Glad I moved forward with Chapter 7!
I can only say good things about Frank T. Papa, the Attorney at this law office who represented me, as well as the office staff I worked with.
A few years ago, things were mostly going my way, I had a good paying job, had purchased a late model vehicle and was starting to make big plans. In the middle of 2016, I got laid off, ended up with a full time job and a part time job just to survive, and very late 2016 became a care taker of my elderly father as well when his wife passed away. Several months into 2017 I found myself with a job that paid hundreds less than I needed to break even and was busy enough with the job, my father, and looking for a better paying job weekends as well. That’s when I tapped into credit cards as a dead last resort, and between cash advances and basic bills and groceries and paying one card with another, started to go further and further in debt from around the middle of 2017 to around the middle of 2018 and approached 20K by the time I filed for bankruptcy.
When not sending out resumes, I was looking into credit card refinance programs, and most of those programs actually turned me down with my plummeting credit score, even though they had sent me mail. I had done my research on debt consolidation/negotiation and realized that those were mostly scams, not always effective, and plus you just end up owing the IRS if you go this route.
Based on my situation of not owning property, not making a lot of money and having no real money or assets to speak of and no inheritance or nice things coming my way – chapter 7: full discharge of debt made perfect sense! I knew I had to take this route after meeting with Frank in August, even though I waited until October – but wished I had just done it in August! Timing is very important in bankruptcy, and it’s important to do it BEFORE you start making a decent living again, otherwise you may not be able to do it! The Attorneys art this firm are very knowledgeable about the process and the ins and outs of the way things happen or can happen if you have, say, a car note with a small credit union vs a large bank. I am so glad I went with a nolo.com selected firm and not with what legalzoom had to say. Chapter 7 is something you can do only once every 8 years, and it can be a very handy silver bullet in a tough situation like the one I was in.
And don’t worry about the stigma: a million Americans filed for bankruptcy last year! I have found myself gradually admitting to more people I know what I went through, and so far everyone has been quite understanding.
Even when I first reached out I was mailed a parcel in the mail a few days later with tons and tons of information about Bankruptcy which I found extremely informative. There are hundreds if not thousands of other law firms in Tampa Bay, but when it comes to bankruptcy, this is the firm I am going to recommend to anyone in financial trouble right here in the Tampa Bay area.
--Benjamin from Syracuse