If you can you answer yes to two or more of the following questions you may have a real problem.

• Have you maxed out more than one credit card?
• You don’t know how much debt you have?
• Are you flipping debt from one credit card to another?
• Do you leave your monthly credit card statement unopened?
• Are you struggling to pay the minimums on your credit cards trying to preserve an inflated credit score, hoping for better days ahead?

If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, you should talk to one of our experienced bankruptcy attorneys at Miller and Miller Law.   The best way is to set up a free no obligation consultation by calling us at 414-277-7742.  What is more important your family or your MasterCard?

If you are living in Wisconsin and need help saving your home due to a foreclosure, call Miller and Miller today. With offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha our attorneys are close by for everyone in the Milwaukee metro area.  And if you don’t live in Southeastern Wisconsin, call us anyway as we serve all of Wisconsin.

If you need advice on how to save your home and you are living in Wisconsin, call Miller and Miller today.  With offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha we have an office near you.

Do you find yourself in a financial jam and you are thinking that bankruptcy is the best option. How do you select the attorney to help you through this? Do you make your decision based on cost or quality of your attorney? When you feel you are already broke it can be tough to think about going to someone who may cost more than others. But, buyer beware, you pay for what you get even when it comes to legal service.

At Miller & Miller, we pride ourselves on being respectful and professional to our clients. There are three factors that we think are important to consider when hiring an attorney. They are:

Customer Service

Attorney

Process / Cost

The first factor is customer service. This is obvious, customer service is important. But, there is more to customer service then just people being nice to you. Customer service is the office setting, the attitude of the staff, client privacy, how clients are treated in person, on the telephone, in court and even after your case is completed. Most importantly, customer service is empathy. It is important that the attorney and staff understand what you are going through. The better they understand, the better they can take care of you.

For many of us, dealing with an attorney, can be intimidating. We sometimes hold back information for fear that we may be looked down upon. Or, we don’t ask all the questions we want because we don’t want to waste their time. Being a paying customer you have a right to spend as much time with your attorney as needed. Following are more things to consider when meeting with a potential attorney:

-How are you being treated?
Regardless of your reason for hiring an attorney you should be treated with respect and dignity. That should be evident in the staff and attorney’s treatment. Do you feel comfortable being in their office? Do you feel relaxed and taken care of? Feeling cared for and respected is priceless.

Is the office organized and clean? Personal privacy can also be a factor when it comes to customer service. Do they talk about clients’ private information discreetly or is it done with others around who can hear it? Are they careless with client’s paperwork? Do they know who you are when you call in?

What is the attorney’s experience? Does he/she handle many legal services or specialize in only one area of the law? Does he have support from his staff when needed? Do you want experienced lawyers who are hands on or an inexperienced attorney who charge less attorney fees? In most cases, an experienced attorney would be more efficient in the end.

The second factor is the attorney .

Following are some questions to ask yourself:

What is the attorney’s demeanor? Is he/she dressed professional, neat or sloppy? What does his appearance say about him or her? You may not need your attorney to wear a three piece suit everyday but are his or her clothes acceptable for the position they have? Even if your attorney is more casual in the office, there is acceptable and unacceptable casual. How your attorney carries himself is a direct reflection on you. When he or she stands up in court to represent you will you feel satisfied or embarrassed of who you hired?

Does he or she make you feel like they care? Are they treating you with respect and taking the time to understand your situation and what your needs are? Or are they going through the motions and treating you like a number? Regardless of your reason to visit an attorney, you should not be treated like a failure or less of a person. Chances are you feel bad enough and certainly do not need someone you are paying to make you feel worse.

Is your attorney committed to you as a client? Do you feel comfortable that he has your back? Can you rely on him to be there when you need him, know your case information and be able to protect you when needed?

The third factor when hiring an attorney is the process and cost.

Do you understand the legal situation and process that you need to go through? Did the attorney give you enough information and discuss every option so you know what steps you have to take to resolve your issues? Did you discuss all of the alternatives and the “what ifs”?

Cost can be the biggest issue. But if are quoted an amount that seems too good to be true, it probably is. Make sure you get all the details. If someone is charging considerably less than others there may be a real good reason for it. Is the quote for the service for the entire process or are there other costs that come up later? Is the price reduced because you will have limited access to your attorney? Will you spend most of your time dealing with office staff or a paralegal? If it’s cheaper is the processing time longer? What about quality of documents, mistakes or changes? Low cost sometimes equals low quality. When dealing with a legal issue that involves the law, paperwork and courts, you as a client need to know that everything is taken care of correctly and in a timely manner. You don’t want to find out later that something was missed or done incorrectly. This may cause you additional headaches and fees at a later date. At Miller & Miller we offer a free, no obligation consultation. This is an opportunity for you to meet with an attorney, get your questions answered and discuss the cost and process.

Last but not least, when visiting an attorney, you should not be rushed or pushed into retaining them and/or signing a contract. As well, as you should not be offered a “deal” for retaining the firm sooner. Attorneys that have “deals” and offer “lower charges if you sign today” seems wrong and leaves the feeling of uncertainty about their sincerity and integrity. Take the time to find the one that fits you and will take your case and relationship seriously. After your initial consultation with Miller & Miller us, we will follow up to answer any questions you may have. We never push anyone into retaining us; we let you take the time to make the decision on your own. At Miller & Miller our clients come to us because they are well informed and know they will be treated with respect and we will get the job done.

At Miller & Miller, we pride ourselves on being the difference. We strive to treat our clients like family members. You will not be treated like a number, be rushed to retain us or be given “a deal”. Our attorneys are professional, respected and offer exceptional one on one service from beginning to end of your case and beyond. Call us today to set up your free consultation with one of our attorneys. We have offices in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Germantown. Our office is open from 8:30 – 5:30, Monday – Friday and 9:00 – 12:00 on Saturdays.

With offices in Milwaukee, Germantown, and Kenosha, our attorneys are close by if you live in Wisconsin and need advice you can count on. Call us today!

What if a debt collector posts something on your Facebook page or contacts one of your relatives after finding them on your page? There is nothing in the law that specifically prohibits this. However, there are lawyers out there now trying to get the law changed to address this new, popular form of communication. Watch the news for future developments; it’s important for the law to keep up with technology, too.

There are things you can do to try and protect yourself from these sort of social media invasions by debt collectors. First, respond to any collection letter withing 30 days and specifically tell the collection agency not to contact you. Do this in writing! Once they receive this notice by letter, they cannot e-mail, call, or otherwise contact you. Second, use the privacy settings on your accounts. It’s good practice to set up filters to limit access to your page anyway, but make sure that you check and change those settings so only your friends can see your posts or access your information. Third, make sure you’re careful about your posts. Again, this is a good policy in general, but you should keep personally identifying information like your address, employer, and phone numbers off your Facebook page. Fourth, don’t accept “friend requests” from strangers! You never know . . . that could be a debt collector. Finally, skip the “like” button, especially for your bank, credit card company, or other financial institutions. Most people don’t know that this opens up a gateway to their personal information to these companies. You don’t want to give them any fuel to the fire.

Facebook and Twitter are still fun and great ways to keep in touch with the people in your life, but be smart and keep yourself protected from harassment by debt collectors.

Question: Three years ago — fresh out of grad school, with new jobs and lots of optimism — my husband and I bought a beautiful house that we love. Trouble is, we spent too much money. Now, our mortgage consumes nearly all of our monthly income, leaving us very little to save for retirement, our kids’ college funds or do the things we love such as traveling. We both work for non-profits and like our jobs, so the prospect of increasing our incomes significantly isn’t really there. We’re quite frugal, so there aren’t too many places to cut back. The good news is: We’re not underwater (according to our tax assessment) and we can make our mortgage payments and pay our bills. That said, if we had an emergency, lost a job or had a big home repair, we’d be in trouble.

The question, then, is: Should we cut our losses, try to sell and buy something cheaper? In our accounting, after the realtor fees, etc., we’d probably end up netting about what we owe and lose the about 10 percent equity we have. Is that crazy? Over the long-term, we think about all we could do with the difference between our current mortgage payment and what we’d pay on a house that was, say, $100,000 cheaper, and it seems to make sense. We’d love to hear your advice. Thank you! Julia, St. Paul, MN

Answer: In reading your email, I think you’ve already answered your question: You’re going to move into a cheaper place. It isn’t a crazy move at all. It’s a smart long-term move. House-poor is no way to live. A lesson of the turbulent economy of the past several years is everyone needs to create a margin of financial safety for their household. I applaud what you’re doing, and if I were in your circumstances, I’d be thinking along the same lines.

When it comes to homes, small(er) is financially beautiful. The mortgage is less. So are insurance, taxes, heating, cooling bills and other costs of ownership. These cost savings compound over time.

To me, the real issue you face is timing. When do you make your move?

What I would do to concretely grapple with that question is to start a serious look for the kind of home you’d like in your new price range and in neighborhoods you want to live in. Go to open houses. Hire a real estate agent. Visit homes for sale. You want to see what you can really get in the current market for the amount of money you’re thinking of investing. I would also see what you need to do to get your place ready for sale. What are homes like yours going for in the market?

You can then run actual numbers to see how you’ll stack up financially moving from where you are and into a cheaper place. You can see whether you might lose your down payment. You can weigh short-term costs vs. the long-term gains. And so on.

At the end of this research and number-crunching exercise, you might decide to wait another year. Then again, you might find the right place at a great price and the trade-offs to get there are worth it. With research, you’ll make an informed decision about the timing.

If you live in Southeastern Wisconsin, feel free to visit us for a free consultation at one of our offices in Milwaukee, Kenosha, or Germantown. We can help you to understand your options if you are looking for ways to save your home in Wisconsin.  Call us today at 414-277-7742!

Join us April 17th @ 10am for this great Webinar.  Register today!