How will bankruptcy protect me from the unfair terms of a payday loan?
Transcript:
Some of the most aggressive predators that we come across are payday loan lenders. These payday loan lenders are notorious for charging high interest rates and putting people in a situation where it's near impossible to pay off these loans and get back to square one. Question often arises where a client asks me, can we wipe out the payday loans, and what can we do to stop these payday loan lenders?
The bankruptcy laws apply to the payday loan lenders just like they do all other creditors that would normally be encountered in a bankruptcy case. Now there are a couple of unique situations that apply directly to these payday loan lenders. Because of their aggressive tactics, one common situation that we come across is that in order to sign up for a loan in the first place, our clients have already granted the payday loan lenders direct access to their bank account. Now this means when the money is owed, they simply go into your bank and they take it out.
What we find is that when we file for bankruptcy and we send out a notice of bankruptcy, there are situations where the payday loan lenders are slow to update their systems and they continue to take money out of your bank account even after you've filed for bankruptcy. That's why it's very important to find an attorney that is aware of these issues, that will contact the payday loan lenders immediately upon filing your bankruptcy so that there isn't this issue.
Now, sometimes it happens where these payday loan lenders, either they're incompetent and they don't update their systems to reflect there's a bankruptcy automatic stay in place. In other words, that they can't touch your money in your bank account. Or they simply are ignoring the bankruptcy laws. This is money that can be taken back from those payday loan lenders. As long as we filed for bankruptcy before they take the money, that's money that we can get back. Again, I urge you that if you have payday loans, to speak with a bankruptcy attorney who can help you fight these very aggressive creditors and keep them off your back.
