I thought I would share some interesting info related to small claims in my county court. Many of you know, I have chosen to attempt to work out agreements with my creditors. The majority, at this point, have agreed.
My local creditors have been very agressive and not so willing to work with me. On a small claims summons here in my county, one has one of 3-4 options for an answer. Nowhere on the form is there a checkbox for "defendant requests mediation." You can deny the claim, counter claim, or pay the court upfront, or some combination of the latter two. I called the court clerk today, as I suspect to be served on 3 - 5 accounts that are 60+ days late. I was very humble and simply stated I had some procedural questions. The clerk informed me that I could deny the claim (even though I owe the money) and request a hearing based on mediation and a court-overseen payment plan. I figured I could not check the box "deny claim." There is a $45 - $60 filing fee to request a hearing, but the clerk said I would immediately be placed in mediation as is the practice of the local county circuit court.
What does this do? Interestingly enough, not every creditor bothers to show up for the mediation. They are not required to of course, but it makes the default judgment more difficult to obtain when the defendant shows up but the plaintiff does not.
Many of my creditors, major national CC's and some credit unions have already agreed to 5-year payoff plans at 1.75% - 2% interest. I'm thinking that such information would be valuable when discussing the potential mediation for small claims (under $3000) in my state. I mean, if others recognize that I am willing to pay my debts, but need a reasonable payment plan, perhaps mediation will encourage other creditors to also understand my plight.
I don't know if other states allow "deny claim" and request mediation or not, but this new idea after actually calling the court clerk and getting the info is fascinating to me.
For those of you who don't know, I looked into a BK 13 15 months ago, but the deferred student loan interest over 5 years would have added another $35K of new debt. The local trustees appear to force everyone here to "defer" student loans for the five years of the payment plan. That aside, i am a high-wage earner and would be in a 100% payment plan. With the trustee's 10% take and the current $3500 - $4000 attorney fees, I would not exit the 13 in any better shape. Not everyone is in my position, but for those of you who are, it could veyr well be that in your state or regional US court system there could be other options that allow the BK 13 bankrupt person to pay on their debt without filing an official BK petition.
I continue to call my approach of attempting to get creditors to work with me, my "informal bankruptcy." Is it banbkruptcy defined by the US court system? Probably not, however, when one is insolvent and unable to pay their bills, one certainly is bankrupt.
I do hope that the next congress and president work to change the current formal BK process in the future.
Just my thoughts and opinions. Cheers
My local creditors have been very agressive and not so willing to work with me. On a small claims summons here in my county, one has one of 3-4 options for an answer. Nowhere on the form is there a checkbox for "defendant requests mediation." You can deny the claim, counter claim, or pay the court upfront, or some combination of the latter two. I called the court clerk today, as I suspect to be served on 3 - 5 accounts that are 60+ days late. I was very humble and simply stated I had some procedural questions. The clerk informed me that I could deny the claim (even though I owe the money) and request a hearing based on mediation and a court-overseen payment plan. I figured I could not check the box "deny claim." There is a $45 - $60 filing fee to request a hearing, but the clerk said I would immediately be placed in mediation as is the practice of the local county circuit court.
What does this do? Interestingly enough, not every creditor bothers to show up for the mediation. They are not required to of course, but it makes the default judgment more difficult to obtain when the defendant shows up but the plaintiff does not.
Many of my creditors, major national CC's and some credit unions have already agreed to 5-year payoff plans at 1.75% - 2% interest. I'm thinking that such information would be valuable when discussing the potential mediation for small claims (under $3000) in my state. I mean, if others recognize that I am willing to pay my debts, but need a reasonable payment plan, perhaps mediation will encourage other creditors to also understand my plight.
I don't know if other states allow "deny claim" and request mediation or not, but this new idea after actually calling the court clerk and getting the info is fascinating to me.
For those of you who don't know, I looked into a BK 13 15 months ago, but the deferred student loan interest over 5 years would have added another $35K of new debt. The local trustees appear to force everyone here to "defer" student loans for the five years of the payment plan. That aside, i am a high-wage earner and would be in a 100% payment plan. With the trustee's 10% take and the current $3500 - $4000 attorney fees, I would not exit the 13 in any better shape. Not everyone is in my position, but for those of you who are, it could veyr well be that in your state or regional US court system there could be other options that allow the BK 13 bankrupt person to pay on their debt without filing an official BK petition.
I continue to call my approach of attempting to get creditors to work with me, my "informal bankruptcy." Is it banbkruptcy defined by the US court system? Probably not, however, when one is insolvent and unable to pay their bills, one certainly is bankrupt.
I do hope that the next congress and president work to change the current formal BK process in the future.
Just my thoughts and opinions. Cheers