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Community Corner

Dealing With Financial Crisis

January is National Financial Wellness Month-- an ideal time to get your finances in order

January is National Financial Wellness Month. 

High rates of national unemployment and record levels of foreclosures on homes due to the sub-prime loan crisis have left millions of Americans in a state of financial distress.

Rather than allow the stress of dwindling finances run your life, there are ways you can take charge, get back on your feet and turn your personal wealth around for the new year.

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On February 12th, the Daniel Favors Law Group will host a free Financial Empowerment 101 workshop at Macon Public Library in Bed-Stuy, at corner of Lewis and Macon Streets. This will be a basic course for those hoping to learn more about dealing with financial distress.

The Daniel Favors Law Group is a Manhattan-based law firm that helps people with money problems get on the path to financial empowerment. In particular, they cater to clients who are facing enormous debt and hefty bills they cannot pay.

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The Group offers workshops free-of-charge for religious and community organizations, providing basic financial literacy education, financial crisis management, and tactics for dealing with aggressive debt collectors. Their services begin with a free 45-minute consultation to see what resources are available to someone in financial distress.

Lurie Daniel Favors has worked for years as a consumer bankruptcy and debt defense attorney and she has also worked in non-profits, and she has developed a financial distress management curriculum based on those experiences.

Some clients are good candidates for bankruptcy, she explained, and she helps those people through the process. Not all are eligible to do this, however, and people need to know that there are other ways to deal with harassment from debt collectors.

“Right now over 300,000 people a year get sued by debt collectors in New York City alone,” Ms. Daniel Favors explained. “What people don’t realize is that when collectors are harassing you in aggressive ways, you have rights, guaranteed to you under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. When you win your case, the collector will pay your legal fees.”

People who are facing aggressive debt collectors can seek legal help, and the first consultation with an attorney should be free-of-charge. “You don’t have to let these collectors violate your rights,” said Ms. Daniel Favors.

During times of financial distress, it also is important that there is communication between family members, Ms. Daniel Favors said. Families need to have a budget plan, and partners need to communicate in an honest fashion about expenses. This prevents a “blame game” from occurring and creating feelings of anger and hostility, which only adds tension to an already stressful situation.

Additionally, Ms. Daniel Favors recommends that family leaders sit down together and go through piles of unopened mail. If you let them sit there, she warned, debt collectors will use that against you. When you tackle that pile and gauge what you owe and what you can and cannot pay right now, it makes financial distress more bearable.

The best ways to deal with financial distress are to stay calm, educate yourself and seek help from experts who offer their services without fees.

In addition to the free workshop at Macon Public Library, hosts a Financial Empowerment Services program that offers tax assistance, loan advice, financial counseling, and financial literacy workshops.

This is the first in a three-part series that will offer practical, affordable and easy first-steps to gaining financial empowerment.

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