Being Sued by Creditors? File for Bankruptcy

March 28, 2012

In Washington, creditors can typically garnish a bank account to collect a debt after obtaining a judgment. Prior to filing, 25% of paychecks can be levied, but there is no limit to the amount that can be garnished from a bank account. They can take it all. Garnishing a bank account can be far worse than [...]

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Affordable Bankruptcy Filing Fees

March 21, 2012

Bankruptcy can provide the protection you need to protect yourself from creditors, but the courts might doubt your ability to afford an attorney. After all, how can you afford an expensive attorney if you have no money? The truth is, paying for assistance when going through bankruptcy might be easier than you think. At Northwest [...]

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New Credit Counseling Class Certificate Provider

February 21, 2012

Since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act in 2005, bankruptcy filers have been forced to obtain a credit counseling certificate prior to filing their petitions with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It has been nearly seven years and a thousand clients later and I have yet to hear of anyone getting anything [...]

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Oregon and Washington Foreclosure – Are Things Looking Up a LIttle Bit?

February 19, 2012

In January, 2012, 433 Oregon homes were slated for foreclosure. Though the number seems high, it represents a forty month low and a forty-five percent reduction from the same period last year. In Washington, January foreclosure filings declined by sixty percent from this same period a year ago. Though foreclosures are declining in both Washington [...]

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Tax Refunds in Washington and Oregon

February 16, 2012

The applicable state bankruptcy exemptions will likely determine whether you will be able to file bankruptcy and keep a potential 2011 tax refund. If the Oregon exemptions apply, you may find yourself handing over everything but the Earned Income Credit and the Making Work Pay credit. If the Washington exemptions apply, you will likely be [...]

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Asset Acceptance Fined for Illegal Collections Activity

February 5, 2012

The FTC recently imposed the second-steepest penalty ever imposed on a debt collector. According to the New York Times, Asset Acceptance, one of the largest collection companies in the country, recently agreed to pay a 2.5 million penalty to settle charges that company deceived consumers in the process of trying to collect debts. I suppose [...]

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January 22, 2012

An article in today’s New York Times at contains a discussion of a recent study which strongly suggests that bankruptcy attorneys have been disproportionately channelling their African American clients into Chapter 13 Bankruptcies rather than Chapter 7. It is unclear why this is taking place. Though there is a great deal of overlap, Chapter 13 [...]

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Washington Bankruptcy Court Weather Closures

January 21, 2012

Given the horrible weather confronting bankruptcy clients in the Seattle area, I thought it might be a good time to mention that if weather resuls in the closing of court facilities, a weather Notice will always be posted on the court’s website at http://www.wawb.uscourts.gov/. Bankruptcy hearings are held in several different locations and conditions may [...]

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Bankruptcy Filings Decline Nationally for 2011

January 13, 2012

Bankruptcy filings declined by nearly twelve percent in 2011 from the year before. There were approximately 1.4 million bankruptcies filed overall. Roughly seventy percent of those filed cases were Chapter 7 Bankruptcy cases and about a third were Chapter 13 cases. While both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings declined, Chapter 7 filings declined more [...]

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Hardship Discharge in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

January 7, 2012

In the years after a Chapter 13 Plan is confirmed, circumstances, such as job loss, disability and long term illness, may arise that conspire to keep a debtor from completing the Chapter 13 Plan. When such situations arise, the debtor may request that the court to grant a “hardship discharge.” rather than force the debtor [...]

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