If you need an interpreter at the meeting of creditors you should notify your bankruptcy attorney in advance. Your bankruptcy attorney will contact the trustee assigned to your case or the local office of the U.S. Trustee to arrange for one.

There are interpreters available in 196 languages for debtors at the meeting of creditors in bankruptcy cases. The U.S. Trustee will provide the interpreter services free of charge. The services provided are done so via telephone to assist debtors who do not understand or speak English.

If you live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado and have any questions please feel free to contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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Like many of you I have been watching the Olympics this past week. I realized that in order to succeed, these phenomenal athletes could not be ashamed of falling. I observed the figure skaters and the skiers. They would fall, make an adjustment, and begin skating or skiing again. This is how I think about the issue of bankruptcy: you should not be ashamed of needing to file bankruptcy. You should make the adjustment and begin anew.

If you have any questions that I can help you with and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please feel free to contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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I discovered a link to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy flow chart that outlines the steps of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. For those of you who prefer to see the process laid out go the flowchart link and download the pdf.

If you have any questions and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please feel free to contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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When you are filing personal bankruptcy you must submit pay advices. Let me start by explaining what is meant by a pay advice. A pay advice refers to any document that can serve as written proof of your income. Pay stubs, or printouts of your income and withholding from your employer, are examples of pay advices. You need to produce pay advices for the six months prior to filing bankruptcy. In other words, if you were going to file bankruptcy in December of 2009, you would need to provide your attorney with your pay advices for the months of June 2009 through November of 2009. You must also provide the pay advices for the sixty days before you file bankruptcy to the trustee assigned to your case. NOTE: If you are filing with a spouse then your spouse must also produce his or her pay advices.

At this point, some of you may be wondering why you are required to submit such documentation. It serves two purposes: one is to calculate your current monthly income for the Means Test, and the other is for documentation that must be given to the trustee in your bankruptcy case.

If you do not have pay advices because you were paid in cash or were self-employed, then the bankruptcy court will usually accept a sworn statement that you were paid in cash or unemployed for six months prior to filing. But you might also be required to produce additional information such as profit and loss statements to satisfy the trustee and the bankruptcy court that all of your income is being reported.

If you have any questions and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please feel free to contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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In the past I have had clients ask what happens if they miss the meeting of creditors (or section 341(a) meeting). I do recognize that things do come up that are hard to avoid, especially when you work forty or more hours a week and have a family to raise, but it is considered unwise to schedule a meeting and then not honor your legal obligation to meet with your bankruptcy trustee. Missing the meeting that you voluntary agreed to attend when you filed for bankruptcy would alienate the trustee.

Keep in mind that if you reschedule a meeting of creditors it can result in additional attorney fees and in extra court notices being served on the trustee and other parties in the case. This would give the parties involved yet another opportunity to decide to object to your case.

That being said, the meeting of creditors can be rescheduled. If you have an emergency, such as a serious illness or other circumstance making it impossible to attend, notify your bankruptcy attorney and he or she will contact the trustee, inform him or her of the difficulty, obtain a new date for the meeting, and send out a notice of the rescheduling to the creditors and other interested parties. But rescheduling should only be done as a last resort and when absolutely necessary.

If you have any other questions and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please feel free to contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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I believe it is important for you to see the many faces of those who file bankruptcy as a reminder that you are not alone and there is no shame in choosing that option. So when I read an article in the News Herald about thirty-six-year-old Melissa Ritts I had to share her story with you.

Melissa Ritts lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado with what seemed like a bright future ahead of her. She had a job as a computer programmer making $60,000 a year, a credit score in the mid seven hundreds, a savings account, money for retirement, and a man she was engaged to marry. And then it happened, in 2002 she lost her job during the MCI WorldCom scandal. If that wasn’t bad enough her fiancé, a mortgage broker, lost his job.

After a year without work, Ritts’ depleted the income from her severance package. Using credit cards to pay for groceries, gas and rental space became her only option.

“My house was on the verge of foreclosure and I had gone through all of my savings to include my retirement money,” she says. “I couldn’t find another job in computer programming, so I got my insurance licenses and ended up paying for office space and not making any money.

“I finally started driving a truck coast-to-coast with my husband and was able to save the house, but I was not able to make the rest of my bills. In early 2005, I declared bankruptcy.

“Bankruptcy was one of those things that was necessary. I wasn’t living beyond my means. I got laid off.”

If you need assistance and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please feel free to contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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At the end of last year the Federal Reserve Board announced a new set of rules that state that debit card users must be given the opportunity to opt-in to overdraft fees for ATM withdrawals and one-time purchases. This ruling will take effect July 1, 2010. It is a part of a series of decisions issued over the past year by the country’s central bank to limit abusive practices by banks.

Under the new rules, all debit card holders must be given notice of the bank’s policies, including those on overdraft fees. Cardholders can sign up to be charged fees or not, and banks cannot change the terms of service afterward.Banks will still be allowed to charge overdraft fees for recurring debt card purchases, such as recurring utility bills that are automatically charged, as well as on bounced checks. The measure is mainly aimed at one-time debit card purchases or ATM withdrawals that can often result in fees greater than the purchase amount.

Of course, those who overdraw their bank accounts won’t be given free money by their banks. Overdraft protection allows banking customers to make payments even when their funds are limited, and are charged a fee for the convenience. Those who opt-out of overdraft protection may instead see their transactions declined if they attempt debit card purchases when their accounts are low. However, any overdraft transactions approved by the bank cannot result in fees. “Overdraft fees can be costly,” said Governor Elizabeth A. Duke, the chair of the Board’s Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs. “Our rule will help consumers better understand the terms and conditions of overdraft services and will give them an opportunity to avoid fees when these services do not meet their needs.”

If you live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, or Wheat Ridge, Colorado, please feel free to contact me with any questions. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy Attorney, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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There are many myths that people perpetuate regarding filing for bankruptcy. I have already addressed some of them with you in earlier blogs. For example, the idea that filing for bankruptcy is something that will rob you of your peace of mind and cause stress in your marriage. Quite the opposite is true, since once you have filed there will be an automatic stay which will stop all of those threatening calls and letters. Eliminating this pressure alone can help remove stress from your marriage. There can be no threat of wage garnishment or lawsuits, and collection agencies are silenced. Knowing this will certainly enhance your peace of mind.

Another myth that has been prevalent lately, that I want to address, is the notion that filing bankruptcy will affect your employment record. Yes, some employers may do a credit check and ask if you have ever filed bankruptcy. But they cannot legally deny you a job because you have filed for bankruptcy. It is also illegal to fire an employee because he or she filed for bankruptcy. And keep in mind that many business people understand that bankruptcy may be a wise and necessary option in order to recover from a financial crisis. The bottom line is that there is really no stigma associated with filing for bankruptcy.

If you are trying to make decisions related to filing bankruptcy and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, please contact me with any questions. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy Attorney, 303-955- 7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form

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Many clients view an impending Meeting of Creditors in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case with apprehension. They are nervous about a confrontation with their creditors. What many of them don’t know is that most creditors do not attend the Meeting of Creditors. Often creditors familiar with the process realize that not only will there not be enough time to ask significant questions, but they also recognize that it is usually futile to object to a discharge of the debt owed them. Certainly they can spend time and money contending that their debt ought not to be discharged, but they are aware that it is unlikely that the debtor will be able to pay.

During a Chapter 7 bankruptcy occasionally a secured creditor will appear at a Meeting of Creditors to request proof of insurance or to clarify some detail-but more often than not these issues are attended to prior to the hearings by email or mail.

If you have any questions and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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There is a letter from the company First American Debt Solutions that is being sent to people who are in the middle of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. The document enclosed is titled “Notification of Debt Relief and Loan Modification.” The following is a quote from the document being sent: “our records indicate that your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy case number 08-xxxxx-x-xxx has been dismissed.  It is very important that you contact us in the next 24 to 48 hours to discuss the terms of your dismissal.” This letter is a solicitation attempting to get you involved in a debt settlement program. Do not pay any attention to this letter! It is more than likely that there has not been a dismissal for your case. If you are involved in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case and receive any such notice please contact your bankruptcy attorney before responding.

These companies are preying on the fears of individuals who are concerned about financial issues during this economic crisis. They are making false or overstated promises that are not to be trusted. Do not sign up for any program without carefully investigating the details.

If you have any questions and live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Colorado please contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy Attorney, 303-955- 7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.

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