Law & Associates False Information Clearwater Florida

THOMAS E. LAW II

LAW AND ASSOCIATES, LLC CLEARWATER FLORIDA

June 22, 2009

One by one, the state of Massachusetts is targeting firms that claim they can
"rescue" distressed homeowners from impending foreclosure. The Massachusetts Attorney Generals office has obtained a preliminary injunction against defendants H.O.P.E.

Alliance, Inc., (H.O.P.E. Alliance), Law & Associates, LLC and Thomas E. Law, II.

The preliminary injunction prohibits the defendants from publishing advertisements concerning foreclosure-related services, contacting Massachusetts consumers regarding foreclosures or mortgages, and taking and/or soliciting advance fees from consumers.

The preliminary injunction follows a temporary restraining order granted against the defendants in early June.

In a complaint centers on the all-too-common practice of soliciting unlawful advance fees for foreclosure-related services, and unnecessarily delayed negotiations regarding loan modifications. The two together, says Massachusetts Attorney General

Martha Coakley, usually pushes homeowners further into debt.

The complaint also alleges that H.O.P.E. Alliance, with the help of co-defendants Law

& Associates, LLC, and Thomas E. Law, II, solicited homeowners facing foreclosure by

sending letters that directed them to a toll-free number and to the website

www.helpnowalliance.org.

The website states that it is an alliance of nonprofit organizations and housing
counselors that can assist homeowners in obtaining a loan modification or stopping foreclosure. The website also states that it is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit
organization.

"H.O.P.E. Alliance is not registered with the IRS or the Attorney General's Office as a non-profit," Coakley said. The Attorney General's complaint also asserts that in its letter to homeowners, H.O.P.E. Alliance deceptively used a similar name to the government-sponsored non-profit organization, HOPE NOW Alliance.

During telephone calls with consumers, defendants apparently attempted to skirt the law by asking for a "donation" instead of a fee, but Coakley says the request is still an unlawful fee. Defendants also allegedly promised to obtain loan modifications for consumers, and then after months of delay either failed to provide any services or only provided inadequate assistance to homeowners.

Thanks for your clarifications, Thomas. As I stated (or at least implied), I know nothing of how your organization operates, so I can't fall on either side of this argument. I just want to make sure that all of the information is there for my fellow readers to make an informed decision.

I have to take issue with the following statement, however: "In a chapter 7 you surrender you secured debt to pay for all of your other debt and if there is equity in you home or other personal property it will most likely be sold at auction."

The use of the term "most likely" renders your comment flawed. This is because, if there is an actual danger of a substantial amount of personal property, or any real property, becoming part of the bankruptcy estate, the debtor will not lilely file a Chapter 7 in the first place.

In fact, the VAST majority of Chapter 7s are referred to as "no asset" cases. This means that all of the debtor's property is exempt from the estate under either the relevant state's judgment exemption laws, or federal bankruptcy exemption laws, depending on whether the given state has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions. For example, my Michigan debtors can take advantage of federal bankruptcy exemptions. For a joint filing, this can mean up to roughly $50,000 in home equity that is exempt from the estate. If the debtors' home equity in such a situation is less than $55,000, it is unlikely that the home will be seized.

In Indiana (and most other states), on the other hand, debtors have to rely on state judgment exemptions, which provide a great deal of leeway, but usually not as much as the federal laws. But the long and short of it is that Chapter 7s in which property is actually taken from the debtor are few and far between.

Your statement also evinces a general misunderstanding of Chapter 7. First, one DEBT cannot be used to pay another debt. So I assume that you meant "assets" rather than "debt." Further, the "surrenduring" of secured property is but one option that is allowed for under the Code. Secured assets can be surrendered, reaffirmed, abandoned, or redeemed, each of which is a unique concept.

You also brought up a point about reaffirmations that isn't correct. Assuming that a Chapter 7 debtor is up to date on secured debt obligations or hasn't otherwise defaulted, the bankruptcy code specifically forbids banks and other lenders from foreclosing on the debt or making significant adjustments to the terms.

Beyond that, if secured assets are made part of the estate and auctioned off, the auction price will pay for the secured debts BEFORE any other debts (excluding priority debts) are paid.

I generally don't think that you have a very firm understanding of bankruptcy law. How relevant that is to your work in particular is open to question, but you are giving out grossly inaccurate comments on this forum.

As for the rest of your comments, you have succesfully presented information showing that you are acting ethically. That's not to say that such is the truth, but you have allayed the majority of my concerns.

Best regards!

My response was accurate if the person writing works for a chapter 13 trustee. Which is what he implied or at least I took it as that. Your point regarding chapter 7 is ok but flawed. In a chapter 7 you surrender you secured debt to pay for all of your other debt and if there is equity in you home or other personal property it will most likely be sold at auction. Yes I can already hear you about reaffirmation of the debt, but then you still have to negotiate with the lender something affordable. Which is exactly what we do and with the added attorney fees the bank is going to charge from the BK that is in most cases very difficult. How many people are forced to file a 13 because they don't qualify for a 7.

Your claim about money mismanagement, I can see your point but in a lot of cases there are real hardships, most Americans are about two paychecks away from falling behind. So when a hardship hits like a medical issue or their car breaks down or divorce it's not mismanagement things just happen.
I would have to say that eighty or ninety percent of our client search us out or are referred to us from various agencies (state, local, federal, along with consumer protection advocates and non-profit or community centers).
We never knowingly solicit debtors in BK. In the rare occasion we send out a letter the information is gathered from county court records by a very reputable firm.
We are not a Law firm my last name is Law. We do not offer any legal advice or screen clients for any attorney. We do however know several paralegals that can very competently prepare the bankruptcy forms for a debtor to file themselves if they should feel bankruptcy is the way to go. The Paralegals were preparing these documents for free until the US Trustees Office felt that was not proper, so they are now charging a very small fee.
I have been in the foreclosure industry for twenty three years and have proven my ethics many times over. Ethics or morals don't come into play when it comes to mortgage companies or most attorneys.
As far as complaints go there are less than three tenths of one percent of our clients complaining about our service and even less request a refund. We do what we are hired to do. In some cases clients lie to us I can't help that, but even if they are we will still do everything we can to help them.

My response was accurate if the person writing works for a chapter 13 trustee. Which is what he implied or at least I took it as that. Your point regarding chapter 7 is ok but flawed. In a chapter 7 you surrender you secured debt to pay for all of your other debt and if there is equity in you home or other personal property it will most likely be sold at auction. Yes I can already hear you about reaffirmation of the debt, but then you still have to negotiate with the lender something affordable. Which is exactly what we do and with the added attorney fees the bank is going to charge from the BK that is in most cases very difficult. How many people are forced to file a 13 because they don't qualify for a 7.

Your claim about money mismanagement, I can see your point but in a lot of cases there are real hardships, most Americans are about two paychecks away from falling behind. So when a hardship hits like a medical issue or their car breaks down or divorce it's not mismanagement things just happen.
I would have to say that eighty or ninety percent of our client search us out or are referred to us from various agencies (state, local, federal, along with consumer protection advocates and non-profit or community centers).
We never knowingly solicit debtors in BK. In the rare occasion we send out a letter the information is gathered from county court records by a very reputable firm.
We are not a Law firm my last name is Law. We do not offer any legal advice or screen clients for any attorney. We do however know several paralegals that can very competently prepare the bankruptcy forms for a debtor to file themselves if they should feel bankruptcy is the way to go. The Paralegals were preparing these documents for free until the US Trustees Office felt that was not proper, so they are now charging a very small fee.
I have been in the foreclosure industry for twenty three years and have proven my ethics many times over. Ethics or morals don't come into play when it comes to mortgage companies or most attorneys.
As far as complaints go there are less than three tenths of one percent of our clients complaining about our service and even less request a refund. We do what we are hired to do. In some cases clients lie to us I can't help that, but even if they are we will still do everything we can to help them.

My response was accurate if the person writing works for a chapter 13 trustee. Which is what he implied or at least I took it as that. Your point regarding chapter 7 is ok but flawed. In a chapter 7 you surrender you secured debt to pay for all of your other debt and if there is equity in you home or other personal property it will most likely be sold at auction. Yes I can already hear you about reaffirmation of the debt, but then you still have to negotiate with the lender something affordable. Which is exactly what we do and with the added attorney fees the bank is going to charge from the BK that is in most cases very difficult. How many people are forced to file a 13 because they don't qualify for a 7.

Your claim about money mismanagement, I can see your point but in a lot of cases there are real hardships, most Americans are about two paychecks away from falling behind. So when a hardship hits like a medical issue or their car breaks down or divorce it's not mismanagement things just happen.
I would have to say that eighty or ninety percent of our client search us out or are referred to us from various agencies (state, local, federal, along with consumer protection advocates and non-profit or community centers).
We never knowingly solicit debtors in BK. In the rare occasion we send out a letter the information is gathered from county court records by a very reputable firm.
We are not a Law firm my last name is Law. We do not offer any legal advice or screen clients for any attorney. We do however know several paralegals that can very competently prepare the bankruptcy forms for a debtor to file themselves if they should feel bankruptcy is the way to go. The Paralegals were preparing these documents for free until the US Trustees Office felt that was not proper, so they are now charging a very small fee.
I have been in the foreclosure industry for twenty three years and have proven my ethics many times over. Ethics or morals don't come into play when it comes to mortgage companies or most attorneys.
As far as complaints go there are less than three tenths of one percent of our clients complaining about our service and even less request a refund. We do what we are hired to do. In some cases clients lie to us I can't help that, but even if they are we will still do everything we can to help them.

My response was accurate if the person writing works for a chapter 13 trustee. Which is what he implied or at least I took it as that. Your point regarding chapter 7 is ok but flawed. In a chapter 7 you surrender you secured debt to pay for all of your other debt and if there is equity in you home or other personal property it will most likely be sold at auction. Yes I can already hear you about reaffirmation of the debt, but then you still have to negotiate with the lender something affordable. Which is exactly what we do and with the added attorney fees the bank is going to charge from the BK that is in most cases very difficult. How many people are forced to file a 13 because they don't qualify for a 7.

Your claim about money mismanagement, I can see your point but in a lot of cases there are real hardships, most Americans are about two paychecks away from falling behind. So when a hardship hits like a medical issue or their car breaks down or divorce it's not mismanagement things just happen.
I would have to say that eighty or ninety percent of our client search us out or are referred to us from various agencies (state, local, federal, along with consumer protection advocates and non-profit or community centers).
We never knowingly solicit debtors in BK. In the rare occasion we send out a letter the information is gathered from county court records by a very reputable firm.
We are not a Law firm my last name is Law. We do not offer any legal advice or screen clients for any attorney. We do however know several paralegals that can very competently prepare the bankruptcy forms for a debtor to file themselves if they should feel bankruptcy is the way to go. The Paralegals were preparing these documents for free until the US Trustees Office felt that was not proper, so they are now charging a very small fee.
I have been in the foreclosure industry for twenty three years and have proven my ethics many times over. Ethics or morals don't come into play when it comes to mortgage companies or most attorneys.
As far as complaints go there are less than three tenths of one percent of our clients complaining about our service and even less request a refund. We do what we are hired to do. In some cases clients lie to us I can't help that, but even if they are we will still do everything we can to help them.

Thomas, your rebuttal is not quite accurate, or rather, not quite complete.

You are correct in that 85% of Chapter 13 debtors who are facing foreclosure will fail to meet the terms of their reorganization plan fairly soon into the game. And that should come as no surprise. The major flaw with Chapter 13 is that the debtor couldn't manage his financial affairs when he didn't have a strict regiment to follow, so how can it be reasonably expected that he will stick to the terms of the plan?

However, Chapter 7 debtors tend to fare prettty well following a bankruptcy case. They no longer have to make many of the payments that they were making before, so more money is available to take care of mortgages and other secured obligations.

So it's not entirely accurate to say that 85% of BK debtors will fail within the first 90 days. That stat is only applicable to Chapter 13.

I don't know how your company operates, but I am familiar with the techniques of predatory financial organizations (i.e. scouring databases for people facing foreclosures and with recent bankruptcy discharges). The report thus suggests that your outfit may fall into this camp. Could you share with us how your company solicits clients, and what you do for clients once they sign on? Also, are you a law firm or closely connected with a law firm? And if so, aren't you committing some serious ethical violations by your manner of soliciting clients?

And if you're not a law firm, are you advising clients to file Chapter 13 and then either preparing the petition/plan or referring the clients to a particular law firm?

I mean no disrepsect to you or your company, I'm just curious as to the particulars, which are HIGHLY relevant to a determination as to the validity of the complaint lodged against you.

Best regards.

AP if you work for a trustee you would know that 85% of all debtors that file a BK to stop a foreclosure fail within the first 90 days. As far as your investigation by now you must have discovered there is no basis for a complaint. I do agree that there are many companies that are taking advantage of homeowners. We are ambitiously working on ridding the industry of unscrupulous investors and just bad people in general. Before you imply we are a bad company you should do your homework. If you have the guts you would give me your trustee's name so I can do mine. I am sure your trustee has problems like any other.

I work for a Chapter 13 Trustee. Since the real estate market has tanked we have seen an alarming increase in the "mortgage negotitation" business. Typically, companies like Law & Associates offer their services to help negotiate a forebearance agreement or market the property for sale to avoid foreclosure.

They tend to take a significant payment up front ($800-$1,600), do nothing, and then file a bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure. 99% percent of the cases we see are dismissed and 100% of the cases are in such bad shape that the cases couldn't be confirmed without significant changes to th documents.

I am currently reviewing such a case prepared by Law & Associates. I found this site because I am investigating Law & Associates for possible referral to the US Trustee for disciplanary action.

If you are facing foreclosure and your mortgage company is not willing to do a forebearance agreement, consult an attorney. Consultations are, generally speaking, free and all of your options can be explored.

This Is Thomas Law owner of Law & Associates, LLC. I take a very serious approach to these types of complaints. If Tammy received a letter from us she was being reported at least 90 days past due on their mortgage. Our letter would have said as much. If anybody believes a collections agent at their mortgage company they are very uneducated. Of coarse the mortgage company is going to tell a borrower that any company trying to help is a scam; Do you think they want you to know about all of your options? I would love to know what lender told you that, because slander is actionable. Nobody has ever been ripped off by my company. By the way when you fall out of the plan your lender gave you don't call us. I do believe this is a competitor putting false complaints up and asking for email responses.