Increase In Complaints Against Non-Lawyers Filing Bankruptcy Papers For A Fee Attributed To Upswing In Foreclosure Rescue & Loan Modification Peddling

The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times reports:

• There has been an increase in the number of complaints against non-lawyers preparing bankruptcy filings for a fee, according to a report the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts released [this month].
  
• Federal law allows bankruptcy filers to use an attorney or go it alone as pro se filers. Those who elect to file themselves can use the help of non-lawyer, bankruptcy petition preparers who often charge a fee to help prepare the filing. The increase in the abuse is due in part to the mortgage crisis that has gripped much of the country, the AOC concluded.
  
• "The increase in 'foreclosure rescue' and 'loan modification' services seems to be the source in the past three years," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Maureen Tighe in the Central District of California said in the report. "The homeowners are desperate and take advice from the most questionable sources."(1)

For more, see Courts See Increase in Bankruptcy Filing Abuse by Non-lawyers.

(1) For more on the various types of foreclosure rescue ripoffs, see:

• Final Report of the Bankruptcy Foreclosure Scam Task Force,
• Dreams Foreclosed: The Rampant Theft of Americans' Homes Through Equity-stripping Foreclosure 'Rescue' Scams (June 2005).