When you struggle to pay your bills, it often seems like you can never get a break. The phone rings. It’s one of your creditors trying to convince you to make promises you know you can’t keep. You go to the mailbox and find letters threatening legal action. We can help.

At the law office of Perry O’Brian, we bring more than 36 years of experience to people facing financial challenges. Because bankruptcy is all we do, we know how to work with your creditors to put an end to the incessant calls and letters.

We work with individuals and small businesses, using our considerable knowledge of the laws and procedures to simplify your situation to minimize stress and anxiety. When you hire us to help you stop creditor harassment, we work hard to respond to all your concerns promptly.

Protecting You From Creditor Harassment

We offer an initial plan for avoiding or minimizing creditor harassment, where we have you refer all calls from creditors to us. The first time a creditor calls, you ask them to contact us with any questions or concerns about your debt. Then, we work directly with them, seeking arrangements with your approval.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

We are well-versed in the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. We know when creditors have crossed the line. We take swift action to protect your rights when creditors violate the provisions of the statute.

The Automatic Stay

We also help you put an end to creditor harassment with a personal or business bankruptcy filing. When you file your petition, an automatic stay immediately goes into effect, prohibiting creditors from calling, writing, or taking legal action to collect a debt. In addition, we protect your rights when creditors violate the provisions of the bankruptcy laws.

Post-filing Stay & Permanent Injunction Violations

Let’s be clear. Some creditors still try to collect debts after you file for bankruptcy or receive your discharge. They may try to tell you that the debt was not included in your bankruptcy or, for some reason, you still owe the money.

Do not be fooled! If any creditor tries to collect a debt from you after you have filed bankruptcy and have received your discharge, it is against the law. If they persist in collecting, you can sue them in bankruptcy court and obtain monetary damages, including attorney fees.

Let us know if any creditor or third-party debt collector contacts you post-filing. We tell them to stop. If that does not work, we file an adversary action in bankruptcy court seeking damages on your behalf.

Fair Credit Reporting Act

A few months after your bankruptcy case is over, we recommend you obtain a free credit report to see if the debts are being properly reported as “discharged in bankruptcy.” If not, you can ask that your credit report be corrected. If the report is not corrected, you can sue the creditor for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

You can also file an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy seeking damages for violation of the permanent injunction. You must let us know if any creditor or any third-party debt collector tries to collect discharged bankruptcy debt.