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HOW
WE HELPED
Members
of CCFJ, Inc. have helped families that fell into the
legal fee trap after failing to pay small amounts of dues.
The CCFJ Foundation just helped a
Navy couple with seven kids in Jacksonville to save
their home from foreclosure. About $ 800.00 in unpaid dues
ballooned to a demand of $ 5,800.00.
During
2011 CCFJ, Inc. helped two families in
Central Florida
to avoid foreclosures. In one case the family bread-winner had
suddenly died. In
the other case health issues had caused the failure to pay on
time. In both cases
urgent medical bills depleted the families’ resources.
CCFJ members took care of the legal issues and helped pay
the debts that had multiplied quickly -- mostly by added
attorney's fees.
We
had helped before -- just on a case-by-case basis. While
we offered as well to help the 81-year
old war veteran,
his neighbors beat us to
the punch. He was
able to keep his home, thanks to the generous help of gracious
neighbors that read about it in the newspaper.
In
many cases the real issue isn’t actually unpaid dues, often
less than $500. The problem usually is that the rapid imposition
of fees makes it nearly impossible for families already in
financial trouble to avoid foreclosure.
Even
when a so-called “payment plan” is available, it seldom
helps. Why? Because
more and more law firms charge an extra fee, typically $100 or
more for each payment received. In
many cases less than 20% of the amount paid by the owner is
actually applied to reduce the initial debt. In a recent case an
owner paid $150 a month for a year or a total of $1,800 in
payments (on top of the current monthly dues) before learning
that only $300 of the total payments went to reduce the debt. It
would have taken the owner about 12 years to repay a debt of a
little over $3,500 owed. Imagine:
A total payment of $21,600 to repay $3,500. That’s $18,100 in
collection fees and interest, or slightly over five (5) times
the original debt.
Such
cases are all too common. They reveal an inexcusable lack
of consumer protection in
Florida
laws and an inexcusable unwillingness by our lawmakers to stop
this abuse.
CCFJ
FOUNDATION, Inc. will try
to offer help in as many cases as possible. We realize that the
sluggish economy and the collapse of the real estate market will
cause even more families to fall into this money trap and to
suffer even more financial hardship.
With
your generous help CCFJ FOUNDATION, Inc. will make an
organized effort to help as many families as possible to keep
their homes without having to pay outrageous fees to do so.
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