How to know you are a victim of Identity Theft in Canada?

Identity theft is increasing and making life miserable for millions. Observing some of the activities can tell that your identity is compromised, and you should take action.

Following are the incidents that can warn you about identity theft:

  1. If you get the Equifax, TransUnion, or Experian reviews showing your credit rating has been degraded, it is time to consider that somebody is fiddling with your identity.
  2. If you get astronomical bills for any credit card that you do not own, do not take it as a digital error but take it seriously. Some fraudsters might have stolen your personal information, email id, opened an account in your name and address, and enjoyed benefits, making you liable to pay.
  3. Again if you are suddenly getting regular calls from some debtors asking for payment for the transactions made by you using an account that you never opened, be sure hackers have stolen your identity.
  4. If you notice your mailbox is not getting essential mails, either physical posts or emails, it may so happen that somebody is fiddling with them. It is time to understand that you are a victim of identity theft.
  5. As you go on to file your tax returns and find that it has already been submitted, be sure some imposters have filed the tax using your social security number or SIN.

Stay alert of these trends and do the needful.

You can connect to a Canadian legal service provider to help with your identity theft issue. https://www.requestlegalservice.com/category/category/identity-theft-canada/

Source: https://www.legalline.ca/legal-answers/identity-theft/

 

How to Protect Your Identity to Commit Utility Fraud?

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How can a lawyer help you with credit repair?

According to the 2013 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study report, 50% of consumers had errors in their three major credit reports - a clear case for needing credit repair.

 

Whether there are errors, these mistakes cause your credit score to drop.

“For that reason a consumer might have to pay higher interest rates over the lifetime of a loan.”

Today, it is hard to remove inaccuracies from consumer credit reports.

For example, in 2013, an Oregon lady won a suit against a credit bureau after attempting unsuccessfully for two years to correct inaccuracies and her birthday and social security number.

Correcting your credit report or repairing errors causes frustration because it takes a long time and is complicated.

However, given the importance of your credit score, you can not ignore it.

It could make or break your ability to seek a home loan or get a job.

Therefore, in these situations, you need the assistance of qualified credit repair lawyers.

 

What is the definition of credit repair?

Credit repair is the method to challenge questionable negative entries on your credit report.

These entries may be inaccurate, misleading, unverifiable, or otherwise blemished.

A 2014 report from Consumers Union stated that an erroneous 30-day bank card delinquency on your credit report might lead to a 100-point drop in your credit score.

Credit repair aims to clean up your reports and ultimately improve your score.

 

How can a lawyer help you with credit repair?

Credit repair lawyers perform a variety of services geared towards repairing your credit, including:

  • Receiving your credit reports to evaluate potential errors or ways in which to enhance your score
  • Negotiating with credit reporting agencies to get rid of negative items from your credit report, like late payments, charge-offs, and foreclosures
  • Negotiating settlement amounts along with your creditors
  • Representing you in court if a creditor sues you
  • Giving you proper guidelines to dismiss any suit filed against you by a creditor
  • Removing frustration from the process

You can do most of the things a credit repair lawyer can do.

However, it is a very tough job for anybody without legal training.

There is a lot of work and many legal proceedings involved, which are very complicated and frustrating.

For example, making phone calls and sending correspondence to credit bureaus.

A credit repair lawyer with vast experience in credit repair who is repeatedly dealing with credit bureaus and understands consumer rights uses that expertise on your behalf to provide you with the convenience of repairing your credit with minimal frustration.

As a result, an experienced lawyer will give you a better result than if you do the work yourself.

 

If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact experienced and learned credit repair lawyers.

 

What are the various Credit Repair Laws in the US?

On By admin Posted in Credit repairTagged

How can a lawyer help you avoid foreclosure?

The foreclosure process and avoiding foreclosure are tough to understand and master, even for a lawyer.

For instance, court procedures vary from state to state and even from court to court.

Also, non-judicial foreclosure procedures are often entirely different in different states.

If you wish to fight foreclosure or avoid foreclosure in the first place, you’ll need to understand how to file documents with the court, rules of evidence, and more.

An experienced and competent foreclosure lawyer will assist you in following the rules and advise you of your various options.

For instance, a lawyer can assist you in avoiding foreclosure altogether by working out a “loss mitigation” option (like a loan modification), representing you throughout the foreclosure action, or helping you to save your home in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

A lawyer will work together with your loaner to avoid foreclosure.

A lawyer could be ready to work out a deal with the bank to avoid foreclosure if given enough time.

Here are examples of how a lawyer will facilitate that and avoid going to court.

 

Help you modify your loan.

A loan modification is an agreement between the borrower and the loaner that changes the loan’s original terms. Your lawyer will assist you in the loan modification method.

“(Note that some states, like California, do not permit a lawyer to accept payment until after the lawyer has performed every service associated with a modification that they were contracted to perform or represented that they would perform. Cal. Civ. Code § 2944.7.)”

A modification may lower the rate of interest or extend the amortization term.

However, your foreclosure lawyer should also review the conditions of any modification that the investor offers you.

They will examine the documents to make sure there are no illegal charges – like improper fees or advances – added to the total balance. So it ensures the modification is in your best interest.

Your lawyer will inform you about loss mitigation options. In addition, certain types of loans, such as the Fair Housing Administration (FHA), have unique loss mitigation options.

These allow you to bring your balance into good standing. For instance, you may qualify for a “partial claim,” which could be a particular sort of loan that may bring your payments up to date.

However, not all lenders can allow you to realize every possible option.

On the other hand, your lawyer will advise you about the available options.

 

Ensure that the loaner follows the rules

Lenders aren’t always helpful when it comes to processing loan modification applications.

This is despite federal (and generally state) law mandating strict requirements for lenders.

A lawyer will ensure that the loaner follows all relevant laws and processes your application promptly.

As per federal law, if you submit a complete loss mitigation application more than  37 days before a foreclosure sale, the servicer should consider the application and provide enough time to reply before asking the court for a foreclosure judgment or order of sale or conducting a foreclosure sale.

Your lawyer will help you recognize if the loaner violates any relevant laws. In addition, they may assist you in enforcing your rights and potentially avoiding foreclosure.

Similarly, your lawyer represents you during foreclosure mediation.

Some states offer foreclosure mediation. Here, the homeowner and the loaner come together to work out an alternative to foreclosure.

Your lawyer will represent you in the negotiation method to confirm that the bank treats you fairly.

 

Defenses a lawyer will raise in court to avoid foreclosure

A lawyer may raise certain defenses or illustrate errors that the bank made during the process.

Potential arguments can include:

  • the loaner or mortgage servicer (on behalf of the lender) broke the loan contract by, for example, failing to accept your payment (read regarding common servicer errors)
  • the foreclosing party can’t prove that it owns the mortgage debt
  • you’re an active military member entitled to protection against foreclosure under the federal Service members Civil Relief Act
  • the loaner failed to follow correct foreclosure procedures under state law

If your attorney raises a legitimate defense to avoid foreclosure, and if the court agrees with the argument, the loaner may consider a settlement, or the court may dismiss the foreclosure.

 

Help You File for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy may be a potential solution if your investor won’t modify your loan or your pockets aren’t deep enough to fund a costly legal battle.

If you qualify, you’ll keep your house and your arrears current over three to five years. (For additional info, see Secured Claims in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: Am I able to Catch up on My House or car Payment?)

 

How to avoid foreclosure – questions for your lawyer

  1. Do I have any defense against foreclosure?
  2. How long can the foreclosure process take in my case?
  3. Can you help me work out an alternative to foreclosure with my lender?

If you need any further information regarding foreclosure, don’t hesitate to contact a learned lawyer.

 

Advantages of working with a bankruptcy lawyer

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When Do Startup Businesses Need to Hire a Lawyer?

Before we can talk about whether or not your startup business requires a lawyer, we need to establish exactly what a startup is.

Imagine you have an idea for a business. And you have everything you need to start it: a plan, passion, determination.

The only thing you lack is funding. 🙁

To get this funding, you could sell shares in your business to other people. If your business takes off, you can pay them a certain percentage of your profits.

The difference between a startup and a small business is that a startup has the ambition and the drive to become bigger and more profitable.

The reality is that most businesses (including startups) don’t require a lawyer.

More often than not, hiring a lawyer will be a waste of money.

The business owner can often sort out everything related to law (e.g., trading standards, taxation). Much of this doesn’t require particularly in-depth knowledge, and you can easily research most of the information.

As well as costing you a lot, a lawyer might overcomplicate things.

However, in some situations, you may need a lawyer for your startup

Those situations could include:

  • If a customer has accused you of breaking trading standard laws and you know that you haven’t. It could be wise to hire a lawyer to ensure you don’t get wrongfully punished.
  • When the government has taxed you too much and refuses to give you a rebate.

A lawyer can take the state to court and ensure that you get every penny owed. Read more on how a tax attorney can help you here.

However, even in the examples above, it could be worth asking if it’s worth paying for a lawyer. They may cost you more than if you just left things as they were.

 

What other situations might require a lawyer?

Another situation where you might require a lawyer is when it comes to agreeing with who gets what in terms of profits. There may be disputes between the business owners or between the owners and shareholders.

Also, consider hiring a lawyer when incorporating other businesses into your startup, hiring employees, negotiating contracts, and copyrighting intellectual property.

Remember, a lawyer isn’t necessary most of the time and won’t provide you with anything other than advice.

However, in any case, if you have decided that you need a lawyer for your startup, be careful!

You need to hire a competent lawyer who knows what they’re doing. Who doesn’t charge you more, and who doesn’t charge you any hidden fees.

You should find an affordable lawyer here.

The majority of all businesses – startups included – don’t need any lawyers as they won’t be able to provide anything that you can’t find via Google in an hour or so.

However, if you need one for your startup or small business, make sure you’re going to an experienced lawyer who will provide good value for money.

 

Here are five critical points to turn your startup into a big business.

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How to turn your small business into big business?

There is a difference between running a small business and successfully running a small business. But unfortunately, every 8 out of 10 startups fall in just 2-5 years of their birth just because they didn’t concentrate on the most important key points of doing a small business into big business.

Let’s back to your business and look at the following few success points pragmatic enough to change your approach to managing the business.

1. Concentrate on product quality, not its look.

You cannot fake quality. You can try, but it doesn’t work for a long time. People will pay more if they get quality rather than paying less for a low-quality product. Quality is tangible. Focus on quality, and transform a one-time customer into a long-term buyer.

It’s also a great marketing technique, and customers love to talk about quality products with others and feel proud to show quality products. Remember, this is internet marketing time, information flow in a few seconds, and social media is the key performer of this marketing. Few good or bad reviews can change your business destiny, too, in no time.

2. Concentrate on customer service.

Fast replies make you trustworthy and indeed make fast revenue. How do you feel when you call customer care, and you need to wait? Don’t we frustrate when customer service call/chat takes much longer than necessary? Yes, we do, and so do your customers.

Your customer should feel valuable when they communicate with your business. Customer is God and should not be served with a bad experience. Bad like following British Airways response to Hasan Syed when Hasan lost his baggage, and astonishing 76,000 Twitter users have seen this. What damage to BA. duh

3. Keep looking for cost-cutting.

Every penny counts, and it goes further in small business “Every penny saved is every penny invested.” The more you save, the more you can invest in your business. Cost-cutting is not that simple, but it can make a big difference to your business. It would be best to keep your eyes on methods to reduce expenses. Try to find cost-cutting measures like

  • Sharing office space
  • Lowering salary
  • Energy-saving appliances
  • Less use of paper
  • Leverage social media marketing instead of paid marketing

4. Improve your product.

No matter how good is your product, there is always room for improvement. Focusing on new and innovative ideas to improve product moves your business to the front line.

Listen to your customers, ask their requirements, get feedback, and provide what they need. Improving your products from time to time helps you keep your audience engaged.

5. Try to retain high-quality customers.

Customers come customers go, that’s common, but few customers can bring you money regularly, put down your operating expenses, and pay the bills. There are always some high-quality customers who don’t want to keep searching for sales discounts.

These loyal customers can always buy your products if you keep their plate full with quality and good customer service. So give them excellent customer service, put them on priority, listen to them and make sure you contact them regularly. Retaining high-quality customers can bring you revenue regularly and keep you stress-free on bad business days.

When Do Startup Businesses Need to Hire a Lawyer?

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How automatic stay works in bankruptcy cases?

When a debtor files for bankruptcy, he gets protected by an automatic stay in bankruptcy.

An automatic stay provides a debtor or debtors who have filed for bankruptcy legal protection from the creditors who want their owed money back.

Until the bankruptcy case is discharged or becomes official by the completion of the court procedure, the automatic stay continues and protects the debtor.

Typically, the automatic stay in bankruptcy comes into effect when filing for bankruptcy and continues until the time the case is discharged.

However, this rule has certain exceptions. For example, if the debtor had filed for bankruptcy at any time in the year before the current year of filing and got that case dismissed before completion, then the duration of the automatic stay is only 30 days.

With this rule, people who want to protect themselves by automatic stay but have no intention of filing for bankruptcy can be prevented from doing so.

Sometimes a case may take a longer time to get completed while there is an urgent need to repay a debt.

In such a case, the creditor can request the judge to lift the automatic stay. This lifting is done only for that one creditor and gives him the legal right to repay his owed debts.

However, this can be done only by a judge’s order after furnishing a good reason for it.

Take action

If you have debts more than you can repay, then the bankruptcy process provides you protection.

However, there are many legal complexities involved in these proceedings, and consulting with a lawyer can benefit you.

 

How chapter 11 help you in reorganization?

On By admin Posted in BankruptcyTagged

How to remove bankruptcy filing from credit report?

While bankruptcy can help you rid yourself of debts, it doesn’t come without disadvantages.

Bankruptcy filing is a public record and easily accessible to major credit reporting agencies. As a result, it can considerably impact your credit score and make potential lenders wary of dealing with you.

Bankruptcy can make it difficult for you to get credit for an extended period, and if you do get credit, the interest rates will be exorbitant.

A legitimate bankruptcy can never be removed from your credit report before time, which varies from 7 to 10 years, depending on the chapter.

How to remove bankruptcy filing from credit reports?

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), removing accurate negative information from a credit report isn’t possible.

However, it is possible to reduce the duration that a filing is reported. A bankruptcy filing can also be removed in case of an error or identity theft.

As per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, an individual’s credit report can have bankruptcy filing for ten years. The debtor must get it done timely by following up with credit reporting agencies.

Under Chapter 13, a bankruptcy filing can be removed from the credit report in 7 years. It encourages Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing since repayment of debts by the debtors is done within 3 to 5 years.

Read More about Bankruptcy Chapters

Vacation of bankruptcy occurs when a debtor feels that he can find a solution to his problem. This bankruptcy appears on his credit report and can be removed by asking the bankruptcy court.

Any errors in the bankruptcy filing should be removed immediately. These can be clerical errors or cases of mistaken identity, or identity theft. In the latter, an additional fraud alert must also be placed.

 

How chapter 11 help you in reorganization?

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