Questions People Ask Us

No. Social Security, SSI and SSDI are protected from judgments for unpaid consumer debt. That protection holds even if a company sues you and wins.

There are narrow exceptions, and none of them involve a credit card company or a hospital. Federal benefits can be reached for federal debts, certain kinds of criminal restitution, and past-due child support or alimony. Tell us if any of those apply to you and we will explain where you stand.

Veterans benefits of every type are protected from collection, along with Social Security and other retirement income.

We also help our veteran clients check that they are receiving everything they are entitled to. Many lower-income veterans and their spouses qualify for supplemental benefits and never claim them. Widows of veterans often qualify and simply do not know it. Ask us and we will point you to someone who can help.

ERISA stands for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. It protects almost every form of retirement pension from collection by a judgment creditor.

If you are not sure whether your particular pension is covered, call us. It depends on the type of plan.

Federal law protects up to $217.50 a week of your net pay — what is left after taxes and other legally required deductions.

Some states protect more than federal law does. A few, including Texas, do not allow wage garnishment for consumer debt at all. Tell us which state you live in and we will tell you which rule applies to you.

Yes. We represent many clients who are legally disabled. Most kinds of disability income are protected from debt collection in the same way retirement income is.

Call us and we will look at your particular situation.

Yes. A creditor or debt collector can sue you for breaking the original agreement, and nothing prevents them from filing.

What matters is what a judgment can actually do. A judgment can reach two things: income that is not protected, and property that is not protected. Most of our clients have neither. That is what people mean by judgment proof.

Because being sued is frightening, and fear is a debt collector’s best friend.

Many people who get sued believe they are in criminal trouble or might be arrested. Many more have never been told that their retirement income cannot be touched by a judgment. A lawsuit costs the collector very little, and sometimes it frightens a payment loose from someone who did not know they were protected.

Going to court, or filing a response, is your choice.

A debt lawsuit is filed in the civil courts, not the criminal courts. Being sued is not the same as being arrested, and owing money you cannot pay does not make you a criminal. You will not go to jail for not responding.

Call us the day the court papers arrive.

Our clients are still protected, because a judgment does not give anyone the right to touch protected income. We will tell you exactly what to do.

We become your lawyers for one specific purpose: receiving debt collection communication so that it stops coming to you.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692 and following) requires a debt collector who has been told you have a lawyer to deal with that lawyer instead of you. We are that lawyer.

Our practice is limited to consumer debt. Within that, we do not represent people in court, we do not negotiate settlements with debt collectors, and we do not dispute whether a debt is valid.

We also do not practice estate law, handle criminal matters, file lawsuits, or dispute errors on credit reports. If you need help we do not provide, we will try to help you find a qualified attorney in your area.

We send a written notice to every collector on your list, by mail, fax and email wherever we have the details.

The notice explains that you are a senior, a veteran or a disabled person living on legally protected income, that a lawsuit would not reach that income through garnishment or a bank levy, and that you are not able to pay. It tells them that all future communication must come to us, not to you.

Once a debt collector has been told you have a lawyer, they cannot lawfully contact you.

Original creditors — the company you first borrowed from — may still send statements in the mail. Some states go further: California, Colorado and Illinois extend the protection to original creditors too.

As often as you like. There is no limit and no extra charge.

The whole point of what we do is that you stop worrying about this. Please call whenever a question comes up, rather than sitting at home wondering.

We watch email in the evenings and at weekends. Write to info@helpsishere.org and we will answer.

If you think of a question after you hang up the phone, that is normal. Send it over.

A debt collector is a person or company whose business is collecting debts owed to someone else.

They either collect on behalf of the original creditor, or they have bought the debt outright from that creditor.

It is the federal law that forbids debt collectors from using abusive, unfair or deceptive practices when collecting a debt.

It applies to debt collectors, not to original creditors, and not to business debts. Many states have their own laws that go further and cover original creditors as well.

Senior citizens, retired people, veterans, and legally disabled people who live on income that federal and state law protect, and who owe debt they cannot afford.

Some of our clients have struggled for years. Others paid every bill on time their whole lives until something changed. For nearly all of them, there is no money left to pay the debt without giving up medication, food or heat.

Our suggested fee is based on your household income, and for many people it is nothing at all. The fee table shows the tiers.

There is nothing to pay when you sign up, and the first 30 days are free for everyone. We do not turn away anyone eligible for our services. Please note, eligibility is based on need for the services we offer.

Call 855-435-7787 and talk to a paralegal or an attorney, or ask us to call you.

We will not pressure you to enroll. Plenty of people call more than once before deciding. This is ok. We are here to help. Signing up happens over the phone and takes about ten minutes. We need your name and contact details, what your income is, and roughly what you owe and to whom.

Our services do not affect your credit. Missing payments or not paying a debt can, and very likely will.

That is true whether or not you have a lawyer. Any time a payment is missed, it can be reported. HELPS, bankruptcy attorneys, and every law firm in the country cannot change the reality that an unpaid debt can appear on a credit report for up to seven years from the date of its posting.

Be careful of any company promising to fix your credit score for a fee. Disputing something genuinely wrong on your report costs nothing, and you can do it yourself.

You get to choose whether or not you keep bank or credit union accounts.

If you owe a debt to a credit union and you are not going to be able to continue with making payments on the debt, changing your income direct deposits to a new bank account where you do not owe money is strongly advised.

This is not bankruptcy, so you do not have to list every debt. You choose which ones you give us.

Any card you do give us will close, because you will stop paying it. A card you do not give us can stay open, as long as you keep those payments current and you have not defaulted on another card with the same bank. Two cards at the same bank tend to close together.

No. That form is part of a tax procedure the creditor follows. It does not cancel the debt.

Collectors sometimes wave a 1099-C at people as a threat, suggesting it will cause tax trouble. Ask us before you worry about one.

Student loans can be owed to the federal government or private student loans. Federal student loans work differently from other debt, and they are one of the few things that can reach a Social Security check.

If you have a federally subsidized student loan (you have a student loan with the federal government), you can apply to the Department of Education for a repayment plan based on your income, which usually brings the payment down to very little. If you have a private unsecured student loan, this debt is treated like any other unsecured consumer debt owed to a private company. We can help with private student loans.

Bankruptcy is the right solution for the right situation. The bankruptcy attorney may know what he or she is talking about. It never hurts to get a second opinion, however. Some bankruptcy attorneys do recommend bankruptcy to senior citizens and legally disabled persons who have no unprotected income, no substantial assets, and no vulnerability to judgments for debt. This is typically not because of bad intentions. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Bankruptcy attorneys solve debt problems by filing bankruptcies — that is their practice. Some of them also do not deal often with the laws that protect income and assets outside of bankruptcy, which is where most of our clients already stand.

No. You decide what you can and cannot pay.

Do understand that stopping payment on one account will likely lead that creditor to close any other accounts you have with them.

You are not. A senior citizen is not a bad person because they cannot afford to repay consumer debt.

Lawmakers at the federal and state level have passed law after law protecting the income of older people, and courts have repeatedly upheld those protections. People usually come to us after doing everything in their power to keep paying.