Search - Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Short Sales & Rebuilding your Credit - FINANCIAL RECOVERY on DVD

Consumer Bankruptcy DVD: Uneven Quality, Depending on Speake

Joseph C. McDaniel | Phoenix, Arizona | 02/11/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is an interesting dvd.



It has the look and feel of an infomercial, but it's not one. It just looks like one.



The speakers range from solid and good to I couldn't watch 'em.



Here is my take on the six segments of the dvd:



-David W. Langley on bankruptcy law: I gave him an A minus. He's a AV rated bankruptcy lawyer with 25 years of experience, and he looks and sounds like it. The reason he didn't get an A is that the discussion of bankruptcy law was simply oversimplified. And fairly light on information. It's an okay very, very simple overview, but I wish that David had been given more time on this dvd, and had presented a more in-depth discussion of bankruptcy law and process. On the other hand, if I had a brother in Florida with a debt problem, I'd have no compunctions about referring him to David (this is not a guarantee of his work; I can't guarantee the work of any other professional, nor would I; use your own common sense in finding a lawyer and try to find a Martindale av rated board certified bankruptcy lawyer in your State, or a bankruptcy attorney who has an AVVO.com score of 10.0).



-Sherri B. Simpson, another lawyer on this dvd, discusses foreclosures. Her lecture has some value and she says some smart things, like take documents to a lawyer before you sign them, and she does a good job of discussing mortgage rescue scams. That's valuable. This discussion gets a B because it's pretty state specific, even though she tries to make it available to a wider audience. But it's obvious that she cares about her clients, and that she has a lot of experience in the area.



-Carlos Gieots is billed as a credit expert, and his information is generally both simple and accurate on credit issues. WARNING: he seems to suggest failing to list a creditor on your bankruptcy petition under some circumstances. That kind of advice can lose you a bankruptcy discharge, and send you to jail. So listen to him discuss credit and the credit reporting agencies and how to get errors removed from your credit report. DO NOT listen to his suggestion that not all creditors must be listed on a bankruptcy petition. He gets an F, based on a suggestion that sounded illegal, impolite and fattening to me. And if he didn't mean it, he sure shouldn't have said it.



-Scott Daniels, a realtor who specializes in short sales, discussed the process in general. It was an overview, again somewhat state-specific, but listening to him makes it clear that short sales are not very easy and not always possible. He gets a C because after listening to him a consumer would at least know a lot of questions to ask an in-state realtor about a short sale.



-There are people on this dvd who are billed as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and another as a "Celebrity Life Coach, Relationship Expert, and Hypnotherapist". No, I didn't watch those segments, because I just couldn't bring myself to watch a celebrity life coach talk about how bankruptcy is hard and there's still life after bankruptcy. Because that's obvious. Because I didn't watch those segments, and I think they are not particularly valuable to a potential debtor, I didn't give any points or demerits to those presentations.



Overall, this doesn't seem terribly useful. The lawyers on this dvd are smart and sincere and experienced. Watching them will give you some useful information, but the bankruptcy lawyer spoke too briefly, and the foreclosure defense lawyer was primarily reporting on the way things go in that state. Well presented, but probably not enough to make this a must-have.



Now, let's put this in perspective. If I were considering a bankruptcy proceeding or short sale, and I had no idea at all what either were, watching this could be useful. And being put on guard about folks who come to the door to rescue the homeowner from a foreclosure is a good thing.



But on balance, I don't think this provides as much bang for the buck as the NOLO book, The New Bankruptcy, Will It Work for You.



Nothing in the foregoing should be used as or may be construed as legal advice; this is just a review, folks!



p.s. as I write this postscript, there is a raging debate in Congress over a provision in the Bankruptcy Code that may, after amendment, permit the stripdown of some OR all mortages on residential real property. Will that statute pass? Listen, I've practiced bankruptcy law in Phoenix, Arizona for about thirty years, and I've watched a long series of amendments to the "New Code" of 1979; and I've watched as Congress debated in the past. The 2005 amendments took about a decade to work their way through Congress. So MAYBE the Bankruptcy Code is about to change a lot. And MAYBE it's not. But if you're contemplating bankruptcy in Phoenix, Arizona, or anywhere else, you should be aware that the law is currently MAYBE about to change in a way that could be helpful to debtors, IF they qualify and are willing to put up with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy (which makes a root canal look like fun).

"