Government, Law, and Society

The bancarrota filing was the only thing we could do. I had resigned as Senior Vice President, but had to stay on due to the fact that I was the only one who knew the entire manufacturing process. This was really uncomfortable. But the company didn’t have any choice. I felt totally embarrassed. It was my fault the company was in the shape is was, due to my carelessness. I didn’t do enough due diligence. We were in contact with the German authorities, but not one of the men we had met with was to be found. Interpol even had notices out on them, but all we had were pictures. They have assumed identities of people long dead. The German law firm wasn’t even sure what they could be charged with even if they were wedged; Maybe some type of fraud. The only thing we would accomplish in catching them would be to perhaps find out who is behind this, and why. We suspected some of our competition. Our company lawyer, Thomas, did some research on our competitors across the country and world, and found a number of suspects that we could pin this on. We had no reason or authority to pursue an investigation though.

Today, Janelle was explaining all the different ways I could get a handle on my financial situation, to put it simply, to get a handle on my debt. I had no idea there were so many different ways I could go that I never heard of. There is this thing called IVA, individual voluntary arrangement. You can come up with some sort of payment plan to pay off your debt within five years. There is something like a mediator (even though that’s not what the persons title actually is) and you would send them the payment and they would disburse the money to the people you owe money to. This way you avoid bankruptcy and all the consequences of it and this payment plan does not show on your credit report. I like this idea because the person negotiates with the credit people to either lower your payments or remove them altogether. This is also supposed to be better for your credit score. People say filing will hurt your credit and possibly give you a poor credit score. I’m thinking, if it gets to the point where you would have to file, isn’t your credit already messed up and your score already low?

Now that Steve’s Chapter 7 filing is behind him it’s time to pick up the pieces. I doubt he will ever be the same. The only good thing is that he managed to keep his job. He will at least be able to eat. So they sold everything he and Sue owned. Including his house. Sue was devastated. It was horrible. Thirty years of hard work down the drain. Steve’s son even bought his car so he could sell it back to him. He needed a way to get to work. His business partners just vanished into thin air. Nobody seems to be able to find them, and the local police aren’t too interested. My guess is that they are somewhere out of the country. Especially since it has come to light that Steve wasn’t the only one being scammed. Apparently this was a con game going on all over the country. These two guys would rent office space and dupe gullible guys like Steve into investing everything and then stringing them along with stories that riches were just around the corner. I talked with Steve a few times after, but I could tell he was in a deep depression. It was a hard lesson to learn. I could be in the same position as him, if it weren’t for the fact that they chose such a cheesy meeting place initially, and that that sent up the red flags.

I’m a pretty nervous guy by nature, I don’t like it at all when I’m not in control of what’s going on around me, that’s why having to file a chapter 13 bankruptcy claim was so difficult for me to accept. Not being able to pay my bills or support my family was making me very depressed; I thought that I was going to get an ulcer for god’s sake. Then my trustee pointed me to the National Data Center for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case Information. Registering with the National Data Center really helped to put me at ease, I had access to all of the pertinent information of my claim, including being able to track all of my payments and the trustees subsequent disbursements. The NDC was even able to help me set up an automatic payment. With all this information right at my fingertips, day or night I didn’t feel nearly as helpless about my situation. Having the ability to track my progress made me feel like I could already start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and with the education I’m receiving to go along with the restructuring of my debt I feel confident that I’ll never have to go through this again.