Effective Creditors’ Rights 

Unpaid debt is a major problem for today’s lending institutions.  Our firm provides professional and cost-effective legal representation that enables our clients to receive the money they are owed in a timely manner.  There are many forms of legal action that can be taken against a debtor, resulting in regaining control over your accounts receivable.  If you are looking for an experienced law firm that will provide you with personal service and aggressive representation, you have come to the right place.  Call us today to speak to a creditors’ rights attorneys about what we can do for your firm or bank.

The creditors’ rights attorneys at Bowes, Petkovich & Palmer, LLC have over 50 years of collective experience representing many national and regional banks, credit card companies, finance companies, credit unions, and commercial lenders.  We handle all types of creditors’ rights cases including collection of delinquent credit cards and promissory notes, repossession of automobiles, foreclosure of home mortgages, pursuing deficiency judgments after a repossession or foreclosure, evictions, and representing our clients in bankruptcy court if a debtor files for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 protection.  

SKIP TRACING & ASSET LOCATION

It is not uncommon for a debtor to seemingly vanish.  People move for all sorts of reasons.  Often times that is the reason they quit paying their debts in the first place.  We use the latest technology to locate debtors to send demand letters, serve pleadings, and later to enforce our judgments.  Other debtors, however, may intentionally hide an asset or avoid service.  We have successfully found vehicles throughout Louisiana and have even located them in other states for our auto clients.  We also utilize trusted private process servers to serve pleadings on slick debtors.

Further, when collecting a debt we use various strategies to obtain and verify asset and employment information.  Examining credit reports, property assessments, and court filings (such as successions and injury lawsuits) are just a few of the ways to locate assets for seizure.  We also utilize several strategies to locate and verify places of employment in advance of wage garnishments.

PRESCRIPTIVE PERIODS

Also known as statutes of limitation in other jurisdictions, Louisiana’s prescriptive periods for collecting debts are 3 years for open accounts (credit cards), 5 years for promissory notes, and 3 years for past due rent.  The periods begin to run when payment becomes overdue but can be interrupted by an “acknowledgment of the debt.”  Thus, it is prudent to hire a creditors’ rights lawyer to preserve your rights.

Money judgments prescribe after 10 years but can be revived for an additional 10 years by filing the necessary court pleadings prior to the expiration of the judgment.  Likewise, if a judgment is recorded in the mortgage records, the judicial mortgage that the recordation perfects expires after 10 years from the date of recordation but can be extended by reinscribing the judicial mortgage.  We keep track of all of our judgments and make sure each is timely revived and reinscribed to protect our clients’ rights.

FAIR DEBT COLLECTIONS PRACTICES ACT

Our office goes through great lengths to ensure compliance by our attorneys and staff with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Louisiana’s version of same. It is important to note that FDCPA rules only apply to personal or consumer debts.  It does not yet apply to business or commercial loans.  The FDCPA also does not apply to creditors who collect in their own name and whose principal business is not debt collection. However, if a creditor hires an attorney or collection agency to collect the debt, then that attorney or collector is subject to the requirements of the FDCPA.  As a matter of employing best practices, we follow the FDCPA guidelines for all debts we collect on behalf of clients.

The creditors’ rights lawyers at Bowes, Petkovich & Palmer, LLC are highly experienced at collecting all types of debt and dedicated to getting the results you need.  We have decades of experience representing creditors in the New Orleans area and across Louisiana.  Call us today for a free consultation.

Creditors’ Rights Cases We Handle:

Consumer Collections

Commercial Collections

Bankruptcy

Repossessions 

Foreclosures

Deficiency Judgments

Evictions