors, business owners, and gig workers like Uber & Lyft drivers, you may apply for and receive these benefits. If your paycheck does not have a pay stub showing payroll deductions, or if taxes are not ever deducted from your pay, you are almost certainly some type of self-employed person. In the large stimulus package, an extra $600/week will be added to your unemployment benefits. However, the additional $600 a week federal benefit will only apply to claims from March 29 through July 31, 2020. If you have lost your income, you should immediately apply for unemployment benefits. If you are some type of self-employed person, you may now apply for these benefits just as employees have been able to do.

We are now providing free video and telephone conferences for almost all issues. We also provide online fillable intake forms, electronic signatures, and electronic payments, so we can do everything without requiring you to come to our office.

There is a little help for chapter 13 bankruptcy debtors in the major stimulus package known as the CARES Act of 2020. If you cannot afford to make your chapter 13 plan payments in full because you lost income due to the coronavirus, you may change those payments to as little as $50 per month until you can start earning income again. When you increase your plan payments to the amount you were paying before you lowered your payments, you will have up to two additional years ...to complete your chapter 13 plan payments. There may however be problems with the companies that the chapter 13 trustee is paying if you lower your plan payments. For example, if the trustee is paying your mortgage or making your car payments, those payments will not get made if the trustee doesn't get enough money from your plan payments. If the trustee is making your mortgage payments and you need your chapter 13 plan payments reduced, you should immediately apply online for a mortgage forbearance. If the trustee is making your car payments, ask your car lender for a temporary suspension of payments. None of this is a perfect or complete solution to the problem of lost wages, but at least this may provide some relief instead of having your bankruptcy case dismissed.

Should you file bankruptcy now if you have lost all or part of your income because of the coronavirus pandemic and can't pay your debts? If you have gotten over your head in debt because you lost income due to the coronavirus, bankruptcy might be the solution for you. You could eliminate many debts with a chapter 7 bankruptcy almost always without paying anything for them. However, you should carefully consider the timing of filling bankruptcy. Bankruptcy only discharges debt...s that exist when you file the bankruptcy case. If you were to get the coronavirus and incur large medical debt after you filed bankruptcy, you would still owe that debt. While President Trump has proposed using Medicare to pay medical expenses for some people who contract the coronavirus, this proposal does not seem to cover anyone with health insurance. Additionally, the program has not been finalized. So you may still be on the hook for some or all of these expenses if you were to file bankruptcy now. If you have debt that you cannot afford to pay because you lost your income in the current crisis, you might be better off waiting until the pandemic is over before filing bankruptcy. This is a personal decision, and if you're in danger of having wages garnished, money taken out of your bank account, or a lien placed on your house, you have to weigh the pluses and minuses of filing bankruptcy now or waiting until the pandemic is over.

If you need financial relief during this pandemic, the government is providing a little in addition to the mortgage relief and temporary moratoriums I listed in my previous posts. There is also some relief for the following: Income Taxes; Unemployment Benefits; PG&E payments; and... Student loans. For more information, see my blog here: https://jdhoffmanlaw.com//additional-financial-relief-dur/

The California and federal governments have provided mortgage forbearance relief for some people who can't pay their mortgages because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, don't apply for this if you don't need it, because this money must be repaid. If you can afford to pay your mortgage and are given an automatic forbearance, either pay your mortgage anyway or, if you are not allowed to do so, put the money aside and repay it immediately after the forbearance. If you get a forbearance and you cannot afford to repay it right away, try to get a deferral so that the money owed is added to the end of your mortgage loan. If you want more information about this, see my blog here: https://jdhoffmanlaw.com/gen/help-making-mortgage-payments/

State, federal, and local governments have created a little coronavirus financial relief for renters and homeowners who can't earn money because of the coronavirus. See my blog at https://jdhoffmanlaw.com//coronavirus-financial-relief-fo/ for more information.

Do you need bankruptcy help during the coronavirus? While we are all ordered to stay home for the time being except for essential things like food and medical services, our office is conducting free telephone and video consultations for people who need help with debts they can't afford to pay. Because this is new and no one has done it before, we don't know whether or how this system will operate without person-to-person contact, but we may be able to complete the entire process electronically and by mail. If you have debts you cannot afford to pay, contact a bankruptcy attorney today at https://jdhoffmanlaw.com/. Stay safe, and stay at home except for necessary things like buying food and getting medicine and accessing medical help.

You can lower your total debt payments by consolidating your debts with a chapter 13 bankruptcy. There are many debt consolidation companies, and a lot of them will rip you off. However, you can use chapter 13 bankruptcy as a debt consolidation without the fear of being ripped off by a dishonest company. As an added bonus, you can probably reduce the amount you owe on debts like credit cards and medical bills by a substantial amount without having to bargain with your cred...itors, though this is different in each case. On top of that, any creditors who don't file claims on time don't get paid, and all debts that you listed in the bankruptcy are discharged at the end of your bankruptcy case, regardless of whether or how much the creditors got paid. In a chapter 13 bankruptcy you will have up to five years to pay off your debts, and you may be able to substantially lower the amount that you owe. You would make one monthly payment to the chapter 13 trustee, who will pay your creditors the percentage to which they are entitled under bankruptcy law. When you are finished paying after five years, all of your dischargeable debts like credit card and medical debts will be eliminated. If you are considering a debt consolidation, contact a chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney today at jdhoffmanlaw.com. You will get the benefits of debt consolidation without the worries about being ripped off.