We came to Macey & Aleman for assistance October 31. We met with Stephen Alfred in the Newark, NJ office. We said we wanted to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Mr. Alfred immediately said he was going to try to get us under the Chapter 7 first and if that didnt work, we would apply for Chapter 13. We said fine, but also stated that we thought we made too much money to qualify for Chapter 7. We left a down payment of $200. We decided to pay the balance by December 1 hoping to speed up the process. We also supplied him with our credit report, outstanding bills and any other information he requested. He also advised us to remain current on our bills throughout the process. I started calling Mr. Alfred approximately in February to see what the status of our case was. I would always get the answer that we were about to file. At this time, we were still current on our mortgage but really struggling to make the payments. I wanted to inquire about getting a mortgage modification. When I called the mortgage company, they would ask if I am in bankruptcy. I would say Im in the process of filing and they would say to call back after its filed. I asked Mr. Alfred about it and he said try to keep up with the payments and wait. The case was going to be filed shortly. Every time I spoke with Mr. Alfred, he would say the case is about to be filed dont do anything.By June, we started falling behind in our mortgage. At that time, Mr. Alfred advised us that we would have to file Chapter 13 instead of Chapter 7 since we made too much money. We had a hard time understanding what took Mr. Alfred so long to come to this conclusion. He had been telling us the case was in the process of already being filed (meaning he was waiting for a few more cases before having them messengerd down to Trenton). I told him we were having trouble making the mortgage and he said to hang in there, our case was to be filed shortly. I told Mr. Alfred that Thomas child support should stop for his eldest daughter who was not attending college, was working full time and 19. At that time, he told us the monthly payment to the Trustee would be $202. After Thomas went to court to emancipate his daughter, his child support was lower $50 per week. That $200 per month savings immediately was added to the Trustee payment. Thomas has three daughters that he pays child support to and is not allowed to claim any of them on our tax return. Since we were falling behind, I requested mortgage forbearance for 6 months from Flagstar, our mortgage company. They granted us a six-month forbearance from August 1 to January 1. I figured that in that time, our case would be filed and we would be able to get a mortgage modification since that was what Mr. Alfred was telling us every time we would call to get an update. Meanwhile, our mortgage company, Flagstar sold out to Nationstar and we received a letter saying everything would remain the same with whatever arrangements we already had with Flagstar.in October, Stephen Alfred called to have us come in the office. We thought FINALLY the case was going to get filed, but instead, he went through our case like we had just met and no work was completed on it. My husband and I were astounded that this was as far as our case progressed. We were under the impression that we were already filed. We truly believed Mr. Alfred was pulling our leg and not being truthful about what was really happening with our case. At that time, we believe, our current expenses and income should have been revised to reflect current values instead of still relying on the 2008 values originally supplied. We honestly believe that our best interests were not being considered during this entire time. Whether the law firm was overworked with other clients, should not have had an effect on our case, especially because we had paid in full by December. The bankruptcy case filed in November had the original information we supplied when we first met Mr. Alfred back in November. With the onset of the recession and increase in prices for tolls, gas, food and other general expenses, these factors not taking into account when the case was filed in November.in November, Alana Carrion called to say that our case is scheduled in front of the Trustee January 10th and we should start making payments of $404 immediately starting November. We did so. Before this time, we had no contact with Ms. Carrion and only communication with Mr. Alfred. As January came around, I called Nationstar to inquire what our new mortgage would be commencing February. I kept getting switched around and finally got someone in customer service that we should saying to continue to pay what we had previously been paying until we hear from Nationstar. I just got off the phone with Ms. Carrion and she advised me that we can keep the trial modification mortgage that was recently proposed by Nationstar, but our monthly payments to the Trustee increase from $404 which we were paying regularly and on time, to $721 which would be a great hardship for us. We strongly feel that if our case was filed on a timelier basis, all of these extra hearings and meetings would NOT be necessary. Mr. Alfred or Ms. Carrion never asked or checked to see if any of the figures compiled in November had since changed. I asked Ms. Carrion if we could attend the next court hearing and she said its not necessary but we feel we can better explain ourselves than she can. Our major problem with this whole situation is that we have tried to be honest and upfront in asking for help. We were one of those first time families that were able to purchase their home with no money down. We are hard working, decent couple that support his three daughters, not only in child support, but expenses that go with having children and co-parenting. Its hard to put a price tag on it. I commute 40 miles each way to work via the NJ Turnpike and Parkway and Thomas commutes 30 miles each way via the NJ Turnpike and Parkway. We were not planning on the tolls rising 20% in the last 2 years or gas rising at least 10% in that same amount of time. We are therefore, respectfully, requesting a conference with you, with or without our attorney, since we feel she is not watching out for our interests. We are not aware of the protocol to request this kind of conference. We also dont know if we need to retain counsel in case of a civil suit against Macey and Aleman. We truly feel the time factor it took M&A to respond to our file is unreasonably longer than it should have taken and added unnecessary consequences to our case. I now would like to dismiss or drop our case since we can't afford to pay $721 for 54 months. I also want the money we have paid to the trustee (apx. $3,200) to be returned to us as well as our retainer (apx. $2,000).
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