I just had my first -phone- interview with an attorney.
At first, all went well, he told me we seemed like good candidates for filing.
One thing he mentioned is that the fact that I bought a tv or made a balance transfer a month ago doesn't really matter. He said that if a creditor perceives fraud it doesn't matter whether the last credit use was yesterday or 3 months ago. That goes contrary to what most of you have said here. Who is right, I wonder?
One thing that struck me was that he talked as if he totally empathized with the banks, like "Well, you made the charges knowing you would not likely be able to pay them back at that point, so it doesn't matter whether you wait 3 months, or not..." I thought, "Hmmm, that sounds as though he thinks I have committed fraud in buying the tv ... and that he agrees with what a creditor might say, that it was fraudulent"...
Then I told him about the last 2 numbers of my social security number being mixed up on my accounts, and he said that this could very likely be a problem, that they well may cry "Fraud!"
I said, "Well, then what would happen?" and he said, "Well, then you would still owe all the money, you wouldn't have really lost anything". I asked, "Well, what can they do about it then?" And he said they'd attach my wages and do whatever they could to get the money.
He then added something like "I can only do so much. If you have dug yourself into a hole too deep, there just may be nothing anyone can do. If the creditors object to your use of the wrong social, saying you defrauded them on that basis, and the judge agrees, there is nothing I can do. I would of course do my best to help you, but in the end there may not be much I could do for you. You'd be back to where you are now, owing the money."
I said, "Yes, back to where I am, except I'd be out an extra $2k for using your services." (He indicated that his office's charges would be $1600 plus the $299 filing fee plus around $100 for credit counseling.)
So, I feel very sick and nervous right now.
Just because I did not want to go to the trouble of correcting my social security number with all those creditors and the banks and so on, I may have screwed myself royally! I honestly did not think it was fraud because they had already given me credit under that number and I had a good record of paying them for several years, (most of them, anyway) so I felt it was not necessary to change it. ("Let sleeping dogs lie", "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", I thought. Of course, now, in hind sight I see that I should have changed it.
I definitely will talk to some other attorneys. I did not like this guys tone of voice, I did not like how he responded to the problem at all, he sounded more like he was ready to give in to the creditors than to fight for me, come up with reasons why what I did was okay, which is the attitude I feel he SHOULD take since I am paying him to defend me! Jeez, attorneys come up with all kinds of strategies to defend MURDERERS and this guy can't come up with a strategy to defend my use of 2 backwards numbers by mistake??! No, I think think this guy just wants to push the papers through and if any problems come up, he'll just toss his client to the wolves.
But, geez, if the other attorneys also see this social security thing as a major liability, I could be in for a big attorney bill, AND not get discharged... This could turn out to be a real BIG MESS, just because I did not want to go to the hassle of calling all my creditors! (Which I have to do, now, anyway, according to him. Though, I don't think I'll do it until I talk to at least one more attorney. I wouldn't go to this guy, anyway, I just didn't like his tone, nor his attitude.)
Would love to hear from someone out there who had this problem of a mixed up social.
It was just a "typo" thing, that I started using it wrong, and it was wrong not just on credit cards but wrong with my employer, medical insurance, car insurance, you name it... The one thing, though, is that when I found out it was wrong, about 6 years or so ago, I did NOT correct it with the creditors, only with my job and social security, and then my medical insurance which was connected with my job, to avoid problems. I did not change it with the creditors simply because I thought it was not necessary to do so since I already had most of the accounts for quite some time, and had been paying them under that number.
Seems to me that it is clear that if my intention were fraud, I would have used a whole different number, not just the last 2 numbers mixed up. And anyway, as far as I know, there was nothing wrong with my real number, there was no reason for me not to have used that, had I known it at the time!
But I guess it doesn't really matter what my intention was or that I made the payments faithfully for many years. All that matters apparently is that now the creditors have a reason to cry "Fraud!" and stop my bankruptcy. And if one does it, they will all most likely pile on, I imagine.
I hope the next attorney I talk to can reassure me that this will NOT be a problem! (And that he is right!)
Sorry this is so long. When I am upset I tend to ramble.
At first, all went well, he told me we seemed like good candidates for filing.
One thing he mentioned is that the fact that I bought a tv or made a balance transfer a month ago doesn't really matter. He said that if a creditor perceives fraud it doesn't matter whether the last credit use was yesterday or 3 months ago. That goes contrary to what most of you have said here. Who is right, I wonder?
One thing that struck me was that he talked as if he totally empathized with the banks, like "Well, you made the charges knowing you would not likely be able to pay them back at that point, so it doesn't matter whether you wait 3 months, or not..." I thought, "Hmmm, that sounds as though he thinks I have committed fraud in buying the tv ... and that he agrees with what a creditor might say, that it was fraudulent"...
Then I told him about the last 2 numbers of my social security number being mixed up on my accounts, and he said that this could very likely be a problem, that they well may cry "Fraud!"
I said, "Well, then what would happen?" and he said, "Well, then you would still owe all the money, you wouldn't have really lost anything". I asked, "Well, what can they do about it then?" And he said they'd attach my wages and do whatever they could to get the money.
He then added something like "I can only do so much. If you have dug yourself into a hole too deep, there just may be nothing anyone can do. If the creditors object to your use of the wrong social, saying you defrauded them on that basis, and the judge agrees, there is nothing I can do. I would of course do my best to help you, but in the end there may not be much I could do for you. You'd be back to where you are now, owing the money."
I said, "Yes, back to where I am, except I'd be out an extra $2k for using your services." (He indicated that his office's charges would be $1600 plus the $299 filing fee plus around $100 for credit counseling.)
So, I feel very sick and nervous right now.
Just because I did not want to go to the trouble of correcting my social security number with all those creditors and the banks and so on, I may have screwed myself royally! I honestly did not think it was fraud because they had already given me credit under that number and I had a good record of paying them for several years, (most of them, anyway) so I felt it was not necessary to change it. ("Let sleeping dogs lie", "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", I thought. Of course, now, in hind sight I see that I should have changed it.
I definitely will talk to some other attorneys. I did not like this guys tone of voice, I did not like how he responded to the problem at all, he sounded more like he was ready to give in to the creditors than to fight for me, come up with reasons why what I did was okay, which is the attitude I feel he SHOULD take since I am paying him to defend me! Jeez, attorneys come up with all kinds of strategies to defend MURDERERS and this guy can't come up with a strategy to defend my use of 2 backwards numbers by mistake??! No, I think think this guy just wants to push the papers through and if any problems come up, he'll just toss his client to the wolves.
But, geez, if the other attorneys also see this social security thing as a major liability, I could be in for a big attorney bill, AND not get discharged... This could turn out to be a real BIG MESS, just because I did not want to go to the hassle of calling all my creditors! (Which I have to do, now, anyway, according to him. Though, I don't think I'll do it until I talk to at least one more attorney. I wouldn't go to this guy, anyway, I just didn't like his tone, nor his attitude.)
Would love to hear from someone out there who had this problem of a mixed up social.
It was just a "typo" thing, that I started using it wrong, and it was wrong not just on credit cards but wrong with my employer, medical insurance, car insurance, you name it... The one thing, though, is that when I found out it was wrong, about 6 years or so ago, I did NOT correct it with the creditors, only with my job and social security, and then my medical insurance which was connected with my job, to avoid problems. I did not change it with the creditors simply because I thought it was not necessary to do so since I already had most of the accounts for quite some time, and had been paying them under that number.
Seems to me that it is clear that if my intention were fraud, I would have used a whole different number, not just the last 2 numbers mixed up. And anyway, as far as I know, there was nothing wrong with my real number, there was no reason for me not to have used that, had I known it at the time!
But I guess it doesn't really matter what my intention was or that I made the payments faithfully for many years. All that matters apparently is that now the creditors have a reason to cry "Fraud!" and stop my bankruptcy. And if one does it, they will all most likely pile on, I imagine.
I hope the next attorney I talk to can reassure me that this will NOT be a problem! (And that he is right!)
Sorry this is so long. When I am upset I tend to ramble.
A NEW START!!!
be sure he thinks its okay.
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