The Fisher Law Firm

Serving Suffolk and Nassau counties, as well as New York City

Streamlining the Budget

Most times, I write to educate, but sometimes I write to rant. Budgets are tight for many people today, but we are still entitled to a little entertainment. We have our video games, our gadgetry, our telephones and who doesn’t have a flat screen, high def television these days. Some of us bowl. Some take martial arts or play volleyball or are satisfied watching our children be little dance or sports stars.

I could tear into the waste that people engage in these days, but everyone is entitled to a little bit. But what of going to a stadium to see a professional team play. Here’s where the rant begins. We could sit in our living rooms or basements, invite a a couple of people over, buy a few snacks or pizzas and make it a social event. In this case, we’ll have front row seats and see all the replays in slo-mo. Traveling is minimal and time is conserved. This is the cheap way to go, but not a bad way to go – an excellent move from a budgeting perspective.

In my opinion, someone on a tight budget SHOULD NOT physically go to a professional sporting event. First, you almost have to make a whole day of it, depending on when the game begins – the time factor. Most spectators will drive or sit in traffic for a couple of hours – the gas factor. When we get to the stadium, we have to pay for parking in one way or another – the parking fee factor. Unfortunately, most parking is not at the stadium but rather a quarter mile away. There will be some who take public transportation to the stadium. It’s more convenient but it still costs money.

After trekking to the event, we are then treated like suspects. Sometimes, we’re patted down. Our bags are opened, the caps are taken off our bottled water, we walk through a metal detector, and now, look up, as many stadium are installing face recognition systems. But you’re in, right?

If we felt claustrophobic on the train or in traffic, now we’re sandwiched among 50,000 people, 10% of whom will be driunk and rowdy in an hour. If you have kids and the home team is not perfoming, cover their ears, because the tapestry of profanity permeates the air waves. And speaking of air waves, if one cell phone near your head can be carcinogenic, I can only imagine what 50,000 cell phones in a relatively tight oval will do for your health.

Hungry yet? How about one of those sodas and a dog? Five dollars? Forget it. I’ll take a pretzel. $4.75. And you know you want a tray of fries too.

Your team’s doing great, and the sounds of the crowd are awesome. That’s the experience for which we were all looking. Was it worth it? Yes, sure it was – if only I didn’t have to leave the stadium at the same time as at least 30,000 other people and travel back home. If only there were a way to teleport to our front doorsteps.

This author indubitably loves good competition and the roar of the crowd, but unless there is another motivating factor providing the impetus to jump all those hurdles, including the not insubstantial financial hurdle, I cannot condone this waste of money, especially as a bankruptcy attorney.

Invite your family or friends over to watch a game, take a hike, visit the local raceway, golf, ride your bike, help your neighbor with a project or just go bring a drink over and talk to him while he works on his car, bake a cake, paint a room, throw the ball, fly a kite, and keep more dough in your pocket. There are few good reasons to spend hundreds of dollars to watch millionaires complete in person, but there are a plethora of good reasons to watch the game on television and then spend the residual time in a healthier way other then maneuvering through traffic.

Collection Letters / Lawsuits / Judgments / Garnishments – How Much Time?

Many times, clients come to me for bankruptcy counseling after they have defaulted on their debts. The phone calls have already become relentless. They’ve received letters offering to assist them through this tough time. The letters come from the creditors themselves, collection services, as well as debt consolidation companies and bankruptcy attorneys. Other times, clients come to me dragging a load of debt – maybe 10 to 20 credit cards – and they are current on most or all of them, having been making the minimum payments on each.

The question on everyone’s mind is, “How long do I have before they attach a lien to my house or repossess my car or, the worst, garnish my wages?” Well, I want to calm your fears a little bit. If you’re current or if you are just a couple of months behind on a credit card bill, you have time to take action. The process goes like this:

You miss a payment. The phone calls begin. They are annoying and increase to the point of harrassment. In the second month, you’re likely to start to get the letters mentioned above. You’ll get a letter from the creditor. The next month, or the third month, you may get a solicitation letter from a debt consolidation company, along with another letter from the creditor, along with the constant telephone calls. The system is designed to unnerve you into calling for a payment plan. However, there is not much you can do. Usually a payment plan only helps if you’ve been out of work or through a tough time, and now you’re in a better financial position.

After a three or four months, the larger more systematic creditors, just send your account to a collection agency. The collection agency usually services the account, but some of them buy the accounts. Starting at about six months delinquency, creditors and collection agencies start to refer your accounts to the collection attorneys. The collection attorneys will apprise you of the transfer of the matter to them by a letter threatening a lawsuit. Even then, however, there is plenty of time before you are in danger of garnishment.

A lawsuit begins with a summons and complaint being served on you. You are afforded due process of law – a time period within which to answer the complaint. In NY, this time period is 20 days if you were handed the summons directly and more time if you were served by other means. If you file and serve an answer back, this delays the process. Even if you default by not filing and serving an answer, the creditor (now the plaintiff) must send more notices to you and ultimately make a motion for a default judgment.

Now, close to a year later, the creditor has obtained a judgment. Its attorneys will then look for your bank accounts and other assets. Even though you’ve had a year to prepare, you haven’t done anything. Your bank account is frozen or they’ve found where you work. You can still file a bankruptcy petition and rid yourself of this agony. In fact, if the circumstances are right, even if the creditor has filed a lien against your residence, you still may be able to strip the lien off the house. Speak to a bankruptcy professional today. All is seldom lost.

Stopping the Madness

What I’ve notice lately as a bankruptcy attorney is this: no matter if you owe $12,000 in credit cards or $78,000, you will be harrassed if you stop making at least the minimum payments due. The telephone becomes maddening. You want to throw away mail before even opening the envelopes. You start to withdraw from society in many ways. You become depressed, aloof and angry at life in general. I see it again and again and again.

But seeing the weight being lifted from people’s shoulders after they meet with me is amazing. I recognize it in their faces, in their postures. After a consultation, one has a goal, and that goal could most likely lead to a fresh start. Wiping out a debt which was accumulating faster than it could be paid off is refreshing in the literal sense of the word. The tension starts to come off the household. Family members stop reacting and start acting. All one usually needs is a reason to take off in a new direction, and bankruptcy (although it sounds like a heinous word at first) is a right and a catalyst for a new and good direction. Consider it, and see a bankruptcy attorney. Overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed.