Start Addressing a Financial or Legal Issue

When Every Action Is Important: Five Steps to Take to Start Addressing a Financial or Legal Issue

Finding out that a potential client has ignored a legal or financial issue that could have been easily resolved if they had simply paid attention to correspondence from a lender or entrusted their issue to the appropriate professional is the worst thing that can happen. It’s true that this is sometimes easier said than done.

There was little that struggling business owners or consumers could have done to prepare them for their financial or legal challenges during what the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, referred to as “the worst financial crisis in modern history.” People who are overwhelmed by legal or financial issues frequently find themselves in a state of depression or anxiety.

The following is a list of five expert recommendations that can help lift one out of the grip of “economic” and “legal” depression and raise one’s chances of successfully resolving a legal or financial issue: 1. Stop disregarding your messages. By law, creditors are required to send written notices to delinquent borrowers advising them of crucial legal rights and timeframes for exercising those rights.

These various rights and defenses may be forfeited if a deadline is missed. Recognize that responding initially to a complaint is much easier than reversing a judgment or reopening a legal proceeding. Take, for instance, a default on a mortgage; A borrower can have their mortgage modification request re-evaluated within certain federal and state time frames even after it has been denied at the underwriting level. If you miss that deadline, it will be nearly impossible to reapply to the lender. 2. Pick up the phone.

Although it might seem counterintuitive, in accordance with federal law (the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act), answer one collection call and tell the caller to stop calling rather than answering multiple calls from creditors, which only serves to exacerbate one’s anxiety. If a debt collector calls after the initial warning, they run the risk of being sued. Instead of focusing on the anxiety and fear, channel the negative energy into creating a strategy for seeking professional help.

3. Create a strategy. When the borrower presents a realistic plan for how they will repay a loan, nothing makes lenders and collectors feel better about a delinquent file. The last option should be to declare bankruptcy. It serves no one’s interests.

Spend some time creating a repayment strategy. It is preferable to make a timely and reasonable proposal to the lender before they unilaterally proceed to invoke their legal remedies and impose even less favorable terms in matters that are more serious than some late payments on credit cards or medical bills, such as a mortgage or commercial loan. 4. Get in order. Sort documents and correspondence according to creditor. Separate them into manila folders and stack them chronologically.

Meetings with an advisor will run more smoothly as a result of this. Most importantly, keep a written record of who said what and when going forward. Because it holds creditors and collectors accountable for their words and actions, a written log should never be discounted. 5. Find the appropriate expert. Over 100 legal specialties and 81 subspecialties are included in the Martindale Directory.

Recognize that not all lawyers are created equal. A real estate lawyer is not the same as a divorce lawyer, and a real estate lawyer may not be a commercial real estate lawyer. You can get assistance in creating a strategy that is appropriate for your situation from the right professional. This is not the time to start your own “jail house” law practice. Legal expertise and knowledge can only be refined over the course of many years. When it comes to dealing with imminent financial or legal difficulties, time is not a luxury.