According to the August report from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the amount of unpaid credit card debt in the U.S. has been dropping since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outstanding consumer credit card debt in July was reported as $994.7 billion, which is down from $996.8 billion in May and $1.078 trillion in Quarter 1 of 2020. Declining credit card debt is a predictable response to a downturn in the economy. In fact, both consumers and credit card companies have changed their behavior because of the pandemic

Consumers’ Approach to Debt Has Changed

Millions of Americans lost their jobs, were put on leave, or had their hours reduced in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. When consumers are uncertain about their job income, many will become more risk-averse about taking on credit that they may not be able to repay. The pandemic affected the activities of cardholders in several ways:

• Many stores where consumers might use their cards were closed for weeks or months because of state mandates.
• Consumers are staying at home more often, which means they spend less on travel and dining.
• Most consumers received stimulus payments from the federal government, which some used to pay down their credit card balance.

How Credit Card Companies Have Adjusted

Credit card companies have also responded to the economic effects of the pandemic to protect themselves and help their clients. Many companies are working with existing customers who are facing an unexpected economic hardship that makes it harder for them to make monthly payments. Companies can provide relief by modifying the debt agreement to reduce monthly payments and interest rates or to waive late fees.

Leasing is a useful way for businesses to acquire equipment if they do not have the money or see the need to purchase the equipment in full. Equipment vendors and leasing companies charge a monthly fee to lend the equipment to the business, sometimes with the option for the business to purchase the equipment at the end of the lease. As with any lease, the lessor must weigh the likelihood that the lessee will be on time with the payments for the duration of the lease. Unfortunately, a business can be unpredictable, and the client may fall behind on their payments despite good credit history. The terms of the lease may give you, as the lessor, the right to repossess the equipment, but repossession is often not the best option.

Problems with Repossession

There are several reasons why you may want to avoid repossessing equipment if a client is not paying their lease:

In general, bankruptcy is an outcome that most creditors want to avoid when dealing with a debtor. If you are an unsecured creditor, the debtor may use bankruptcy discharge to clear their debt while paying you little or none of what they owe. Most consumer debtors file for either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and the chapter they choose may depend on what they qualify for.

A debtor cannot use Chapter 7 bankruptcy if the bankruptcy court deems that they are capable of repaying their debts. One way that a potential bankruptcy filer can determine whether they qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy is through the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Means Test. If the debtor does not pass the test, then Chapter 13 bankruptcy may be their only option.

Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 13

Before explaining the Chapter 7 Means Test, it is helpful to understand the difference between the forms of bankruptcy from a creditor’s perspective:

With the ways that technology has changed consumer behavior, lenders have been rethinking their approach to debt collection. A room full of people calling delinquent debtors may no longer be the most efficient or effective way to collect debts. Instead, lenders such as banks are using communication technology to more quickly reach clients with a tone that sounds and feels less aggressive.

Efficient debt collection may become a necessity given the current financial status of households and businesses throughout the United States. Many lenders have allowed borrowers to defer payments or use forbearance because of the financial hardship they are suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the deferrals have ended, however, lenders may need to ramp up their debt collection efforts.

New Ways to Facilitate Collections

There are three main ways that banks are using technology to help with debt collection:

A loan contract can have more than one party who is liable for the debt. For instance, a loan may have a guarantee, in which a third party called a guarantor promises to repay the debt in the event that the principal debtor defaults. A guarantor can be an individual, bank, or other financial institution and can agree to put up assets as collateral for the debt. For creditors, a guaranteed debt provides security if lending to someone who has a poor or unproven credit history. However, the guarantor could try to get out of their liability by finding a weakness in the contract. Here are four tips for creating a strong guarantee in your debt contract:

1. Get the Guarantee in Writing: It may seem obvious, but it is crucial that the guarantee is a written agreement. Courts typically do not recognize oral agreements for guarantees, and even if they did, an oral agreement is an unreliable way to set strict terms for the guarantee.
2. Use Clear Terms and Conditions in the Contract: The guarantee in the contract should state when the guarantor becomes responsible for the debt and how much they must pay. For instance, you could have an unconditional guarantee that requires the guarantor to pay regardless of the reason for the default or a guarantee that is conditional on actions such as attempting to collect from the principal debtor before collecting from the guarantor. 
3. Include Terms Giving Consent to Modify the Agreement: One argument the guarantors have used against creditors is that the guarantor was unaware of a modification to the loan agreement that significantly increased their burden if they became liable for the debt. You can protect yourself against this argument by including a section in the contract in which the guarantor consents to pay the debt regardless of modifications.
4. Check on the Guarantor: Having a guarantor for a debt does you little good if that person has a poor credit history. Do a background check on the guarantor just as you would with the principal debtor. Make sure they have the income or assets to pay if needed and a history of making payments on time.

Contact a Chicago Creditor’s Rights Attorney

When a debtor or guarantor balks at repaying a defaulted debt, you will rely on the strength of your contract and your legal team to protect your financial interests. An Illinois creditor’s rights lawyer at Walinski & Associates, P.C., knows the tactics that debtors use to avoid payment and how to respond. To schedule a consultation, call 312-704-0771.

Source:

Lawmakers in the U.S. recognized from the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis that homeowners would need help with mortgage payments in order to avoid a surge in mortgage foreclosures. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act had several provisions for homeowners, including:

• A moratorium on foreclosure of single-family homes with federally backed mortgages, which the Federal Housing Finance Agency recently extended until at least Aug. 31
• A mandate that forbearance be provided to homeowners, regardless of their delinquency status
• The loosening of restrictions on modifying loans

Illinois has issued executive orders that put a moratorium on evictions, though it also said that homeowners are still responsible for making mortgage payments. Housing market analysts are concerned that the downturn in the economy could lead to the state’s worst mortgage delinquency rate since the Great Recession of a decade ago.

Obstacles Facing Mortgage Payments

More than one million Illinois residents lost their jobs due to businesses being forced to close or reduce staff in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Even with unemployment benefits and stimulus payments from the federal government, many homeowners have tighter budgets with which to make mortgage payments. In some cases, homeowners may be forced to choose between staying current on their mortgage payments and paying for other necessary expenses.

It is common for a person to die before they are able to pay off all of their debts. As a creditor, you have the right to seek repayment for debts even after a debtor has died. If someone cosigned on the debt, your collection efforts can shift towards the living party. Otherwise, you will be collecting the debt from the deceased party’s estate. Each state has its own rules for how soon creditors must make claims against the estate and how much of the estate is available to creditors. For creditors operating under Illinois law, here are the answers to three basic questions about retrieving debt from a deceased party:

1. What Priority Do Creditors Have?: A deceased person’s estate must repay the person’s creditors before it distributes assets to beneficiaries. Illinois exempts certain assets from being collected, such as life insurance and retirement benefits. In the event that the deceased person’s debts are greater than their assets, their assets will be distributed based on the priority of each creditor’s claim.
2. What Are the Deadlines for Collection?: The deadline for creditors to file a claim against a deceased person’s estate depends on whether the estate is going through the probate process. During probate, the executor of the estate must attempt to contact the deceased party’s creditors by delivering notifications to their addresses and posting an announcement in a local publication. If you are notified directly, you have three months to file a claim against the estate. If you discover the notification in a publication, you have six months to file a claim. Without probate, the executor of the estate is not legally required to contact you, but you can file a claim up to two years after the person’s death.
3. Who Should You Contact About Collecting the Debt?: In most situations, you need to contact the person who has been designated as the executor of the estate in order to file a claim. The surviving family members of the deceased party do not inherit the debt and are not directly liable for repaying you. The exceptions are if one of the family members cosigned on the debt or if family members received assets from the estate without allowing creditors to file a claim.

Contact an Illinois Debt Collection Attorney

Collecting debt after a person has died is a sensitive issue. You need to be proactive in filing a claim while respecting those who are in mourning. A Chicago debt collection attorney at Walinski & Associates, P.C., can navigate the probate process to help you claim the money that is owed to you. To schedule a consultation, call 312-704-0771.

Source:

When all other attempts to collect a debt have been unsuccessful, a creditor may be left with only more drastic measures, such as wage garnishment. You cannot garnish a debtor’s wages until after you have filed a lawsuit against the debtor and the court has found in your favor. With wage garnishment, you can order the debtor’s employer to divert a portion of their paycheck to you in order to repay their debt. You can also freeze the debtor’s bank account in order to garnish money without the debtor being able to withdraw it. However, there are some sources of income that you cannot collect from. For instance, many federal and state benefits are exempt from garnishment.

Which Benefits Are Exempt?

Federal and state laws protect individuals’ benefits from both garnishment and deduction. In Illinois, exempt benefits include:

• Unemployment compensation and benefits
• Social Security and Social Security Insurance
• Public assistance
• Disability benefits
• Retirement benefits and pensions
• Veteran’s benefits
• Child support and spousal maintenance
• Awards from personal injury lawsuits

Garnishment is allowed on protected benefits when it applies to certain debts, such as unpaid child support, federal student loans, and income taxes.

With the millions of people who have lost their jobs the past few months, creditors face the possibility of an increasing number of borrowers defaulting on their debts. With some clients, creditors will eventually need to decide whether to pursue collection on the debt or offer to modify the loan. Creditors who use debt collection may risk the debtor filing for bankruptcy and receiving little or no repayment if they are not a secured creditor. Negotiating a loan modification can be more beneficial for both sides but may not work with all clients. The creditor must balance receiving some return on the loan without surrendering too much money with the modification.

Should You Offer Loan Modification?

You should evaluate each client individually before deciding whether to approach them about loan modification or accept their offer to negotiate a loan modification:

• Is the client truly incapable of repaying the loan as it exists?
• What is the current financial circumstance that is preventing the client from repaying the loan?
• What is the likelihood that circumstances will change, either for the better or the worse?
• Is there a lower monthly payment that the client could afford?
• What is your client’s history of making payments on time?

When modifying a loan, there is always a risk that the client will still default on the debt despite the modifications. The risk may be lower if the client appears to be suffering a temporary setback and has never missed a payment in the past.

The number of people who have recently become jobless in the U.S. may cause an increase in people who default on their debts. Creditors have several methods of handling a defaulted debt, such as debt collection practices, modifying the debt agreement, or taking the debtor to court. A debtor may try to clear their debts by filing for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy can prevent unsecured creditors from collecting their remaining debt if the bankruptcy filer is allowed to discharge their debts. If your debtor has filed for bankruptcy, there are several steps you must take to have a chance at still receiving the money you are owed:

1. Honor the Automatic Stay for Now: A bankruptcy notice includes an automatic stay on all debt collection activity. You may have a reason to contest the stay or the bankruptcy, but your immediate reaction should be to stop communicating with the debtor or trying to repossess properties. You can be penalized for knowingly violating the automatic stay.
2. Promptly File Your Proof of Claim: In order to receive a portion of the bankruptcy assets, you must file a proof of claim that states what the debtor owes you. The bankruptcy notice should give a deadline by which you need to file your proof of claim. It is imperative that you do not miss that deadline.
3. Take a Closer Look at the Bankruptcy Case: You need to study the details in the bankruptcy claim before the first meeting of creditors. The debtor could be trying to abuse the bankruptcy process by underreporting their debt to you or hiding assets that could be used to repay creditors. You will have the chance to bring up any discrepancies to the bankruptcy trustee during the meeting.
4. Consider a Request to Lift the Automatic Stay: You can continue debt collection efforts during the bankruptcy by petitioning to lift the automatic stay, but the bankruptcy court is unlikely to grant your request if the debt does not involve a secured property. You can argue that you should be allowed to continue foreclosure on a home or repossession of a vehicle if the debtor does not have enough equity in the property to cover the remaining value of the loan.

Contact a Chicago Creditor’s Rights Lawyer

Whether you are repaid at the end of bankruptcy depends on the type of bankruptcy being filed and your priority as a creditor. In Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, secured creditors and priority unsecured creditors are paid before general unsecured creditors. In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, unsecured creditors have a better chance of receiving some money during the repayment plan. An Illinois creditor’s rights attorney at Walinski & Associates, P.C., can explain what you are likely to receive from a bankruptcy case. To schedule a consultation, call 312-704-0771.

Source:

The coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. is being fought on two fronts: public health and the economy. Government efforts to slow the spread of the virus have caused many Americans to lose their jobs or see their pay drastically cut. Among other expenses, people who are out of work may have more difficulty repaying their debts. Creditors are in a delicate position where they must balance their own interests against the hardships that many debtors are experiencing. As a result, forces in the public and private sector are providing debt relief by allowing some debtors to suspend their payments without penalty.

Government Action

The federal government has recently issued orders in regards mortgages and student loan payments:

• Mortgages that are backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration are eligible for up to 12 months of forbearance.
• Lenders cannot charge late fees on the delayed payments.
• Foreclosures are suspended for 60 days, starting from March 18.
• The proposed stimulus bill would suspend federal student loan payments until Sept. 30.

Various states have enacted similar suspensions on foreclosure and eviction for mortgages that are backed by state programs. As of March 25, Illinois had not announced any mortgage forbearance period.

During the Great Recession, so-called “zombie homes” were a common problem for mortgage lenders. Zombie foreclosure is a way of describing a situation where a home is abandoned after the occupants received a foreclosure notice. The number of zombie foreclosures has decreased since the height of the housing market crash. A recent report on foreclosures during the fourth quarter of 2019 found that 3.1 percent were zombie foreclosures, which is down 5.8 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Illinois had the fourth-most zombie foreclosures in the U.S. with 943, which is 4.7 percent of its foreclosures. Abandoned homes are still a problem that can decrease the resale value of the property.

How Zombie Foreclosure Occurs and Why It Is a Problem

When a homeowner receives their initial foreclosure notice, they may decide to abandon the property instead of contesting the foreclosure process. They may believe that they have no hope of paying back the mortgage and that they are better off leaving before the foreclosure is completed. This causes a major problem for mortgage lenders because an unoccupied property will fall into disrepair. In some cases, the previous occupants may have left the home in bad shape.

A zombie home will decrease in value, even if the lender works to maintain its appearance. The lender cannot sell the home until the foreclosure is finished because it is still in the previous occupant’s name. A zombie home will also decrease the property values of other homes in the neighborhood, some of which the lender may be trying to sell.

When a court rules in favor of a creditor who has filed a lawsuit against a debtor, that creditor becomes a judgment creditor. This status gives a judgment creditor in Illinois several methods by which it can collect on the debt, such as filing a citation to discover the debtor’s assets and obtaining a judgment lien against a debtor’s property. It is wise to also look into any third-party assets that the debtor can claim, such as bank holdings and people who owe the debtor money. Third-party assets may help you in retrieving a debt if the debtor’s own assets are not enough.

Third-Party Discovery

If you believe that a third party may be holding some of your judgment debtor’s assets, you will need to file a citation for discovery with that party. The debtor must also be notified of the third-party citation. The third party is required to respond to your citation, even if they do not hold any of the debtor’s assets. If they fail to respond, you can receive a conditional judgment against the third party for what the judgment debtor owes.

When discovery confirms the debtor’s assets, the third party must freeze those assets until the court rules on whether they should be turned over. The debtor is allowed to use exemptions to protect third-party assets, including:

Business owners are often receptive to creative ways that they can secure loans from financing companies. Invoice factoring, also known as accounts receivable factoring, is an alternative form of funding that has grown in popularity. Factoring is a collateral-backed loan, with the collateral being the business’s unpaid customer invoices. The lender purchases the invoices and receives payments from the borrower’s customers in order to be reimbursed for the loan. While there are benefits to using factoring to create a loan agreement, creditors should also understand the risks that may be involved.

Benefits

Factoring gives creditors more flexibility when working with a business client that does not have a strong credit history. From the borrower’s perspective, they are quickly turning their invoices into cash that they can use for immediate expenses. From the lender’s perspective, they are purchasing current customer invoices and could be repaid for the loan in a matter of months, depending on when the invoices are due. If the process goes smoothly, the creditor will have created a successful business relationship with a client that may not have qualified for a loan otherwise.

Risks

There is potential for a factoring loan agreement to go wrong, leaving the borrower unable to repay the loan. Most of the risks stem from the fact that the lender must collect money from the borrower’s customers, who may not cooperate for several reasons:

An unsecured creditor can secure their claim on a debt by receiving a judgment lien. If a court finds in favor of the creditor in a lawsuit, the creditor can request that a lien be put on the debtor’s property – most often their home. If the debtor tries to sell the house, the buyer or seller must pay the lien before ownership can be transferred. The lien would also make them a junior creditor if another creditor foreclosed on the property. As a creditor with a judgment lien, you may wonder whether you can initiate a foreclosure on the property. While you do have that right, there are several reasons why foreclosing on a judgment lien may not be worth your effort:

Sale Process: Forcing a sale on a home will cost both time and money. You will need to publish a listing of the sale and pay a fee to the local sheriff’s department to hold the property. You will also need to hire a real estate attorney to ensure that the sale is legal. Once you are able to sell the property, you will be required to give the debtor time to repay the lien. The whole process could take the better part of a year, with no guarantee of success.

Homestead Exemption: Each state offers a homestead exemption to protect a homeowner’s equity in their primary residence. In Illinois, the exemption is $15,000 for a single person and $30,000 for a married couple. This means that the first $15,000 or $30,000 from the foreclosure sale will go back to the debtor. You will get nothing out of foreclosing on a home if the debtor’s equity is less than the exemption.

Common creditors such as banks will usually explore various means of collecting debts before they choose litigation. Filing a lawsuit for every debt collection dispute would be costly and hurt their relationship with potentially valuable clients. There are many cases that banks can resolve internally by working with the debtor. However, an inefficient debt collection process may ultimately be a waste of resources because of its low success rate. Adjusting your debt collection strategy may help you more effectively recover outstanding debts and understand when litigation is necessary:

1. Collect and Verify Client Information: It is difficult to start your debt collection process if you cannot find the client. When entering the debt agreement, you should ask the client for personal information, such as their address, phone number, place of work, driver’s license, social security number, and personal references. If you are unable to reach the client with this information, check with government agencies and other third parties to see if your information is out-of-date.
2. Be Proactive and Clear in Communication: Do not give your clients a reason to claim that they were unaware that they owed the debt. Send a message after the first time they miss a payment and follow up if they continue to not pay. Try to contact them in multiple ways until you get a response. Be specific about what they owe, when it is due, the consequences of not paying and how they can pay you.
3. Establish Phases of the Collection Process: Debt collection starts with soft inquiries about the unpaid debt but will become more aggressive the longer that the client does not pay. You need guidelines that will determine when you reach a new phase of the debt collection process, such as sending a final notice or using litigation. You can measure phases by the amount of money owed, the duration of the case, and the client’s response.
4. Use Different Approaches Depending on the Client: Automated debt collection messages may work fine with basic clients, but your most valuable clients need a more personalized touch. You need someone to contact them directly to figure out why they are late on the payment and to find ways that you can solve the issue while preserving your business relationship.

Contact a Chicago Debt Collection Attorney

Banks lend money to a variety of consumer and business clients, which can make collecting debts more complicated. You need an experienced Illinois debt collection lawyer at Walinski & Associates, P.C., who can advise you on how to approach your most difficult and important cases. To schedule a consultation, call 312-704-0771.

Source:

The average U.S. consumer takes on more than $1,000 in debt each December – much of it related to holiday shopping and put on credit cards. When it comes time to repay those debts, some consumers struggle to keep up with minimum payments and eventually default on their debts. Debtors who qualify for bankruptcy can put unsecured creditors such as credit card companies in a difficult position because the debtor may be able to discharge all or part of their credit card debt at the end of the bankruptcy. Creditors can stop or limit the bankruptcy process if they can show that the debtor is trying to commit fraud.

Amassing Debt

One way that bankruptcy fraud can occur is when the filer takes on debt that they never intended to repay. For instance, a debtor who intends to file for bankruptcy may use a credit card to purchase gifts for the holidays because they believe that they can discharge the debt later. The credit card company may suspect the debtor’s intention and can file a claim of fraud with the bankruptcy court. If the claim is proven, the court may order that the fraudulent debt is ineligible for discharge or dismiss the case.

Presumption of Fraud

It can be difficult for a creditor to prove that the debtor is committing bankruptcy fraud by including debts that they did not intend to repay. Unless the debtor confesses their intentions, the creditor will rely on circumstantial evidence from which the court can reasonably conclude that the debtor intended to commit fraud. For instance, there may be records of the debtor inquiring about bankruptcy or meeting with an attorney before taking on the debt. U.S. bankruptcy law presumes that some financial transactions by a bankruptcy filer are fraudulent and ineligible for discharge, including:

When you receive a favorable judgment against a debtor in a lawsuit, you will have a variety of sources from which you can retrieve the debt owed to you. Many people hold a majority of their money in bank accounts, and you can use non-wage garnishment to access that money if the debtor has not been using it to repay you. When you receive a garnishment order from the court, the debtor or other interested parties have an opportunity to contest the order and protect that money. In some cases, a person who shares the account with the debtor may try to block your garnishment order.

Non-Wage Garnishment

First, let us review the rules of non-wage garnishment during debt collection. Non-wage garnishment is a court order to withdraw money from sources other than the debtor’s pay from work. Bank accounts and physical assets are the most common sources for non-wage garnishment and can potentially be more valuable than the debtor’s wages. However, there are restrictions on non-wage garnishment:

• The debtor has several exemptions to protect assets, including a $4,000 wild card exemption that can be used on any asset.
• Illinois law exempts money awarded to the debtor through a personal injury or workers’ compensation case.
• Illinois also exempts money in retirement and life insurance plans, unless the creditor can prove that the debtor created these accounts in bad faith in order to protect the money from garnishment.

Joint Accounts

The co-owner of a debtor’s bank account can stop a creditor from garnishing money from the account if a majority of the money came from them and not the debtor. The creditor bears the initial burden of proving that the account belongs to the debtor and should be eligible for garnishment. After the creditor proves this, the joint account holder is the one who must prove through deposit slips and receipts that they are the source of the majority of the money. Joint accounts are typically held between spouses or business partners, who in some cases may have debts that are not shared between each other.

As a secured creditor, there may come a point in the debt collection process when you decide that you are best served by repossessing the collateral property. Auto lenders commonly deal with repossessing vehicles when the debtor defaults on their loan and shows no intention of working with the lender to catch up on the missed payments. However, debtors may not cooperate when you try to repossess their vehicle, whether they actively deny your repossession efforts or try to hide the vehicle from you. In these situations, you can force compliance by requesting a replevin or detinue from the court.

What Are Replevin and Detinue?

Replevin and detinue are similar legal actions that can help you recover a property held by a debtor. The main differences are:

• Replevin allows police to seize property and return it to the creditor and is more generally used when a defendant wrongfully took a property.
• Detinue orders the defendant to surrender the property to the creditor because they are wrongfully withholding it.

With replevin, you may be able to seize the property after the defendant has been given a five-day notice. With detinue, you often must wait until the end of the case to retrieve the property. With both actions, you must be able to clearly identify the property and prove that you have a superior claim to ownership, which for auto lenders would be proving that the defendant has defaulted on their loan agreement. Along with retrieving the property, you may be able to collect damages from the defendant if there was a cost that was related to them withholding the property. If the property cannot be found, the court will order the defendant to pay you the monetary value of the property.

When a debtor files for bankruptcy protection, the court will put an automatic stay on collecting the debt. This means that creditors must stop contacting the debtor with collection notices or attempting to repossess collateral properties until the bankruptcy is completed or the stay is otherwise lifted. Violating the stay is a serious offense that may result in court fines or the debtor filing a lawsuit against you. The severity of the penalty depends on whether you knowingly violated the stay and whether you continued to violate it after being told to stop.

Violation Examples

Once it is confirmed that you received notice of the debtor’s bankruptcy filing, you are expected to comply with the automatic stay. This means you are not allowed to:

• Send letters to the debtor demanding repayment
• Call the debtor about the debt
• Garnish their wages or other monetary assets
• Repossess properties without the permission of the court

Intentionally ignoring the automatic stay is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and may lead to sanctions that cost you thousands of dollars. The bankruptcy trustee will be your contact during the process.