Florida Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Living in Southwest Florida is never dull. Now, despite having beautiful weather and beaches, we are dealing with real economic issues which will determine the future paths taken by resident and business owners in Southwest Florida. Many business owners are closing their doors because of cash flow. Residents are feeling the pinch at the pump and in the grocery stores. Many people are opting to stay at home for dinner, rather than drive and then pay for that luxury. Of course, it is not that bad yet, but I can see it coming on the horizon. When people cannot afford to fill up their gas tanks, how are they going to go out and eat. Naturally, the next logical question is: How can they pay mortgage payments on a home if they cannot afford to fill up their tanks.

Continue reading "Mortgage Modifications Are Still Not Working." »

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Posted In: Consumer Protection , Foreclosure Defense , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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In April I wrote a blog about the airline industry and asked a question: Is the word airline synonymous with bankruptcy? At the time I intended for it to be a bit of a joke because four (4) different airlines had filed bankruptcy. Now, several months later, it could prove to be almost prophetic. Back then, Skybus, ATA, Aloha and Frontier had filed for bankruptcy protection. Delta recently emerged from bankruptcy protection and announced that it was planning a merger with Northwest, and Alitalia was on the brink of bankruptcy. All in all, things weren't looking so good for the airlines.

Continue reading "Airlines Are No Longer Flying High" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Consumer Protection , Southwest Florida News

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As a consumer bankruptcy attorney in Southwest Florida, I hear about financial news as it happens. This is particularly true when it comes to creditors hitting hard times. Many of my clients keep me updated with creditor information like TIB Financial Corp. TIB bank and its affiliates finance cars and real estate. Their 2008 first quarter loss was $1.44 million dollars. This information alone is not so bad; however, when you combine it with the losses from the fourth quarter of 2007 of $6.49 million, then you start to see a problem. In the last 6 months, TIB Financial Corp. has lost almost $8 million.

Continue reading "TIB Financial Corp Showing Losses" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Consumer Protection , Economic Data , Southwest Florida News

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Recently, an article was published by John Leland in the New York Times, American Album series about a local gentleman named B. Keith Councell, a fourth generation bee keeper. I applaud the writer, Mr. Leland, who submitted an excellent article on Mr. Councell, and his calling as the Southwest Florida Bee-man; however, there is also a subliminal message that is very troubling for those of us who live in Southwest Florida. The subliminal message is very simple, foreclosures are a huge problem for our community and that problem has to be dealt with now.

Continue reading "Are Bees Capitalizing On The Foreclosure Market?" »

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Posted In: Foreclosure Defense , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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As a Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney, I am seeing bankruptcy clients each and every day who are surrendering their homes in the bankruptcy process. Some individuals are choosing not to file bankruptcy and are deciding to leave their homes. Right now, Southwest Florida is experiencing one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. People are literally walking away from their homes each and every day. Port Charlotte, Cape Coral and Lehigh are experiencing higher rates of foreclosure than other areas of Florida. Each day I speak with the people who are suffering through this problem, and they all tell me the same thing. I am going to mail the keys to my mortgage company or servicer.

Continue reading "What is Jingle Mail?" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy Myths , Consumer Protection , Life After Bankruptcy , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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It seems that you cannot go anywhere today without hearing someone speaking about what is going on with the foreclosures in Southwest Florida. It's in the newspapers and on the minds of many people living in Southwest Florida. Most people in Southwest Florida will fall into one of three categories: First, there are the rich that will never have to worry about the foreclosure crisis, so we will leave them out of this. We will talk about them later when the stock market takes a dive, and then we can say, we told you so, but you were too busy attending wine auctions that you missed all of the economic indicators predicting a recession. Second, you have the middle class, which is our largest group. Many of these individuals are homeowners with mortgages on their primary residences, and they are feeling the pinch of the recession as their home values plummet. These are the people who have either lost their homes already, live in fear of losing their homes, or are renting somewhere else in an attempt to save their homes.

Continue reading "Foreclosures In Southwest Florida: It's A Community Problem" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Consumer Protection , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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Bankruptcy Filing Across the Nation achieved a milestone since the inception of BAPCPA (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) in October 2005. March filings were in excess of 90,000, and based upon a 21 working days in March, bankruptcy filings reached 4,300 per day.

Continue reading "Bankruptcy Filings Exceed 4000 A Day In March" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Southwest Florida News

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Yesterday, Florida Senator, Mel Martinez, addressed the Florida Legislature about several issues including the mortgage crisis. Senator Martinez stated in his newsletter that the problems Floridians face, like the environment and finances, are compounded by the national economy and the housing crisis. He made reference in the newsletter to initiative that are being implemented at the Federal Level to help the economy and the mortgage crisis. That's it. That's all it states in the newsletter. No kidding. What kind of message is that?

Continue reading "Senator Martinez Addresses The Florida Legislature About Foreclosure Problem" »

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Posted In: Consumer Protection , Economic Data , Legislative Updates , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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This post is submitted by Carmen Dellutri, Esq. of The Dellutri Law Group, P.A. Mr. Dellutri is a Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney and is one of the founding members of the Bankruptcy Law Network, Mortgage Law Network, Debt Law Network and the Credit Law Network.

Citigroup just announced plans to fire approximately 2,000 investment bankers. This release comes just days after the Fed had to bail out Bear Stearns with billions of dollars in guarantees. What does this mean to you? me? and the future of this country?

Continue reading "CitiGroup Announces Plans to Lay Off 2000 Investment Banker" »

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Posted In: Consumer Protection , Economic Data , Southwest Florida News

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Yesterday, on a Sunday, the Fed cut the discount interest rate a quarter of a point and still the Asian markets tumbled this morning. The Fed also helped bail out Bear Stearns over the weekend and gave the green light for JP Morgan to buy out Bear Stearns for $2 a share. Bennie and the Feds were very busy this weekend. But what does this mean for the average guy on the street? Well, the interest rate cuts are good if you are in the market to borrow money or if you are looking to consolidate your debt?

Continue reading "To Consolidate or Not to Consolidate? That is the Question." »

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Posted In: Consumer Protection , Credit Card Industry , Good News , Southwest Florida News

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This post was written by Carmen Dellutri, Esq. of The Dellutri Law Group, P.A. Carmen Dellutri is a Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney and is one of the founding members of the Bankruptcy Law Network.

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, bankruptcy filings rose again in February 2008. Consumers filed approximately 76,120 petitions for bankruptcy relief. This total was up from the 66,050 filed in January. Interestingly, Chapter 13 bankruptcies were over 36% of the filings.

Continue reading "Bankruptcy Filings Up Again" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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This post is published by Carmen Dellutri, Esq. of The Dellutri Law Group, P.A. and a founding member of the Bankruptcy Law Network, Debt Law Network, Credit Law Network and Mortgage Law Network.

Unfortunately, Divorce and Bankruptcy go hand in hand in today's society. The problems that are associated with divorce and credit cards are all too familiar to bankruptcy attorneys. Usually, the problems don't arise until one of the parties stops paying on the debts that they agreed to pay in the divorce. Then the collection calls start, and the person who shouldn't be responsible for the debt contacts my office.

Continue reading "Divorce, Joint Credit Cards And Bankruptcy" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Southwest Florida News

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I just attended a hearing in small claims court for two of my clients. I haven't been in small claims court for a couple of months. However, it appears that the number of small claims court filings are growing exponentially. I spoke with the attorney who is repesenting the creditors as local counsel, and he told me that he is working 7 days a week trying to keep up with the number of lawsuits coming into his office. He said that he has never seen anything like this. He predicted that the volume of lawsuits would continue through 2009. He based this upon the volumes of debt being purchased at substantial discounts. All of this debt will need to be collected in some way, shape or form.

Continue reading "Small Claims Court Are Being Overwhelmed By Collection Lawsuits" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Southwest Florida News

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This post is written by Carmen Dellutri, Esq. of the Dellutri Law Group, P.A. Carmen Dellutri is a Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney with offices in Port Charlotte, Fort Myers and Naples, Florida.

In the month of February2008, consumers across the nation filed over 76,000 bankruptcies. This is a staggering number, and the United States has not seen a number like this since before the BAPCPA. As you will recall, BAPCPA is the name of the new bankruptcy law which is now over 2 years old. The interesting part of this story is that the number of bankruptcy filings was up over 15% from January. That means over 10,000 more cases were filed in February. This may be a sign of things to come in the future.

Continue reading "Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Rise in February" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Bankruptcy Statistics , Economic Data , Southwest Florida News

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This blog is written by Carmen Dellutri, Esq., Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney and a founding member of the Dellutri Law Group, P.A. and the Bankruptcy Law Network.

On January 28, 2008, the House of Representatives introduced a new piece of legislation called the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act. I am in the process of writing a series of blogs on this topic for the Bankruptcy Law Network You can view a copy of Part I. On the one hand, I am glad that individuals who are suffering under the immense pressure of medical bills that they cannot pay will get some added relief. However, the lawyer in me is skeptical. After reading the bill one time, it contains some gaping holes that will need to be filled prior to becoming law.

Continue reading "Bankruptcy For Medical Bills May Be On The Horizon" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy News , Good News , Southwest Florida News

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January 2008 was the beginning of the new year for most people in Southwest Florida, and for of our other citizens, it was more bad news of the same old variety. In January 2008, 1,833 foreclosure lawsuits were filed in Lee County. This is a very depressing statistic. Lee County had approximately10,700 foreclosure lawsuits filed in 2007. In 2006, the number was approximately 3, 920. The increase is dramatic, but understandable. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 36 months, you know what happened in the Lee County real estate market.

Continue reading "New Foreclosure Record Set For January 2008 In Lee County, Florida" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy Myths , Life After Bankruptcy , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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The best business in 2007 was the foreclosure business. Foreclosures were up 75% last year nationwide. Nationwide, at least 1% of all households were in some type of foreclosure. According to the 2007 United States Foreclosure Market Report, there were 2,203,295 mortgage foreclosures filed in the United States. Foreclosure mills (law firms that process foreclosures) and their attorneys were working overtime trying to keep up with the demand. Not many other businesses can say that their business was up 75% over the year before.

Continue reading "Nationwide Foreclosures Soar - 765 a day in Florida" »

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Posted In: Foreclosure Defense , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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This post is published by Carmen Dellutri, Esq. Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney.

You may recall that bankruptcy filings surged in 2005 prior to the bankruptcy laws being changed. As expected, 2006 was a relatively slow year in the bankruptcy world when it came to new filings; however, each and every bankruptcy attorney truly committed to his or her practice knew what was going to happen in the future.

Continue reading "Bankruptcy Filings Surged in 2007 And Will Continue in 2008 by Bankruptcy Attorney Carmen Dellutri" »

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Posted In: Bankruptcy Statistics , Foreclosure Defense , Mortgage Foreclosures , Southwest Florida News

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Many of you may be wondering why I put a blog with Deep Recession in the title in the good news category. Well actually, to me, it is good news because the depth of the liquidity problem that this country is facing is finally coming to light. If I were to say something similar it wouldn't be news worthy. However, when a Harvard Professor, who was a former Treasury Secretary, mentions the words Deep Recession, it is newsworthy, until the next celebrity takes steroids or becomes pregnant or something else news-worthy.

Continue reading "Harvard Professor Calling For New Bankruptcy Bill And Tax Cuts to Stop Deep Recession" »

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Posted In: Good News , Legislative Updates , Southwest Florida News

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