Listen in as we discuss the latest information about what is happening in the world of bankruptcy. Below is the audio recording and a transcript for your convenience.
Hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining us today on “This needs to be said” while we’re still in the pandemic. Some of my friends have come to the show to share with you how to prepare yourself, when COVID ends, what to do during COVID. And some of this, a lot of this touches our finances. So one of our friends, attorney, Alexz Adams is coming to talk with you about what’s happening in the world of bankruptcy and how can it help you if you even need it, or, you know, he’s going to guide you. I’m the host, he’s the expert. Welcome back attorney Adams. How are you?
I’m doing good. How are you doing?
Fantastic! Consider considering, so right now, I guess I have a curious question for you. How is it affecting business for you dependent because our people are more people filing for bankruptcy or fewer people have right now, historically across the board, bankruptcies are down you know, the practitioners and I think even the government office is thinking that first quarter of next year, there’s going to be sort of a tidal wave. Everyone’s adjusting, you know, as best we can best we can make out. People are adjusting. And now it’s back to school, school month, and there’s a lot going on, but at some point there’s a, an enormous amount of tens up demand for these types of services and, you know, will be available with that comes.
So, in the meantime, what would you like for people to know I don’t know if they’re preventative measures, so they won’t be part of that tidal wave next year, what would you like for people to understand right now?
Well, I, you know, certainly from the perspective of the clients that I help, which is largely through a bankruptcy or financial restructuring, I think the earlier that you, kind of pull your head out of the sand and, look around and see if you’re okay, if you may need some help, if there are other options out there, I think the sooner you would at least explore the options, usually the more options you have. So, you know, what are some scenarios where people may be looking at that you know; certainly there’s, a lot of people behind on their mortgage. Certainly there’s, a lot of people behind on rent. And, you know, putting aside the fact that there’s lots of government programs to try and help with that, there’s still a disconnect between, you know, programs that are available and to help people are actually getting, either, you know, they’re not aware of the programs, programs are slow or lots of other contingencies, but, you know, don’t rely on the programs you needed to be taking care of your own self. Sometimes the programs are helping, sometimes they won’t, but I think the sooner you’re, you’re really appraised and in the loop or your own financial situation, the more information you have and the better decisions for your financial health you can make,
Would it be too soon for them to reach out to you like now if, as they’re looking at their things, like at what point do they, call a bankruptcy attorney, I guess, in this situation?
Well, I, I think, you know, bankruptcy is, I’ve used, the analogy is sort of a downhill slide that once you’re, once you’re on the downhill trajectory, you know, where it went, you know, bills are late or credit cards are late or you’re being garnished or you’re behind on your mortgage or cars out for repossession. those are typically triggers that, if, if there’s other things going on bankruptcy makes sense to see if it’s in the quiver of, tools that you can have to resolve your, your finances. Certainly I’m talking to lots of people now, early in the process, you know, to try and guide them through and see if it’s something that, they can do without bankruptcy, or if, if they need my services they’re available.
Now, some people may be tuning in for the first time and have never heard us talk. And, don’t quite understand why are we talking so comfortably about bankruptcy and isn’t that a bad thing so, yes, we’re talking about our finances, being in trouble. But this time we all have the same reason of that impact because of a pandemic. We’ve all had to adjust us 100% of everything breathing. So, this is unusual and normally when you can’t pay your bills, it’s due to where we think anyway, it’s due to, you know, our own fault, whether you haven’t gotten sick or lost a job, you know, those kinds of things. We, we kind of put that in the, I did something bad category, so bad things happen, but now this is happening to everyone. So you have to take a look at your finances and restructure, as you said it, this time it’s bankruptcy, isn’t a bad thing, but it never was. So I think I want to reeducate our previous listener and educate the new listeners that bankruptcy has never been a bad word, but now it may be, you know, easier to swallow because we kind of all are affected and may need to look at this. Sure. Does that make sense?
Yeah! sure. I mean, you know, bankruptcy is a, is a right. That was the founding fathers, put it in the constitution that said the Congress shell, you know, create the courts necessary to administer the Republic. And that includes the bankruptcy courts. And it says bankruptcy specifically, because that’s a court that’s, you know, essentially necessary, for everyone to have an opportunity to start over if they need it. you know, it’s, it’s literally in the fabric of the constitution, of our country, this relief, you know, so what is the relief You know, the release, it doesn’t solve all your problems. It doesn’t solve medical problems. It may not resolve a hundred percent of your debt problems, but it’s sort of a safety valve when you’re overextended for any reason. And that can be, as you said, your fault, or it can be, you know, Hey, I needed to pay rent during the pandemic.
So I went into debt, you know, I had a loss of job. I was, you know, we were on top of the world for the last 30 years and the pandemic, you know, one or one or both of our incomes, for a married couple was greatly effected; you know, one of us had to lose our jobs to work for child, you know, to deal with childcare because schools were shut down. I mean, these are real world scenarios that, you know, affect everybody. So the re the relief is, you know, across the board where I see people that you would never expect are, are, you know, talking to someone like me and that’s, that’s okay, because sometimes we can help. Sometimes we can get them down the down the right path. But again, it’s the information. You know, I’ve been doing this for a long time.
I think the more empowered my clients and potential clients are with at least how this works. It gives them something to, to see if it makes sense or if they don’t need my services, you know, and in terms of a bad word, it’s a bad word. you know, for a lot of people, who’ve never been through the process before I receive lots of feedback saying, and, and, and really one of the sort of biggest pieces of feedback I received from my clients is I wish I would have called you earlier than I would have known. Maybe I wouldn’t have had the torture myself for the last year or two or three or whatever, then whatever the time period is. And, you know, the idea is to get you back on the right track, as fast as possible, settle what you can in terms of that that’s through the bankruptcy court and move on with your life.
See, it can be a parent, a mother, a father, a wife, a husband, a contributing member of society, you know, a worker, an entrepreneur, a taxpayer, and those, those, goals of, of, you know, which is pretty much everybody wants to be a contributing member of society. Those clients can be frustrated when there’s, heavy financial burdens that you don’t see a way out of. And it’s, it can be pretty overwhelming. You know, just, just, just the, you know, the mathematical parts overwhelming. But if you add that to the emotional parts, you know, none on whose, whose, you know, personal beliefs on how you are, who’s raising the family and who’s paying the bills and how the numbers work and what kind of person you are. It can be devastating. So it’s a way to get back on track. And, although, you know, nobody comes into my office saying, gee, I’m excited to be here. The results though, the results that we are able to oftentimes give the clients, they are excited about that. So it gives me a lot of, you know, it gives me a lot of joy in what I’m able to do for, for my clients in a way that, you know, I’m proud to do, and I’m happy to do what I can.
Now, how much does a conversation, cost?
Conversations, you know, my initial conversations, all of my bankruptcy places, there’s no charge so you can make an appointment and talk to me about your situation. It’s confidential. It doesn’t go anywhere. If you don’t hire me, if you do go anywhere, you know, we take the case, but there is no cost for that conversation. All my initial, debt and bankruptcy conversations are free for the first conversation to make sure that, you, you like me and to make sure I like you, and it’s something we can help you with. So I don’t charge for that.
Absolutely! So we are removing the fear. We are removing the excuse. If we would think that I need money just to have this conversation, and you’re encouraged to gather information so that you’re empowered and no longer self- suffering, like inflicting pain on yourself, because, you know? I don’t know where to go. And if his clients that he’s had said, I wish I would’ve called you sooner. This is kind of like, you know, assigned for you. If this is you, have a conversation. The worst that could happen is I don’t, I don’t know, answer that for me. What’s the worst that could happen if they call you to get information?
No, the worst, the worst thing that can happen is you. Well, I, I don’t know that there is a worst thing that can happen because you leave empowered with more information. I
Mean you don’t have an answer either
Know, certainly there’s, cases where I can, no. I mean, I think there’s cases we can help with, but maybe you lose a little bit of your time and you gain some information and that’s, you know, that’s,
So we want we want you to empower so that you can make your best decision, because it’s not a guarantee that all problems can be solved with the same solution. So, yeah! Yeah. I was trying to think like, what could be the worst problem
It’s for both of us, that investment and investment of our time but that’s the way I’ve set my business up. I come from a long line of family members and my father certainly was in the customer service business and that trickled through to, the way I manage my law firm. I think it’s important. My clients are, you know, the reason I’m here, the reason I do the work is for my clients and you know, the better I’m at, at serving my clients, the more successful I’ve been over the years. And I, I take that gold art.
I am smiling. Maybe you can hear it in my voice. I’m smiling because I, I love having this kind of attorney on my shelf, caring about the person. I’m not just gonna take your money. I want you to be informed, make a good decision to reset yourself. And if I can help you, I’m here. That’s my personality. If I can help you, I can, if I’m not helping and I’m hurting, I’m not, I’m not the person for you so that I love that energy. And that does help release some anxiety. This is because finances, when they’re in jeopardy, that’s a tough, that’s a tough feeling, let alone a tough conversation have, and for me, yeah. So thank you. Thank you for being the kind of attorney that you are, let us know how to get in touch with you outside of this needs to be sick.
Sure. You know, we, I take cases statewide in the state of Oregon and I take cases and, Southern, Southwestern, Washington, which is typically the, the Vancouver Metro area near Portland. My website is Portland BK like bankruptcy, Portland, bk.com, or my direct number is 5 0 3- 2 7 8 -5 4 0 0. That’s 5 0 3- 2 7 8- 5 4 0 0.
And you have a book on your site as well.
And we do, I wrote a book a long time ago called navigating the debt relief maze, which, you know, it goes over the ups and downs of consumer bankruptcies. And, you know, it gives you some anecdotal stories about other people that have walked the walk. I’ve got a whole interesting chapter in there that, on who there’s a lot of people, well, maybe, maybe less surprising these days, but in the past, it was surprising to find the list of people who filed bankruptcy, there’s numbers of them. So I grew over, over some interesting stories in there, and it’s a lighthearted look at a very serious topic but it does have a lot of information. I am in the process of updating it for a pandemic, putting a patch chapter on, you know, sort of pandemic bankruptcy, but that’s not, not done yet, but we send that out. If people request it it’s available for free on our website.
Absolutely because they’re going to be visiting your site anyway so I thought they should know about the book as well until next time you have a super day.
Thank you. Thanks, Katherine.
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