We’re going to start the beginning of the year with our friend, attorney, Peter Daigle, happy new year. How are you Peter?
You Katherine So, well, it’s always so wonderful to talk to you.
Same here, I look forward to it because we, we, we now shared that we have grandchildren. I always look forward to that talk. So we did that off. Yeah. Yeah and I’m, I’m excited and I am smiling. However, the topic that we’re talking about today is serious because we have all been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and leave. We are going into an extended pandemic, but I really don’t know how to, how that’s going to affect people financially. So Peter, you know, I’m leaning on you to find out what do people need to know.
Okay. Fair enough. So, you know, the economy and, and individuals, specifically have been propped up as results of a lot of the pandemic assistance that’s been given. This is unemployment stimulus check and, it seems like the government is just not willing to go back there again. and so what’s happened is, is that folks, for example, that were behind in their mortgage payments, they now need to catch up, okay, you can get the loans modified or the need to get, you know, just catch up on the payments. If you behind the, got behind the credit card bills with the credit card, companies were willing to give you a break on, we’ll call it forbearance or holding off on payments for the time being that’s all turning around. So we’re seeing a lot more aggressive, collection activity, and we’re starting to see, lenders, in which they have delinquent borrowers on a mortgage.
And they’ll put more pressure onto you if you get modified or to sell your house or pay out. Okay. So, but, for the risk of not appearing, you know, politically correct, a lot of the lenders and kind of, you know, going at a slow pace. So not flooding with foreclosures and not flooding the market with lawsuits to collect on credit card companies. I don’t think they want to be in the front page in the newspaper saying that they’re being fully aggressive in their actions and have Facebook public on a political higher because of it but many events, as I said, he rode the party’s over basically in terms of being able to collect money from the government to sustain yourself. You know, that said if you’re eligible for unemployment benefits somehow, through the normal programs- that’s fine. But the pandemic relief assistance is pretty much over at this point.
Wow okay. And what, what I’m wondering, we can’t, we couldn’t control the pandemic. We can’t control that, you know, this thing happened, but I’m curious, and if you have an opinion about it, share it, if not, we can move right on, but the question is popping up for me. Is it dependent make help or hurt people, because if I’m at this point now of having to pay things back, I’m just, I’m, I’m thinking I would be terrified or nervous because anytime you’re not sure where you’re going to be living. And I mean, there’s gentrification going on there’s people, you know, buying up stuff in Charlotte. And I think Charlotte, North Carolina is a great place to live and to do business. However, I’ve grown up here and I would hate to be somebody moved out, due to things out of my control. And I think how was affected by the pandemic. And I was going to have to move or, sell my home that, you know, when you call something home, it’s no longer just a piece of property. Right! So I’m wondering how do you feel about it and has it been a good thing or a bad thing overall?
Well, I mean, I mean, in terms of the way people live their lives, so obviously, you know, being more cautious about being in public and, you know, getting low-fee the flow of the virus. I think it’s, it’s brought a lot of awareness to us, right and how we, how we live our life also in terms of being able to, cut down on the commuting times and working remotely. So there’s become some acceptance now where, you know, if we can get it done with a phone call, do we really need to meet, you know, do we really need to drive an hour to something where we can do it with a call, so in our world, and we’re seeing it in my family’s role with veteran business and working, you know, that they’re able to, to have a, more of a family life now, because they don’t have to make the commute, or they can schedule their work around their family.
So, you know, obviously that, you know, brought out the best, you know, the lost lives, obviously in the, in the heartbreak, from personal health issues, it was horrific. But, you know, that’s obviously on the bad side, but from the standpoint of being able to be more efficient, I know for myself, I’m able to do more, you know, intakes or talk to clients more on the phone than actually having a human person anymore, so that works for us and just fine. So I guess that’s sort of the pros and cons, but in terms of, you know, financial goals, I mean, there, wasn’t a boost of stimulus money here. And a lot of the people that got the money didn’t even need it, you know, the symbolist checks that went out as well as some of the other, some of the other relief that was available.
So, I think, you know, if the governments flooded the market with a lot of cash, and I think that helps some of the retailers and, you know, people sell the shoes or the appliances or the things like that, cause they need to afford us more car sales and everyone else. I think some people get stimulated by all that money but now it kind of has its own feet. You know, the training wheels are kinda coming off. And I think that, yeah, you know, people are gonna have to go back in and try making on their own again, you know?
Yeah. And I’m wondering because years ago, my youngest son is 21. So more than 21 years ago, when I worked at Cigna healthcare, they were supposed to be one of the companies that cared about family. So it was the idea of working at home was part of their, their, their program. one of the things you could work for, and now 21 years later, if it’s pretty much like this is what everybody would want to do now, I feel, I, with my, with my business, I have made it where I worked from home because my kids are priority but now that they are all grown up, I like working from home still. So I didn’t want to change that. I could see people getting a taste of wanting to work from home during the pandemic, not having to commute it. You do see where all of your time is going.
It definitely helped put things into perspective. I don’t know if companies are going to be able to go back to requiring you to work in the office. When we already know you have the ability to allow us to work from home, that’s exciting and for us to not have to sacrifice our families and to be able to work from home. I think that that that’s the magic. If anything, Cigna should have made that what we all did back then, but it was only if you could earn it. It was a privilege to earn now it’s, this is probably about to be the way things are done. That’s my thing, my take on it now. Sorry.
I totally agree with you. I agree with you, you know,
I think that, you know, just as much as the people, you know, obviously the people that died and, and the same moves that were the people that got sick or that’s terrible, but, you know, in any kind of tragedy, you know, you try to find things that, you know, benefited society and I think you’ve just brought them up, you know so I guess we’ve gotta be blessed the fact that we’re still alive and we’re doing well and, and we now are able to adjust our life like you’ve just described, you know, so that’s a good thing, obviously.
Yeah. I, I’m hoping that I know that it may not happen, but I’m going to put it out there anyway. I hope that everyone, you know lands on their feet. I don’t hope for anyone, any worse than what it already is, me already being established, having a place to stay, not being in a threat to lose that. That’s one, that’s one blessing for me, for sure, but I don’t wish less on other people. I don’t wish anyone to lose what they already have as there as we’re you know, losing the support for the community. I, you know, I really don’t know what to say, but I just hope that I can help whoever I can help. And because it was something that affected, it’s something that is affecting everyone, in different ways, you’re still having our grandchildren definitely have our family, but if we can be safe so we can see those little ones, making sure we get vaccinated or make sure that we are not exposing ourselves to others who may have, a cold or flu or actually have COVID.
So, so many things about now and I was wondering a couple of times, cause, now with me being married, we do couples things to hang out with other couples. And we have so many layers of things to think about now it’s me and him. If we invite you over or we don’t hang out with you, we’ll drain, you know, and that’s not a thought of equity and it’s not offensive to any, you know, I don’t mean for it to be offensive, but it’s, I’m thinking, I just don’t want to take the chance. Can we do a zoom call Can we do a, a zoom thing together or is everyone willing to wear their mask Like you have to have these conversations and that was different from before.
Right I agree. Oh, you’re so you’re, you’re wise. You’re very wise. but in terms of what we can do from, from, our standpoint is that we were assisting people in modifying their mortgage right now though loan modification mortgage is kind of a, it’s always been difficult because you’ve got to, you know, get this sock and that document, we didn’t get it in time, you know, give us another one. It was probably frustrating. So we’ve gotten good at that now so we’re able to help people with loan modifications.
Did you find that you were doing more adults last year or?
We’re doing tons of more now.
Okay. Okay.
We’re doing by the wheelbarrow full literally.
Yeah, but that’s good news though, because I was concerned, you know, what could be done for people. And I didn’t even know what the right question was to ask. So definitely I would’ve never thought to call you Peter Daigle as a bankruptcy attorney, I would never thought to call you for a loan modification or for any advice about keeping my house, because remember a long time ago, when you and I met, I thought bankruptcy was a bad word. And I thought that only, you know when you’re shamed, you go do this. So it wouldn’t affect my mind to say, Hey Peter, can you help me with this So before we get out of here, I know we only got a couple of more minutes together. Talk a little bit more about someone calling you, someone like you please talk about, help me keep my house.
So when the, when the pandemic hit, the banks, granted would have called forbearances. They said, okay, you don’t have to pay your mortgage until a certain date. And the forbearance is pretty much all, coming up in February. So this year, so get the forbearance period, meaning you don’t have to tell you mortgage you know if you don’t have to pay your mortgage until then, that’s fine. But at that point, when the time’s up, you’ve got to make an arrangement, either pay it back, you know, completely in one lump sum or, what they’re doing now. And we’re assisting people with modifying it. Lou was saying the bank, please allow us to put this six months of missing payment at the backend of the loan. Meaning instead of being a loan paid off in the year, 2030, it would paid off for me is 2030 plus six months or 2031.
And we’re able to get that done. Okay. So, but don’t ignore it because if you just ignore it, then they’re gonna be looking for all missing payments and that’s the problem. So mortgage modification assistance is something you definitely want to be in the top of. and the bank should be reaching out to you also to say, Hey, what do you want to do What do you want to do So don’t ignore it. My advice to you is if you get, if you’re behind in the mortgage, because the pandemic weren’t able to work as much and you’re, I was with cut, you know, employment, didn’t cover it. Then don’t just let this thing, Langer, cause you will lose your house.
Yeah. Now who would have known that you could have helped them with that and I, and I, I hear you that the bank should be reaching out and even if the bank does reach out, I think I would be nervous about what to say. So I definitely would want someone to be in touch with you Cedar to get advice because you, you could say, you think you’re saying the right thing and I’m learning men versus women in personal relationships. We don’t always communicate the same way, the word I’m using. Isn’t the word he understands that the mean and vice versa. So, I would not want someone to talk with their, their mortgage company alone. And in my opinion, from what I’ve learned from my attorney friends is that the mortgage company, they, they want to make sure that they have someone paying for that house.
They don’t necessarily need to you. So, their interest isn’t the same as your interest in the property. So you want to know what to say, how to handle it. And definitely, if it’s anything like trying to get your credit straight and making sure you beat the deadline or meet the deadline to get something removed or updated on your credit report. I know that might seem like a small thing to somebody, but I want help even with getting my credit report straight because I forget, even though I manage my household, I’ll forget that tedious detail because my mom will say, you already looked at that you already did that. Not knowing that need to go in and do something, respond to something. A piece of mail was missed, you know, being vigilant. That’s what it feels like to me. And that’s not my everyday thing. So I think I would mess up with that. And I’m learning that there are people that can actually help you help. Doesn’t always mean it’s free, but help means something I did not already know on my own. So I’m grateful for what we do.
That’s what we do.
I’m grateful for the conversations that we have. And I hope that those that are listening to our conversations also see the value in that. Peter, let people know how to get in touch with you outside of this needs to be said, as well as, any last words you want to give us any, any words of advice before we talk with you again on next month?
Sure. So first of all, it’s Peter Daigle and my phone number is (508) 771-7444. Or you can look me up on my website at Daigle law office, just Daigle law office, and, you’ll you can read all about us and then if you reach out to me, if you are having a problem with getting a little modified, we can help you with it. Okay. So, but be, be proactive. Don’t just assume, because you’re not opening your mail, or not taking those phone calls that you’re not sure that things are going to be okay cause they’re not. Okay. So, just face it and if you want a free consultation, give me a call and I can help you talk you through it also.
Fantastic! Fantastic! And I want to tell you Peter, that one of my connections that I did send to you, she’s absolutely thrilled that she’s connected with you. So I’m just happy that I almost never get to hear back from people when I say that person, but she came back and she was, she said, thank you so much for connecting me with Peter saying, that’s what I like to hear about. I already know you a lot, you know, so people will, but for someone to come back and tell me that in itself is it means a lot to me. So I want more people to be in touch and to, to use these resources that we have. You know, we don’t have to struggle. We don’t have to struggle there, their friends to help you. And Peter is one of my friends. So thank you so much, Peter, for stopping by this day. We’ll see you next day.
Thank you. You too! Bye-bye.
