My fiance left me with $2100.00 in bad checks and lots of overdue bills 5 months after I purchased a house for us in my name. My cleaning business business of 5 years was not doing well and I had to find a new job. I could not afford to pay all of the bills and late charged by myself and I had knowone to turn to for help.
Soon after my house went in foreclosure, I had no choice but to file bankruptcy to stop the bank from selling it in the auction in March. I made an appointment with Roderick Martin to see which chapter to file that would be best for my financial situation.
Mr. Martin advised me to file ch. 13 and try to find a roomate. He told me that if I was unsuccessful in finding a roomate and could not afford payment plan that he would convert case to ch. 7. I then paid Mr. Martin $785.00 to file the ch. 13 bankruptcy.
I paid the the first 2 payments that were set up by the court. I still had not been able to find a roomate and could not afford my mortgage payment of $1055.50 by myself. The 341 meeting of creditors was only a week away and I knew I could not afford these payments. I contacted Mr. Martin and told him I couldn't afford the payment plan and my mortgage payment. He then advised me not to go to my meeting of creditors and had his assistant schedule anouther appointment to convert case to ch. 7.
My appointment was at 4:00 and I called to let him know I was running 5 minutes late. Cherity, Mr. Martins assistant then told me that Mr. Martin was gone for the day and that i was not scheduled for an appointment that day. I told her that I had drove over an hour and was missing work and that I had the appointment in my calendar. She told me that they had a new receptionist and that she didn't hit save in the computer and that was the reason for the error. I had no choice but to reschedule my appointment to April 11.
On April 11 I met with Mr. Martin to convert case to ch. 7. He then told me that it would cost an additional $685.00. We agreed that I would pay him $317.50 on April 15 and on May 1.
At the end of May about a month later, after I had not recieved my court date or any other information regarding my case i contacted his office. Mr. Martin was in a meeting, so Anne said she needed to review my file and get back to me but never did. I continued to call atleast 3 times a week but they would keep telling me the same thing. The end of August I was almost caught up on my late payments when my vehicle was repossessed.
I contacted Mr. Martin once again and demanded to speak to him but I was only able to leave a message. He finally returned my call and told me that I would need to make anouther appointment and pay anouther $200.00 to refile ch. 13 to get my car back. I told him I did not want the car back and that if he would have filed my case it would have been protected by law. He had me talk to Helen Calahan who refused to discuss this over the phone and then hung up on me.
My case has been closed and now it's been almost a year. I have lost my home, car, patience, and everything else I had. I am scared they will garnish my wages and I don't know what to do. Help!!
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