By agreement with the dealer, Ms. Martin left three post-dated checks with the dealer for the car. When Ms. Martin complained the dealer, he took the keys to her car, and told her that he would not return them until she made the checks good. The Law Center wrote a letter to the dealer asking it to take the car back, return Ms. Martin's money, and cover bad check charges and the ticket. She accepted the offer and kept her new car. Each Sunnyvale resident has permanent disabilities, and lives on SSI as her only income.
None has any assets to protect in a bankruptcy.
Rather than encouraging these individuals to file expensive and useless bankruptcy petitions, the Center has written letters to their creditors explaining their financial plight and asking them to charge off the debt. The primary goal of these letters is to end the harassment by forcing the creditors to contact the Center rather than the clients, as required by the California Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Despite the fact that the creditors were told to direct all further communications to the Center, two have unlawfully contacted our clients. Those clients are currently considering whether or not to take affirmative action against the offending parties. Mrs. C, an elderly disabled woman, had entered into a contract to have her belongings moved to Mexico.