NWCLC Staff, Author at Northwest Consumer Law Center

Homestead Legislation/Bankruptcy

Victor Sanabria* had been living and working in the U.S. on a work permit, unfortunately, during the pandemic, he was let go by his employer and was experiencing financial difficulties. He is not married but supports his girlfriend and three children solely on his unemployment income; they all live in the same house which is…

Auto Fraud

Jesus Jurez* was living at a new address when his brother was served at his former residence. The Complaint was for a $7,837.79 debt by Cavalry on behalf of Citibank. Instead of arguing the service issue, Jurez agreed to pay a sliding scale fee to avoid the debt collection lawsuit. Fortunately, once we were contacted…

Bankruptcy

Florence* is a single mom who supports her three kids working as a nurse. She fell into credit card debt after her ex-husband lost his job and was unable to send her child support. She used the credit cards to pay for small emergencies, like when her car broke down or when her kid broke…

A Bad Deal for Good Borrowers

Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham* were upstanding, retired senior citizens. They bought their home 30 years ago and were loyal borrowers ever since, making every mortgage payment on time and in full. They had no idea that their mortgage company had made a mistake in re-crunching some numbers and was wrongly applying their payments, until they…

Keeping the Family Together

Donna, a single mother of three children, worked full-time as a receptionist as well as part-time on the weekends as a cashier just to make ends for her family. Years earlier, some legal troubles had forced Donna apart from her children and made her unable to pay her car note, so her vehicle was repossessed.…

Whatever It Takes

Hannah was already a senior citizen when she bought her house at the height of the subprime mortgage scams in 2005. Unbeknownst to Hannah and her family, the mortgage broker had falsified her income to make her qualify for the loan and rake in profit from the fees. She could barely afford the mortgage but…

When Hard Work is Not Enough

My wife and I had the best intentions when we bought a house at foreclosure in 2008. We gutted it and did a total remodel. Our goal was to do a refinance, bringing the mortgage and other debts down to something more affordable for us. But, then the recession hit, and we were not able…