Law Office of Sharon T. Sperling

04/26/2023

The reason this is important for all of us is that there has been an explosion of online "tribal" lending in the past several years. Many of my clients have multiple high interest rate loans from lenders who take the position that they are not bound by state or federal laws, including bankruptcy laws. Be careful who you borrow from!

Monday’s arguments in Lac du Flambeau Band v. Coughlin revealed a bench deeply skeptical of the argument that Native American tribes should be exempt from the automatic stay of the Bankruptcy Code even though the federal and state governments are not. The case involves an online payday lending ope...

04/06/2023

The interest rate on judgments is now 6.58%, and judgment creditors in Florida are getting more aggressive about pursuing collections. For many people, tiling a bankruptcy case is the only realistic way to deal with judgments that keep growing. Seems like a good time to mention that I offer free initial consultations to help people who are struggling with debt.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer has set the quarterly rate of interest payable on judgments and decrees beginning April 1, 2023, at 6.58% per annum or .000180274 per day. F.S. §55.03(1) requires the CFO to set the rate of interest payable on judgments and decrees on December 1, March 1, J...

03/07/2023

SCAM ALERT: Someone impersonating the Clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tallahassee is running a jury duty scam. According to Traci Abrams, an individual "claiming to represent the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida is perpetrating a jury duty scam. Victims of this scam are contacted by the scammer and are encouraged to pay a fine in lieu of arrest for failing to report for jury duty. Please disregard all calls of this nature; do not provide payment, personally identifying information, or bank account numbers to the scammer.

Bankruptcy Clerk's Office staff will never contact you to request the payment of a jury duty-related fine. In the extremely rare instance that a jury trial is held by the bankruptcy judge, all communication with potential jurors will issue from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida's jury department. Communication from the District Court will be in writing and will include court staff contact information."

More information, including links to report suspected scams, can be found on the Court's website.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023I received a report that an individual referencing my name and claiming to represent the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida is perpetrating a jury duty scam. Victims of this scam are contacted by the scammer and are encouraged to pay a fine in lieu of ar...

11/09/2021

Effective and common- sense rules set to take effect on November 30th.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a dense federal statute that governs debt collection.  If you have read some of my previous articles on the topic, you will recall that t

07/06/2021

I received the email described in this article today, and it made it past my spam filter. This one is clever because they don't try to get you to click a link; instead, you are supposed to call a number they giove you.

Don't call a phone number in an email you didn't expect to receive -- if you're going to call, get the company's number from your own records or their website. And don't click links!

This type of scam, called phishing, purports to be from McAfee Total Protection, an anti-virus program.

06/18/2021

How much do we love this?

03/01/2021

Be careful out there!

Be careful about what you’re oversharing online, because it makes it easier for (unethical) hackers to target you.

02/02/2021

https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/court-approves-reciprocal-attorney-fees-for-defendants-in-credit-card-foreclosure-cases/

In two separate cases, the Supreme Court has said credit card debtors and homeowners in foreclosure actions are entitled to attorney fees when they prevail as defendants in collection or foreclosure cases and their credit card contracts and mortgages called for attorney fees if the creditors had won...

01/03/2021

Most county court decisions will be appealed to district courts after January 1, 2021. See more resources at KnowYourCourt.org.

12/09/2020

The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program (USTP announced today that it has entered into national agreements with three mortgage servicers to address past mortgage servicing deficiencies impacting homeowners in bankruptcy.

06/06/2020