I filed the post-filing Debtor Education certificate and Form 23 today, so that's done. Not that this is exciting in the least, but I had a VERY good and a VERY bad experience with the whole counseling thing so I thought I'd share.
When I first knew I was going to be filing Chapter 7, I contacted the only local credit counseling option available, which is Family Counseling Services, Inc. located at 1639 Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville, FL. They are also known as Family Foundation.
It was SO bad that I ended up walking out and filing an FTC complaint that same day. [email protected] -- I had to go through a few sites and bounced emails til I got the right one.
On a much happier note, I then found FLR Ministry in Tampa that is also approved for the district that I am in, and they were every bit as good as the first folks were evil. Not only did they not try to jam me into some debt management thing, they didn't even want my SSN. I did the whole thing online, when I gave them proof of disability they waived the fee for both pre- and post-counseling, and were just as sweet and helpful as anyone I've ever done business with. I can't say enough good about them. So if anyone is in the middle district of Florida and is looking for the mandatory pre- and post- bankruptcy counseling, these are the best. They are at www.FLRministry.com. I did my post-filing course yesterday, and got my certificate today just as promised. When you call them up they process you just as soon as they see your inputted forms. So, so nice. They may even get a Christmas card from me.
So there you have it. Please note that I have no financial affiliation with either place, just sharing what I know. And quite frankly, that first place, if the DOJ sends in a "secret shopper", they WILL lose their certification to provide bankruptcy counseling. Oh, it was horrible. I shouldn't be shocked anymore, but the number of people out there who claim to "help the poor and disadvantaged" but then rather help themselves to them always amazes me. But if you make a point of taking action (like a formal complaint) when they do, it might help someone else from getting screwed too.
When I first knew I was going to be filing Chapter 7, I contacted the only local credit counseling option available, which is Family Counseling Services, Inc. located at 1639 Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville, FL. They are also known as Family Foundation.
It was SO bad that I ended up walking out and filing an FTC complaint that same day. [email protected] -- I had to go through a few sites and bounced emails til I got the right one.
On a much happier note, I then found FLR Ministry in Tampa that is also approved for the district that I am in, and they were every bit as good as the first folks were evil. Not only did they not try to jam me into some debt management thing, they didn't even want my SSN. I did the whole thing online, when I gave them proof of disability they waived the fee for both pre- and post-counseling, and were just as sweet and helpful as anyone I've ever done business with. I can't say enough good about them. So if anyone is in the middle district of Florida and is looking for the mandatory pre- and post- bankruptcy counseling, these are the best. They are at www.FLRministry.com. I did my post-filing course yesterday, and got my certificate today just as promised. When you call them up they process you just as soon as they see your inputted forms. So, so nice. They may even get a Christmas card from me.
So there you have it. Please note that I have no financial affiliation with either place, just sharing what I know. And quite frankly, that first place, if the DOJ sends in a "secret shopper", they WILL lose their certification to provide bankruptcy counseling. Oh, it was horrible. I shouldn't be shocked anymore, but the number of people out there who claim to "help the poor and disadvantaged" but then rather help themselves to them always amazes me. But if you make a point of taking action (like a formal complaint) when they do, it might help someone else from getting screwed too.