How to deal with unresponsive attorney?

[keitheii]

My attorney just did what you said needed to be done, they filed an ammended schedule showing my account as an exempt asset, but informed me that the creditor will most likely keep it frozen until the final discharge and there's nothing we can do about it... I'm really annoyed now because that's not what they told me at first.. But what can I do at this point anyway...

[keitheii]

I wanted to update everyone on the status of my BK and also ask for some advice. As I stated in a previous post, my attorney was informed by the bankruptcy trustee that he intended to deny my BK as he presumed abuse since in his eyes I failed the very same means test that my attorney said I passed on.

As luck would have it, I have a family member who offered to bail me out so rather than file chapter 13 I had my case dismissed.

My attorney, for no extra fee, offered to contact all of my creditors and request settlements to try and cut my debt payput in half. As stated before, they are not the most responsive people and difficult to get a hold of.

The one creditor (Discover) who forced me into BK to begin with due to the judgement was contacted first, their attorney sent the account back to Discover when the BK was filed, so they are no longer permitted to negotiate with my atty. They did reach out to Discover for permission to take the account back so they could however. Discover contacted my attorney directly and informed them that they weren't made aware my case was dismissed, so they need to research that before discussing a settlement. My atty forwarded them a copy of the dismissal. They claim to have made some calls but say Discover hasn't gotten back to them.

They told me they reached out to the other creditors but haven't heard back except for one who offered to settle for half, and told me they're very busy but will try to reach out to them when they can. I told them I want to get this over and done with and don't want wany surprises, executed judgments, etc... so I offered to do the work myself to contact the creditors and negotiate... I am very good with that.. They told me no, it would be better for them to do it.. however.. NOTHING is getting done and getting responses is like pulling teeth.

A few days ago I get a letter and call from a new collection agency for one of my Chase accounts, they claim they were never contacted by my attorney which really pissed me off considering I was told they reached out to everyone. I took it upon myself to negotiate, and I got them to offer a settlement for less than half of the original debt. The debt collector's conditions for the heavily reduced settlement were to make full payment the same day, I asked for a settlement agreement in writing before providing my payment details just to make sure they don't charge me for the full debt.. Due to how their system works, they couldn't email me anything until I email them first and their system takes a day for that process to complete... so to get this done in time, I called my attorney with them on the phone just to verify that what I was about to do was safe. My attorney's secratary told me he and his paralegal were with clients and couldn't talk, not even for a minute, even though when I was in his office I was interrupted by other clients at least 8 times... They told me not to pay anything and to refer the creditor to my attorney.

Considering the offer was contigent on paying within 24 hours, and my attorney's office has been less than responsive, I told the creditor I'll pay once I get the settlement offer in writing... I did get it, it looked good, and I paid it, done deal...

So now I'm wondering about the other creditors.. I negotiated a better deal on my own than my attorney has done.. and I'd like to get this done and over with... Is there any reason why I shouldnt try to negotiate with my creditors on my own considering my attorney's lack of respo nsiveness?
-Keith