Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

ARE you struggling with unpaid bills, lawsuits or perhaps an imminent judgment or wage garnishment by a creditor? Are you afraid of what creditors may do to you, your property or your assets? Most people have no clue so sometimes, the tendency is to ignore their debt problems and pretend that they don’t exist. The truth, however, is that ignoring your debt problems can be the worst mistake you’ll ever make.

People with debt problems often act like they can run away from their own shadow. Their shadow follows them wherever they go and whatever they do. They could change jobs, start another business, move to a new neighborhood or a different state but they just can’t get away from their "shadow" no matter how hard they try.

The undeniable truth is that you simply cannot run away from your debt problems. You can fool yourself into believing that your debt problems will simply take care of themselves and that somehow, they will magically disappear. This is foolish and unrealistic. One day, their debt problems blow up in their face and the most dreaded moment comes. They either get a lawsuit, a judgment or a wage garnishment and that is when they start to panic. By this time, their debt problems have gotten much worse than when they first started. Procrastination and poor planning do not help when you are facing debt problems. Why wait until your problems become a financial emergency?

I often meet people who have had debt problems and the worst credit for many years. They tell me that they don’t even know how much they owe anymore but somehow, they’ve been able to hide from their creditors and that "they will just deal with the problem when the time comes." If you look at these people’s credit report, they have a lot of negatives, collections, lawsuits, judgments, etc. Thus, they stand no chance in rebuilding credit until they do something about their situation.

Last week, a couple came to me because they were sued by a past creditor. This couple, unfortunately, had a property in Las Vegas that went into foreclosure two years ago and there was a second mortgage on the property for $120,000 that didn’t get paid. This second mortgage holder sued for payment on the $120,000 note last year but this couple simply ignored the lawsuit. At the time they were sued, the wife was unemployed and only the husband was working. Based on their financial situation at the time, they could have easily qualified to file for bankruptcy to wipe out the debt. But now, both are working and make more than enough income to be disqualified from getting bankruptcy relief. By not doing anything about their situation, they have made things worse. If they had acted sooner, they could have easily availed of the benefits provided by law- but they waited until it was too late.

If you are currently facing debt problems, do yourself a favor and find out what your options are. If you don’t act now, you may actually making your situation worse and not even know it. Call Toll-Free 1-866-477-7772 to schedule a free office consultation. We have offices in Glendale, Cerritos and West Covina.

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None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped over 4,000 clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1-866-477-7772.

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published October 31, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. C5 )