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I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

I am assuming you are considering a Ch 7...I filed a 13 and attorney fees where included in repayment plan..nothing out of pocket.

Message 11 of 19
cirrus00
New Contributor

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

As others said, I would immediately open a new bank account and switch your direct deposit. Also, are the payday companies "internet payday" loans? If so, you might want to check if they are legal. A lot of them are not even considered legal loans. Google that for more info.
I filed Ch 7 pro bono, but it took a lot of work and research. Its not advisable, and not easy, but it worked for me.
If your only reason for filing is the payday loans, you might be able to make arrangements and avoid BK. Especially if they are not legal loans.
Message 12 of 19
lphillips
Valued Member

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

Tessa, I too was in your situation including the payday loans. You are going to have to close your account....change your number and setup your direct deposit with another bank all together...next time you get paid you will have the money to file bankruptcy....include all payday loans in your filing and go from there. Once you file you are protected from them as well....im not an attorney, but this was based on my own personal experience...I have had my 341 and awaiting discharge and so far so good. No problems? Fingers still crossed till then


Chapter 7 Discharge: January 2015
Current Scores: FICO: EX: 659 TU: 640 EQ: 640
Virgin American Visa (AU) ($4K); NFCU CashRewards ($2.3k); NFCU nRewards ($5K); NFCU CLOC ($5K); Capital One ($1.5k);
Gardening until April 2017
Message 13 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

I used http://www.bankruptcyonlinetoday.com/ to do my petition for me. It was really simple to use and only cost me $99. Took about 2 weeks for them to give me my petition back however. Their website says it takes a few days. A friend of mine also used this site for his bankruptcy and he was the one that recommended it to me. I filed Pro-Se on 10/03/14. I have yet to receive my discharge. I opted to pay my BK7 filing fee in payments. I filed because I was being garnished and I had a car that I still owed about 3x in principal what the car was worth. If I were you, I'd close your bank account and stop your direct deposit. As far as an attorney goes, I didn't necessarily need one as my bankruptcy was pretty straight forward and I got a lot of my answers to questions I had online, mostly on this site. 

Message 14 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

I would agree with the others about opening a new bank acct and switching your direct deposit there... or getting "paper" checks for a while until you can figure things out. There is no way we could afford our bankruptcy attorney up front. We immediately switched banks after we talked to our attorney (we had a credit card through our credit union) and have been making payments since september. Our total is $1800. We still owe a few hundred dollars before we can file. BUT, our attorney is willing to take phone calls as soon as you have made any deposit. So, we stopped paying our cc in September and haven't received any calls or letters since letting them know our attorney's name and our intent to file bk. Our attorney also doesn't have a limit on the amt of time that you can pay her (I guess that many want payment in full within 60 or 90 days). Such is life, as soon as we were unable to use cards we needed new tires on our vehicle and a few other small "emergencies" came up (including surgery).... so it's taking us longer than expected to pay her. 

Message 15 of 19
starry1
Valued Contributor

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

$1200 is rather high for a Ch7.  If I were you I would shop around for more attorneys.  I had one guy try to charge me $2000 and ended up finding a BK firm for only $900 that took payments.  On a positive note, once you've made your first payment you are allowed to forward all of your collection calls to them so you don't have to take them anymore.

 

And just a little note:

 

pro bono = Attorney represents you for free

pro se = you represent yourself


Starting Score: 11/29/12 TU 527; EQ 565; EX 564 fako - bk7 dc'd 2/15/13
Current Score: 1/22/15 TU 645; EQ 605; EX 633 New goal 675
Cap1 sec $1k (SD) / Fingerhut $2k / Flagship $12k / cashRewards $12k / NavChek $15k / Amazon $2k / Von Maur $1k / Firestone $2.2k / BCU $3k / NFL $1k / QS1 $750 / Target $400 / PPSC $800 / Conoco $700 (last app 09/29/14)
Message 16 of 19
0REDSOX7
Valued Contributor

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

1200 was on the low end for me.

Most reputable BK only attorneys in my area were between $1400 to $1800. They all allowed payments - just wouldnt file but paid in full.
BK Discharge 2/11/14

Currently in the garden.
Message 17 of 19
StartingOver10
Moderator Emerita

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down

I agree, $1200 is low. Mine was double that amount.  it probably has to do with the region of the country and the complexity of your case as well as the type of firm handling the Bk.

Message 18 of 19
cirrus00
New Contributor

Re: I cant afford a lawyer....Legal aid turned me down


@starry1 wrote:

$1200 is rather high for a Ch7.  If I were you I would shop around for more attorneys.  I had one guy try to charge me $2000 and ended up finding a BK firm for only $900 that took payments.  On a positive note, once you've made your first payment you are allowed to forward all of your collection calls to them so you don't have to take them anymore.

 

And just a little note:

 

pro bono = Attorney represents you for free

pro se = you represent yourself


@starry1....I meant to say pro se......my phone auto corrected me. But thanks for pointing that out!

Message 19 of 19
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