Trusted New Orleans Creditors’ Rights Lawyers:

The legal rights that enable creditors to collect money due to them by companies or individuals are known as creditors’ rights. These rights include the ability to take legal action, such as garnishing wages or putting liens on property.  In general, the legal tools and processes that creditors can use to make sure they get the money they are due are included in their rights.  These rights are intended to safeguard the interests of creditors and make debt recovery easier.

Bowes, Petkovich & Palmer, LLC is a leader in creditors’ rights in Louisiana.  Our New Orleans creditors’ rights lawyers handle many different types of creditor cases for many national, regional, and local creditors.  Our creditor team have decades of experience in commercial and consumer collections, as well as repossessions, foreclosures, evictions, and protecting creditors’ rights in bankruptcy.

Types of Cases that Our Creditors’ Rights Lawyers Handle:

There are many different things that a creditors’ rights lawyer can assist lenders with.

Collections:

Collections law is the legal structure and practices pertaining to debt collection, including the rights and responsibilities of creditors and debtors as well as the processes for enforcing debt repayment through the legal system.  Our team of creditors’ rights lawyers have developed the expertise to effectively and efficiently collect any type of debt from beginning to end.  Our New Orleans creditors’ rights lawyers have developed an expertise in skip tracing, litigation, asset location, employment verification, and post-judgment legal action.

Consumer Collections:

Our Louisiana consumer collection lawyers collect debts on behalf of several creditors, such as banks, credit unions, finance firms, credit card companies, medical providers, and landlords.  Our collection attorneys actively and meticulously pursue consumer and retail debt collections.  Delinquent credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, boat loans, payday loans, credit lines, over-drafted bank accounts, medical bills, and past-due rent are just a few of the debts we frequently collect.

Commercial Collections:

Debts incurred by companies doing business with other companies are the subject of commercial collections.  Business debt that is past due can become a major liability of not timely collected. Our Louisiana commercial collection lawyers work hard to ensure that our clients get the money they are due in a timely manner.  Our team represents numerous commercial lenders, including contractors, subcontractors, banks, commercial landlords, equipment lessors, material suppliers, and wholesalers.

Foreign Judgments:

Debtors frequently relocate across states.  If the debtor is neither employed nor has property in a state, the judgment is essentially unenforceable.  Collection lawyers must take further measures to enforce a foreign judgment in a state where a debtor or assets are found.  To make an out-of-state judgment executory in Louisiana, La. R.S. 13:4242 requires that a judgment creditor file an ex parte petition with an authenticated copy of the foreign judgment and an affidavit.  Our collection team represent many out-of-state judgment holders including creditors with a single judgment and many recurring clients who do business-to-business loans.

Asset Seizure:

Secured creditors have certain rights not available to other lenders.  For starters, executory process allows secured creditors to seize and sell collateral without having to first obtain a money judgment.  Certain requirements must be met though.  Executory process is a judicial seizure designed to give a creditor holding a security interest a way to collect its debt in minimal time.  Executory process is governed by La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 2631 et. seq.  Our New Orleans creditors’ rights lawyers are well versed at all types of asset seizure.

Repossessions:

Our Louisiana repossession lawyers have filed hundreds of these actions for different vehicle lenders over the years, and they are very skilled at using the executory process to reclaim cars.  When one thinks of the standard judicial repossession, executory process is what they are thinking of.  Movable property can also be seized via ordinary process by issuing a writ of fieri facias.  This procedure is governed by La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 2291 et. seq.  Louisiana also has self-help repossessions which are governed by the Additional Default Remedies Act.  This is a form of non-judicial repossession that creditors use to repossess collateral themselves.

Foreclosures:

Only judicial foreclosures for residential and commercial real estate are permitted under Louisiana law.  In contrast, repossession laws in Louisiana include both judicial and non-judicial options.  Furthermore, this differs from certain other states that have both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure regulations.  In Louisiana, creditors prefer to use the foreclosure by executory process, when the sheriff takes possession of the property and sells it at auction at the courthouse.  Immovable property can also be seized via ordinary process with a writ of fieri facias.  Our Louisiana foreclosure lawyers have years of experience seizing immovable or real property via executory and ordinary process.

Deficiency Judgments:

A deficiency is the remaining balance that is owed after a defaulted loan is credited with the net sale proceeds of a repossession or foreclosure.  Per La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 2771, a creditor may obtain a judgment against the debtor for any deficiency balance due on the debt after the distribution of the proceeds of the judicial sale.  Deficiency judgments can also be pursued following a self-help repossession, but specific notice requirements must be carefully met.  Our Louisiana deficiency judgment lawyers have decades of experience at obtaining and collecting these types of debts.

Bankruptcy:

Our Louisiana bankruptcy lawyers are highly experienced at representing various secured and unsecured creditors across all of Louisiana’s three Federal districts.  Our creditor bankruptcy team is familiar with the local regulations and practices of each division as well as the constantly evolving bankruptcy statutes.  Creditors have many rights in bankruptcy.  This includes the ability to ask questions at the creditors’ meeting (341 meeting); the ability to have their claims heard in Chapter 7 distributions; the ability to have their claims heard in Chapter 13 debt restructuring and repayment plans; and the ability to start adversarial proceedings to challenge dischargeability, enforce foreclosure or repossession, or challenge fraudulent property transfers.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) controls the collection practices of third-party debt collectors and legal firms engaged in collections.  You can find the FDCPA in 15 USC 1692 et seq.  Its goal was to safeguard consumers by doing away with unfair, dishonest, and abusive debt collecting methods.  Additionally, it shields respectable law firms and debt collectors from unfair competition.  Only debt collected by a consumer primarily for household, family, or personal use is covered under the FDCPA.  Commercial and business loans are exempt.  Our New Orleans creditors’ rights lawyers take great measure to ensure compliance with the FDCPA.

Louisiana Creditors’ Rights Lawyers:

We are a Gretna law firm that has served the New Orleans area since 1980.  Our experienced creditors’ rights lawyers are well versed at representing lenders in all types of cases including collections, bankruptcy, repossessions, foreclosures, and deficiencies.  We take pride in offering a personal and trusted experience.  Call us today for a free consultation and find out why so many of our clients come back to us.