Generally, prospective creditors look at three things (the ‘three C’s” of credit) when they consider an applicant for credit. One is capacity: do you have the earning capacity to repay the loan. If you make enough disposable income (income left over after paying the monthly bills) to afford the payment , you pass this test. The second “C” is collateral: do you have any property to put for security (‘collateral’) for the loan? If you are applying for a loan to finance a purchase, the property being bought is usually sufficient collateral. If your credit is good enough, some lenders will loan money on just your signature --no collateral needed. The third is character. Does your credit history reflect that you are a person who does pay his or her debts assuming you have the money to do so?

To rebuild your credit after a bankruptcy filing, you need to pay attention to these three “C’s” of credit. (1) Be sure you are earning enough to afford the payments you propose to make. (2) Offer the vehicle, TV set, or whatever you are buying on credit as collateral. And (3) rebuild your credit history. This is not always easy but here is one way to do it. After the bankruptcy has been filed, go out of your way every month to use credit in some small way. For example, if you are buying a prescription, find a pharmacy that will let you open a 30-day charge account and charge your purchases. Don’t buy things you don’t need just to use credit, but do try to find someplace each month where you can charge something that you are going to buy anyway. The whole point of this is to create an opportunity to pay a bill promptly and then do so. These prompt payments will be reported to credit-monitoring agencies. Also, keep a record of the places where you have charged and paid promptly. Later, when you are ready to apply for a car loan or something of the sort, you will have a list of credit references to offer on the application. Also, the credit bureau will likely have a post-bankruptcy credit record on you that is favorable and the prospective creditor can see that when you have the money you do pay your debts. Another approach is to get yourself a secured credit card at a bank or a credit union. Many banks and credit unions offer them. You can find them advertised on TV, in magazines, and on the radio. It works like this. You open a savings account with a deposit of about $200 or $300. The account is blocked and that money serves as collateral for the VISA, Mastercard, or Discover card they issue you. The card will initially have the same credit limit as the balance in the blocked savings account. As you use the card and build up a record of prompt payments on the account over the next six to twelve months, you will likely find that the bank will start raising the card’s credit limit beyond the amount on deposit. At some point down the road, they might even release the block on the savings account altogether. (Now you know that your credit is on the mend.)

My advice is to stick with credit unions where possible. Credit unions are member-owned cooperatives. I personally feel that consumer financing belongs at your local credit union. Often, their lending policies will be the most liberal and their interest rates the lowest. Banks are next in preference with finance companies last because of the higher interest rates they often charge.

So far as I know, we are the only office (in the region, at least) offering a serious, in-depth analysis of your circumstances before filing. We don’t merely screen you for eligibility with a short phone or office conference and then encourage you to file. As evidenced by our support of this website and our thorough Initial Conference, we go to great lengths to educate our prospective clients about the legal proceeding they contemplate. We follow through with protective and informative measures during the proceeding. We begin with an Initial Conference with each prospective new client that may take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. This puts you in the best possible position to make an informed choice as to whether or not to file and whether or not you want to file with us. We do not hesitate to recommend a non-bankruptcy alternative (Consumer Credit Counseling of Northern Idaho, Inc., being the main one in this area) should that appear to be viable in any particular case.

Bradee and Tracy are experienced paralegals, trained and supervised by Ken. Bradee has been here ten years and Tracy more than six. So long as things go along routinely and as planned, they handle the day-to-day administration of the case. The paralegals do everything within reason to make sure your case goes through as smoothly as possible, including reminders of important deadlines by mail and telephone. However, If anything develops that may require the attention of an attorney, the case lands on Ken’s desk.

My basic advice is to insist on a person-to-person in-office conference with the attorney whom you are considering hiring for bankruptcy or any legal matter. (A ten-minute telephone or other initial conference just isn’t the same. No attorney can adequately analyze your affairs and advise you as to your options in such a short and impersonal conference.) Get your questions answered, understand how the proposed filing will work in your case, and make sure you are comfortable with that attorney and that you feel you can trust and cooperate with him or her.

However, if you would like to just ask a question or two of Ken before committing the time and money for our Initial Conference, give us a call and we will try to accommodate you if time permits.

Finally, consider the old adage: you get what you pay for.

On the other hand, it is well to remember that in this democracy, most court records and proceedings are public. This means any one can go to the court clerk’s office in Boise or work the court’s webpage to see the documents filed in any particular case

We strongly prefer that in the case of a married couple, both husband and wife come in for the Initial Conference if at all possible. We have found that when only the husband or the wife comes in we are usually asked to go through it all again with the other person and we end up spending twice the time it should take. We will repeat the session but there will be a charge of $60 made for this. Only the first Initial Conference is free. In any event, I must meet and speak with both husband and wife at some point before I can file a case.

Idaho residents south of Idaho County (i.e., Valley County and points south) are best served by local counsel in other cities such as Boise or Pocatello. Eastern Washington residents ordinarily must file in Spokane but we can represent them in limited circumstances (such as if their major assets are in this state, or, if they are in business, their principal place of business is in Idaho),