THE END OF HAMP MODIFICATION PROGRAM AND CHAPTER 13 MODIFICATION OF MORTGAGES IN CHAPTER 13

As most people are aware, the federal HAMP modification program ended on December 31, 2016. That means that if you did not get your application in to your servicer prior to that date, there is no opportunity to modify your loan through the program.

While HAMP was not perfect, it was a proven method of obtaining accurate modification information for the purpose of determining if the homeowner was able to afford a modification and save their home. Now that HAMP is no longer, what does that mean for the Chapter 13 modification program in Jacksonville, FL?

The good news is that the Chapter 13 Trustee in Jacksonville recently announced that the Bankruptcy Court’s modification program would continue without the HAMP program. The Trustee has concluded that the Court’s modification program was not based on HAMP, but on the administrative order issued by the Bankruptcy Judges which set up the program. While that Order used some of the HAMP guidelines to determine trial payments and other plan terms, the Order was not authorized or based on HAMP.

This means that the Chapter 13 Plans can still set up a trial payment of 31% of the Debtor’s gross income as the new proposed payment, can still put no payments towards arrears and can still use the Court’s modification document portal. In summary, it means that thousands of homeowners in Florida can still save their home through the program. Our office is actively working with numerous homeowners to continue the bankruptcy modification process.

At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court and see the bankruptcy trustees and judges in action several times a week. We have the experience to guide you to the right decision about whether to file a case, and if so, what Chapter to file.   When you contact our office, we can help you in your case with sound legal advice.Please contact Mickler & Mickler at 904.725.0822 or bkmickler@planlaw.com. We will be happy to set you up a free appointment to discuss your situation and potential solutions.

Bryan Mickler

SUBPRIME AUTO LENDING BUBBLE ABOUT TO POP?

            A recent New York Times article looked at the rising percentage of auto loan delinquencies in the “sub-prime” auto lending marketplace. The article can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/business/dealbook/as-auto-lending-rises-so-do-delinquencies.html?_r=0

This article combined with a recent USA Today story regarding subprime delinquencies in auto loans paints a grim picture of what may happen with any slow down in the economy or change in expenses for the average subprime consumer.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/08/26/delinquencies-rise-risker-auto-loans/89389096/

Some interesting statistics from both articles:

• 60 day delinquencies reached 4.59% in July on Subprime auto loans;
• 90 day delinquencies reached 2% in September;
• That is near the historical high of 2.4% from 2009 in the middle of a recession;

What remains to be seen, is whether the economy will continue to remain strong and the job market stable heading into 2017. If the job market falters or 22 million people lose access to health coverage, with the exposure to crushing medical costs, then the subprime default rate may rise over the historical high from 2009.

Bankruptcy can offer many solutions to subprime auto defaults. Chapter 13 allows for a retention of your vehicle with a lowering of the interest rate over a five (5) year repayment period in most cases. Your car may even qualify for a reduction in principal in certain circumstances. Chapter 7 allows for a surrender of the vehicle with no deficiency after the surrender – goodbye underwater car. We work with local dealers to qualify you for a new vehicle loan, either immediately after filing or after discharge.

If your family is still experiencing financial trouble even after the recovery, give our office a call. We have affordable bankruptcy programs designed to help your debt problems. We will counsel you on the potential long term credit benefits of filing bankruptcy in order to help you make wise choices.

At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 or bkmickler@planlaw.com

Bryan K. Mickler

MORTGAGE RESCUE FRAUD: WHY CHOOSE SCAMS OVER CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY?

            More sad news for distressed homeowners recently. Mortgage foreclosure scams are still prevalent and still costing people their homes. Two recent articles point out the dangers associated with these scams:

http://www.presstelegram.com/general-news/20160825/long-beach-pastor-admits-to-running-3-million-mortgage-scam

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/37821-florida-attorney-general-fights-alleged-foreclosure-fraud-firm

            Unfortunately, the story is all too familiar: A family is in danger losing their home and turn to the internet for help. Up pop slick looking websites with promises to save your home. The sites may even have a legal firm sounding name. The pitches are varied and based on land trusts, class actions against mortgage companies, forged notaries, etc. Any of these things are promised to the family as a way that the foreclosure will be stopped and the home saved, maybe even cancelling the mortgage completely. Just give us $1,500.00 to get started and a monthly fee after that payment for as long as the home is tied up in foreclosure.

            As seen by the above articles, too many families are falling victim to the scams and losing millions in monetary damages and homes. The thought of saving a home through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is rarely brought up by the family once they are ensnared by the scammers. However, the Chapter 13 process is generally cheaper and certainly more likely to save their home than a mortgage rescue scam.

            Chapter 13 in Jacksonville Court involves a legitimate mortgage modification program. The Court expects a good faith trial payment while the modification is being pursued. The Bankruptcy Judge is available to force a mortgage company to participate in the process if it is ignoring the homeowner. Finally, a dedicated website is used for all documents submitted. No more sending in the same document 10 times with no success. Over the last few years, the program has saved hundreds of homes in the Jacksonville area.

           If you are serious about saving your home, then consider a Chapter 13 modification. Don’t fall victim to the next mortgage rescue scam and lose your chance.

            At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 or bkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

A recent Wall Street Journal article looked at the falling percentage of consumers with “sub-prime” credit scores. The article can be found here.

This is certainly good news for anyone wanting to buy a home, car or take out a loan. However, the good news seems to mask some stubborn trends in consumer lending. First, the percentage of sub-prime borrowers has fallen from 25.5% in 2010 to 20.7% today. While it is great that a large number of people have seen their credit scores improve, over one-fifth of the consumers in this Country are sub-prime borrowers who routinely pay exorbitant car loan interest rates, are locked out of the traditional housing market and may not qualify for a traditional credit card.

Secondly, higher credit scores leads to more borrowing. According to the article, “Already, consumers are starting to borrow more again. Auto-loan balances surpassed $1 trillion for the first time ever this year, according to credit-reporting firm Experian. Credit-card debt is on pace to hit $1 trillion this year. Student-loan debt continues to swell.” This has long term consequences for the typical consumer, as high debt levels typically lead to a default when any interruption in income is experienced. That is becoming evident in the subprime car market where default rates have been increasing and credit card debt defaults have recently increased for five months straight.

Finally, disposable income continues to lag behind debt payment needs. The average consumer has debt equal to 102% of disposable income. Again, any interruption in income and the consumer is bound to default on obligations. One glaring omission from the article is any discussion of increased wages to handle all this new debt.

If your family is still experiencing financial trouble even after the recovery, give our office a call. We have affordable bankruptcy programs designed to help your debt problems. We will counsel you on the potential long term credit benefits of filing bankruptcy in order to help you make wise choices.

At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 or bkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

I recently had a couple in my office who alerted me to an ongoing scam against people who have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This couple had filed for Chapter 13 protection pro se (without an attorney) and immediately began to receive calls from the “clerk of the court” – at least that was the number which was popping up on their cell phone caller ID.

The caller had information from the Chapter 13 filing (which is a semi public record that can be pulled with a PACER account) related to their debts, place of employment and other bankruptcy related filings. The caller said that there was an issue with the Chapter 13 related to one of the debts having to be paid off immediately. The caller insisted that unless the debt was paid off (approximately $500) immediately by wire transfer, then the FBI would have be called to prosecute them for some type of fraud.

If you read the above paragraph, red flags are all over place. Never wire money. Never believe that a law enforcement group is going to enforce a civil debt. Never pay money to a creditor directly after you have filed for Chapter 13 unless your Plan says to pay directly.

Luckily, the individuals did not fall for the scam, but plenty of people have in the past. In fact, this scam has been ongoing for at least a year, even with files who have been represented by attorneys.

If you are experiencing harassment as a pro se filer, give us a call. We can alert you to this type of activity. We will review your situation and give you an honest opinion of whether we can help you through the process. We may even be able to help you avoid criminal scams so that you can put your money towards saving your home and vehicles as the Chapter 13 intended.

At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 or bkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

REFILING CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY

When I started practicing bankruptcy law 20 years ago, Chapter 13 was a revolving door of refiling. A case would be dismissed and we would immediately have the client in our office to re-file and start a new 60 month plan. Sometimes it seemed that the 5 year Chapter 13 Plan was really morphing into a 10-15 year process.

A couple of things changed to stop the revolving door. First, the Bankruptcy Code amendments of 2005 made it much more difficult to immediately refile after a dismissal. You now have to have Court approval to extend the stay/protection past the initial 30 days after filing. If you have to re-file twice within a year after the initial dismissal, then you receive no stay/protection unless the Judge imposes the stay within 30 days of the filing. At each type of hearing, you are required to prove that the dismissal was caused by unforeseen circumstances and that the new case was filed in good faith due a change in those previous circumstances.

The second big change was the introduction of mortgage modification to Chapter 13 in Jacksonville. Now, we don’t have to cure the entire mortgage arrears during the 5 year plan. Instead, a mortgage modification may allow for a re-amortization of the outstanding balance on the mortgage over a new 30-40 year term at a reduced interest rate. This has significantly increased the success rate of our Chapter 13 cases and cut down on the refiling rate.

If you do need to re-file your Chapter 13 case, we routinely have clients refile and receive the protection of the Court due to a change in circumstances. If you are considering changing attorneys or have experienced some issues in your current 13 and need another start, contact us and we will be happy to discuss your re-file options.

At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 orbkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

FRAUDULENT STUDENT LOAN CANCELLATION AND DISCHARGEABILITY IN BANKRUPTCY

           I had written previously on the issue of potential changes to the student loan crisis and the potential for change in relaxing the strict rules to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. Both Public and Private student loans are currently nearly impossible to discharge in bankruptcy, due to a bankruptcy reform package pushed through by Republicans in 2005. Essentially, a consumer must be disabled to the point of never being able to rise above the poverty line standard of living in order to attempt to discharge any portion of a student loan debt, whether publicly or privately backed.

            The Supreme Court recently refused to hear a student loan appeal which had the potential to relax the bankruptcy requirements for forgiveness of student loans. So, for now, the strict requirements remain in place.

           However, it appears that many students have taken another approach to the problem. In this article:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/thousands-apply-to-u-s-to-forgive-their-student-loans-saying-schools-defrauded-them-1453285800

 students have begun to challenge student loans with a 1994 Federal Law which allows for forgiveness of the loans based on fraudulent conduct by a school. The examples cited for fraud in the article include over promising on job prospects, earning potential and other problems which lead to high student loan debt with no reasonable job prospects to repay such loans.

           Our office has seen first hand the growing problem of student loan debt. Student loan debt has been growing tremendously over the past few years. The total outstanding student loan balance is $1.08 trillion, and a whopping 11.5% of it is 90+ days delinquent or in default. That’s the highest delinquency rate among all forms of debt and the only one that’s been on the rise consistently since 2003. (see http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2014/02/21/1-trillion-student-loan-problem-keeps-getting-worse/ for chart and other statistics). The delinquency rate on student loans is higher than credit cards, mortgages and auto loans which have all seen a decline in late payments.

            Our office has started a new program to apply for such forgiveness if the potential client can show that the school over-promised earnings, job prospects, education standards or other conduct which would make the loans fraudulent. Let us speak to you about applying for such a program and any other financial issue that you may have.

At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 or bkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

BANKRUPTCY PREDICTIONS FOR 2016

            In my 2014 Blog on the state of bankruptcy filings, I discussed the causes of bankruptcy filings and how it was related to the availability and amount of consumer credit. That article is here: https://www.planlaw.com/bankruptcy-predictions-2014-beyond/

            Now with 2015 behind us, it appears that the expansion of short term credit has still continued to push bankruptcy filing numbers down. Consumer credit has continued to expand at approximately a 6% annual rate through 2015. As expected, the 2015 numbers show a nearly 12% decline in bankruptcy filings compared to 2014. That is on top of the 11% decline in 2014. http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2015/08/yep-800000-bankruptcy-filings-this-year.html#more

            The filings in the Middle District of Florida show an even larger decline of nearly 18% compared to 2014 filings through the latest October, 2015 statistics. http://www.flmb.uscourts.gov/statistics/2015/October.pdf

            As expected, after the short term credit bulge, delinquencies are starting to rise. In the Third Quarter of 2015, credit card delinquency rates started to creep just a little higher. Car loan delinquency rates bottomed out in July of 2015 and have started to rise slowly through the Third Quarter of 2015.

            So based on the slight rising in default rates throughout the last half of the year, what can we expect for 2016? It appears that the bankruptcy filing rate should start to pick up during 2016 and accelerate in 2017. This would coincide with a greater amount of consumer debt levels and the gradual tightening of the credit markets as delinquencies start to increase. Of course, this being an election year, most of the activity in the economy and major life decisions will most likely take place in the last part of the year and into 2017.

            At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 orbkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

SERIAL BANKRUPTCY FILERS AND THE NEED FOR EXPERIENCED BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEYS

            I was reading an article recently regarding the problem of serial bankruptcy filings in Tampa, Florida. You can find the article here:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/tampa-bay-judges-crack-down-on-serial-bankruptcy-filers/2234543

            The article serves to warn people to consult experienced bankruptcy counsel prior to filing a Chapter 13 Petition. In Tampa, a new system will flag your case if you have filed three (3) times for Chapter 13 relief. If you are caught as an “abusive filer” then you can be banned for up to two (2) years from re-filing to save the home.

            Now, most people don’t like to think about filing Chapter 13 once, much less three times. But it does happen. A common pattern that we see is a first filing dismissed after being prepared by a paralegal for failure to file proper documents or propose a Plan that complies with the Court requirements. Then a second filing is typically filed immediately by the same paralegal petition preparer in order to cover up the first mistake. That second case is generally dismissed for the same reasons as the first. By the time people reach our office, the third case needs to be filed in order to save the home. However, now the filing looks abusive and can be flagged. Losing your home to save a few dollars of attorney’s fees starts to look like a bad idea in such a situation.

            Chapter 13 has become increasingly complex in the past few years. The new mortgage modification procedures require a great deal of experience and organization to navigate. The new Chapter 13 form plan is now required and is much more complicated than the older plans. Finally, the requirements for self employed people, tax returns, tax refunds and other financial issues have recently changed to require much more documentation.

            When you consider saving your home through Chapter 13, we invite you to talk to our experienced and compassionate attorneys. We will walk you through the entire process and attempt to make the filing as financially affordable as possible. That way, you don’t end up being labeled as an abusive filer due to simple errors or missing documents.

            At Mickler & Mickler, we attend Court on a regular basis. We have the experience and knowledge to ensure that you receive the correct advice when confronted with difficult financial decisions related to filing bankruptcy. Contact us at 904.725.0822 orbkmickler@planlaw.com.

Bryan K. Mickler

The biggest rental increases in years have been sweeping across the United States over the past 2+ years. This recent article by Forbes illustrates the problem of rising rents:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurengensler/2015/02/24/rising-rent-smaller-cities/

According the article, even small cities are seeing double digit rental increases year over year. In fact, in many areas, rental rates have increased twice as fast as wages. Increasingly, rental payments take up a larger portion of monthly income than ever before. Rental payments now account for approximately 30% of the monthly income of the average renter. That is surprisingly close to the 31% standard for mortgage payments. It will not be long before the rental percentage surpasses that of the mortgage percentage.

If you have a home or are interested in owning one, then it makes financial sense to hang on to the home in order to stop the prospect of ever-increasing rental rates. Our office specializes in providing Chapter 13 modification solutions to people faced with the prospect of losing their home. We have saved hundreds of homes through modification of defaulted mortgages, even after a failed foreclosure defense. We recently received a modification in a case where a foreclosure defense firm had tried to obtain one for several years while defending the foreclosure. Eventually, a sale was set and our office filed a bankruptcy to stop the sale and provide much needed help in the modification process. Ultimately, the home was saved and 5+ years of arrears were modified into the modified payment.

 At Mickler & Mickler, we provide solutions to your financial issues. Please contact us for a free consultation to review your situation.

Bryan Mickler

bkmickler@planlaw.com