The Bankruptcy Lawyers Blog

Earlier this month BusinessWeek  wrote about Max Gardner's Bankruptcy Boot Camp, and last week the Wall Street Journal devoted an article to Max's mission as well.  It's not a surprise that Max's bankruptcy boot camp is getting so much attention.  People are fed up with the bogus fees and questionable practices employed by many credit and collection companies, and the rapidly rising foreclosure rates across the country have turned a spotlight on the predatory lending practices--and the smaller, but still costly violations--within the mortgage industry.

Consumer bankruptcy attorneys who complete Max's Bankruptcy Boot Camp leave with new tools for effecting real change and fighting the problem at its roots, rather than being limited to obtaining a bankruptcy discharge for their clients and moving on.  And, of course, the ability to identify and target these violations means a significant increase in fees.

The first boot camp just took place in August, but Max's most recent newsletter is already full of dramatic success stories from graduates.

2007 Bankruptcy Boot Camp Schedule

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Bankruptcy America is a national website aiming to educate individuals facing financial difficulties, and when necessary providing them with access to appropriate professionals. They have recently made interesting changes to their site to give consumers clearer navigation through their options. Reflecting the ongoing market changes of which BAPCPA is a part, the site has added debt consolidation services and credit counseling agencies, where it once provided access only to bankruptcy attorneys.

Navigation takes the consumer by the hand through a three-step qualification process, to provide an initial assessment of what the consumer's situation might be. Essentially, it's "Do you qualify for (1) debt consolidation, or (2) credit counseling and a debt management plan, or (3) chapter 13 vs. chapter 7 bankruptcy?". Simple calculators are provided for the first two stages and an outline of the means test criteria for the third stage, allowing the consumer to reach his tentative conclusion quickly and easily. At every point, there is ample supporting information for people who may want to dig a little deeper.

Each of the three stages also features a blog where users can ask anonymous questions and get professional answers to help develop comfort with taking their next step.

For more overall guidance, Bankruptcy America offers users a Financial Health Check – ten questions giving an indication of how serious or urgent a user's money problems are, based on typical symptoms such as using cash advances from one card to make payments on another.  Seriousness ranges from "healthy" to "very serious trouble now", with suggestions for action to take in each case.  Depending on urgency or other special factors, additional notes may be added to the basic advice.  The only number collected is the user's number of credit cards, yet the advice is generally appropriate and should be useful to start the user in the right direction.

Bankruptcy America is worth a look for its model of consumer guidance in the field of financial problems.

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Back in October, I wrote about my experience at Max Gardner's Bankruptcy Boot Camp.  I said then that, despite years of consumer bankruptcy experience, I'd found Gardner's Boot Camp an eye-opening experience.  Now, fortunately, Max is opening eyes beyond the circle of experienced bankruptcy attorneys.  BusinessWeek subheaded it's January 15 article on the Boot Camp "How one man is training an army of lawyers to fight predatory lenders". 

As of the BusinessWeek interview, 82 bankruptcy attorneys had completed Gardner's Bankruptcy Boot Camp, and some are reporting remarkable results. 

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