I review many self implemented Offers in Compromise to the SBA, Banks and other creditors, and I am frequently amazed at what I see.

Friends, are you not paying attention? You are in default. You are being foreclosed on or collected against, at the very least. You are facing liquidation and possibly foreclosure. That is the fact pattern.

Yet despite the clear intent of the bank to clean you out for its own benefit, many of you present yourself ripe for slaughter without lifting a pencil or an eraser in advance to prevent important assets from being liquidated and without improving your position or making certain total calamity and destruction does not occur.

We are not sheep being led to slaughter. Do not act as if this were the case. We have a deep responsibility to ourselves, our employees, our families and our need to survive to fight another day.

Allow me to humbly suggest that despite the documentation and the preferred position the bank takes all for them nothing for you, they too must play a role in your downturn as they too were part of the problem and have provided no solutions. Yes you owe the money, yes you failed to pay it back as agreed, but this is not a moral issue, both sides of the deal were fairly represented and took risk. Both sides must absorb a fair amount of the cost and loss.

You have the same obligation as the bank but the reverse side. The bank intends to get as much as they can from you. You must protect as much as you can from the banks liquidators.

This is fair. This is just. This is the right thing to do.

For example, do you leave the remaining $8,000.00 in your savings account to wait for the bank to ask you to hand it over? Or do you pay your mortgage and your property taxes as well as your insurance bill and your utilities maybe early maybe for an extra month as you know you will be out of income shortly. Is this cheating? No it’s preparation and self protection.

It is also presenting yourself in the best light possible for your own survival.

Is it appropriate to leave your child’s education account which you are a co-signor on, to be given up to the bank because your name is on the account? No take your name off it, this account has nothing to do with your debt to the bank and should not be subject to liquidation because you did not realize the issues at hand.

Should you leave the cash value of your insurance policy alone, ripe for plucking by the bank? Should you withdraw it in advance and better you’re going forward position as that is in your family’s best interest?

Here is the point. Believe me when the bank says they are in collection mode, they mean everything they can get, they will get. My advice is that within the rules, no fraud, but with reasonable business and personal activity, you have a right to protect yourself and to present yourself in the light most beneficial to you, not the bank.

Let’s get real, the bank is not your friend in foreclosure, it is not your job to give them the shirt off your back, which they would have you do. Protect the shirt at least. There are many ways to protect you. Doing it yourself without the skill and experience is not the way to go.

Call if you need help. Norm will arrange a no obligation teleconference for us to examine your options.

Call 413-584-2581.