Life after Bankruptcy

[webhick]

One of my clients made some terrible business (overpaying employees) and personal decisions (buying a house on 80/20 financing while recovering from the bad business decision, taking numerous vacations, and generally not pulling even a 6 hour day) and he had to claim bankruptcy. I would like to note that we would have advised him against these decisions if he had told us about them before it was too late.

I saw a charge come through his account today for "Increase Your Credit Score". When I asked him about it, it said it was for a seminar on how to recover from a bankruptcy. He added that they promised that within 2.5 years, he would be a homeowner again (which I don't believe for a second. Even if he gets his outrageous spending under control, he still doesn't pull in the income to support a mortgage). Apparently, the initial seminar was free, but the "continuation" is not. I don't "do" seminars or anything, so this could be normal.

My scam-dar is going off a little. Partly because my client is a moron and has fallen for other scams before and partly because they're making promises that they shouldn't be making.

Best I can figure it is that the seminar is put out by "After Bankruptcy Foundation, Inc." which is a non-profit corp in Indiana and Stephen Snyder is the figurehead. The website is at http://www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com/. On the "About Stephen" page there are numerous quotes from the media, but of the links provided all of them are PDFs located on ABF's website. There's no off-site links. I was able to quickly verify some of them though. In the Quicken article, for instance, it looked like they asked him some questions only in connection with how to raise your score - and nothing on how to manage your finances.

The testimonials on AFB's site reek of "get your score back up so you can start acquiring debt you can't pay" and not "You helped me manage my spending and get my score back up so I can afford the home of my dreams" or anything like that.

Has anyone heard anything either good or bad about this? There's not much I can do to pull my client out of this scheme at this point (once he's been suckered into something, there's no talking to him about it until he's ready to admit defeat), but I'd like to have an idea about what to expect.

[Imalawman]

One of my clients made some terrible business (overpaying employees) and personal decisions (buying a house on 80/20 financing while recovering from the bad business decision, taking numerous vacations, and generally not pulling even a 6 hour day) and he had to claim bankruptcy. I would like to note that we would have advised him against these decisions if he had told us about them before it was too late.

I saw a charge come through his account today for "Increase Your Credit Score". When I asked him about it, it said it was for a seminar on how to recover from a bankruptcy. He added that they promised that within 2.5 years, he would be a homeowner again (which I don't believe for a second. Even if he gets his outrageous spending under control, he still doesn't pull in the income to support a mortgage). Apparently, the initial seminar was free, but the "continuation" is not. I don't "do" seminars or anything, so this could be normal.

My scam-dar is going off a little. Partly because my client is a moron and has fallen for other scams before and partly because they're making promises that they shouldn't be making.

Best I can figure it is that the seminar is put out by "After Bankruptcy Foundation, Inc." which is a non-profit corp in Indiana and Stephen Snyder is the figurehead. The website is at http://www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com/. On the "About Stephen" page there are numerous quotes from the media, but of the links provided all of them are PDFs located on ABF's website. There's no off-site links. I was able to quickly verify some of them though. In the Quicken article, for instance, it looked like they asked him some questions only in connection with how to raise your score - and nothing on how to manage your finances.

The testimonials on AFB's site reek of "get your score back up so you can start acquiring debt you can't pay" and not "You helped me manage my spending and get my score back up so I can afford the home of my dreams" or anything like that.

Has anyone heard anything either good or bad about this? There's not much I can do to pull my client out of this scheme at this point (once he's been suckered into something, there's no talking to him about it until he's ready to admit defeat), but I'd like to have an idea about what to expect.

Generally speaking any "help" after bankruptcy is most likely a money making venture and not a real business dedicated to helping those in need. I don't know about this particular one though, I've never heard of it.

You might be surprised just how fast you can get credit after filing a bankruptcy. A family friend recently went through a chapter 7 and within 6 months he received pre-approved credit cards (albeit with bad APRs). His attorney told him he could probably get a house within 3 years. (with good spending habits and strong work ethic)

[webhick]

Generally speaking any "help" after bankruptcy is most likely a money making venture and not a real business dedicated to helping those in need. I don't know about this particular one though, I've never heard of it.

You might be surprised just how fast you can get credit after filing a bankruptcy. A family friend recently went through a chapter 7 and within 6 months he received pre-approved credit cards (albeit with bad APRs). His attorney told him he could probably get a house within 3 years. (with good spending habits and strong work ethic)

Thanks so much for the info. And I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that this doesn't quite sound right. Especially since that you have to be "invited" to the seminar by sending them a copy of your automatic stay or discharge paper. I've never seen one of those, but I'm worried that it has his SS# on it.

I had a feeling that people could get credit faster than my parents did after their bankruptcy. And glad too, since I've known quite a few people that made just a couple bad decisions or had a medical problem that caused the staggering debt.

Your friend's attorney is more qualified to say how quickly your friend can get a home than some dude who runs a seminar and doesn't even have a passing familiarity with my client's finances (other than what my client tells him - which is wrong, it always is. If you ask him how much his cable/internet bill is, he'll tell you $30 no matter how many times we tell him that it's $150 because he won't drop the premium channels).

[ErsatzAnatchist]

I have had clients get mortgages within one year of getting a bankruptcy discharge. This requires the income to support the mortgage payment and some positive post-bankruptcy credit history.

I strongly advise my clients to obtain a new credit card after filing a bankruptcy. Charge $10.00 a month on the card and pay it off in full. Nothing builds credit like on time payments on a major credit card. Within two years, the client's credit score goes from cr*p to not so bad, and in five years, the credit score should be pretty good.

The other thing bankruptcy debtors can do to rebuild their credit scores is to review their credit reports six months after the bankruptcy is discharged. Many companies do not update the balance owed to $0.00 to reflect the bankruptcy discharge, which will adversely effect the credit score. A simple dispute letter will fix that problem (or a not so simple Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuit).

I suspect that this place is a credit repair scam and of little real value. A credit repair book like the one from Nolo Press would be just the thing to get him back to borrowing money and becoming a repeat customer of the bankruptcy court.

While I am not a huge fan of David Ramsey, his materials may be a good choice for those who have spending problems.

[Imalawman]

While I am not a huge fan of David Ramsey, his materials may be a good choice for those who have spending problems.

Interesting that you say that. I'm also not a big fan of his. Many people I know love his stuff and swear by it. I agree his spending habits materials are rather good, but sometimes he talks as if he's an expert on subjects he has no real background or education in. His ideas on Bankruptcy are formed only by his extreme bias to it because of his horrible experience with it. Some people simply don't have an option and I don't think he understands that.

[jakemgg]

I know this is a little late, but I just found this site while looking up another scam. I have participated in the Life after Bankruptcy seminar and I do not believe it is a scam. The seminar is free and target those recently discharged.
The charge you found on your clients accounts was for a book, "Training manual" of sorts that Steven Snyder authored and sells. He also writes a monthly newsletter (free for seminar attendees) with his advise, and ofcourse advertisments for his products.
This is not a credit repair company or scm, just someone writing and marketing books that provide suggestions on what to do after bankruptcy. The seminar does offes refferals to other companies that work with bankrupt people (a mortgage company, credit repair company, and a reccommendation on local car dealers that may be friendly to those with bankrupties).
Hope this helps