Should I Hire a Lawyer to Tackle Bad Debt
My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Ohio
I've decided to clean up my credit. I have one judgment against me and about 20 or so bad splotches reporting on my credit history from various retailers. I know that most of these will work out some type of payout arrangement to get you taken care out at a smaller percentage of what you owe. My question is should I do this myself or would an attorney be able to represent me better in these matters and get me a better deal. I also want these issues off my credit once done, so I want to make sure their isn't' something an attorney can get done that I wouldn't be able to accomplish on my own. However, I'm willing to tackle it myself if an attorney is not really needed.
Any thoughts? Thanks!
Re: Should I Hire a Lawyer to Tackle Bad Debt
You can try to settle your debts with or without a lawyer; nobody here can promise you that your efforts will be successful.
You can ask creditors to remove accurate but negative information from your credit reports. You should expect that most or all will decline to do so.
Re: Should I Hire a Lawyer to Tackle Bad Debt
Thanks, but my question was really more to do with the approach rather than the outcome. I pretty much already know what to expect if I do things on my own. The question is, would having a lawyer do things on my behalf net more positive or beneficial results rather than tackling it alone. I assumed these companies would deal differently with a credentials person with the law behind them. Or is that just a colossal waste of time and money to go that route?
Re: Should I Hire a Lawyer to Tackle Bad Debt
In these cases, the attorneys fees usually run into the thousands. You must decide. How much money are you in debt and how much is student loan debt that is primary and secondary? Is your income over $21k per year?
Re: Should I Hire a Lawyer to Tackle Bad Debt
Quote:
Quoting
isitlegalmk
Thanks, but my question was really more to do with the approach rather than the outcome. I pretty much already know what to expect if I do things on my own. The question is, would having a lawyer do things on my behalf net more positive or beneficial results rather than tackling it alone. I assumed these companies would deal differently with a credentials person with the law behind them. Or is that just a colossal waste of time and money to go that route?
Yes, it's a colossal waste of time and money to use an attorney.
At $300 per hour you'll end up spending thousands on the attorney and all the creditors are going to care about is how much CASH you are willing to give them to retire the debt at a discount. They don't care who offers it to them.
There is no "law" involved. You owe the money.
By the way, having a lawyer represent you will mean that the creditor's lawyer will represent the creditor and add $300 per hour to your debt which will skyrocket in short order. Also tell us how much cash you have available for this venture.
If you would care to list your debts (types and amounts - no names) we might be able to give you some helpful comments about how to negotiate with creditors by yourself.
Re: Should I Hire a Lawyer to Tackle Bad Debt
That said, I was wondering if OP qualified for ch 13 reorganization to stop interest and penalties while developing a repayment schedule.