John Gear Law Office & Salem Consumer Law    503-569-7777
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Why I do this work

1/29/2014

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Sharing with permission a real day-brightener I just got after sending a conclusion of engagement letter:

Dear John,

I guess that that particular salutation is appropriate on more than one level, given that we are "breaking up."

I have a pretty good vocabulary, but words fail me when I attempt to convey my deep appreciation for your help. During the holiday season you gave E____ and me the greatest gift one can bestow on another...hope.  We felt lost and beleaguered, set upon by what we felt would be the first of many debt collection wolves who would pick us clean for the rest of our lives.  E_____'s finding you was serendipitous; your calm reassurance and competence gave us the hope that there was a way out of our difficulties that would give us a life and allow us to move on.  I cannot ever thank you enough for that.

You would be surprised what kind of connections one makes, even out here in the sticks.  Now that I am in a high-level position, I am suddenly and regularly finding myself in meetings with politicians, police chiefs, and all manner of other people from all over the state, including Salem.  Our program is state-funded, so I will have plenty of contact with folks out your way. Believe me, they will hear your name whenever I can get a chance to work it into a conversation.

You can always feel free to use my name as a consumer reference.  I would be happy to endorse you as a counselor that anyone with problems like ours would be fortunate to have on their side.

E_____ has been giving debt collectors your name and the calls have slowed down.  She may be consulting you for further advice on what to do in her situation.

I wish you all the best going forward, John, and I hope that you can realize, even in a small way, how very much you have helped us.
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OregonAdminRules.org now even better!

1/24/2014

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As I announced a while back, I recently found a programming maestro with the technical chops to help me realize a long-held goal of making the Oregon Administrative Rules readily accessible to anyone in Oregon who wanted to use them. The "official" copy available online is formatted so badly (using tiny type and no indenting) that it positively defeats a user who isn't willing to copy the entire chapter and spend hours reformatting it so that the layout doesn't cause you to misread it.

Thanks to Maestro's mad coding skillz, you now have free “one click” access to a properly formatted, very readable copy of every Oregon Administrative Rule chapter.

Need bigger text for reading ease? Just click on the + sign in the upper right corner.  
Want more text per screen? Just click the - sign.  
\Want to take it offline entirely, or import to a document?  Just use your mouse or keyboard commands to copy and paste the full text of any chapter where you need it, or you can click again to go directly to the appropriate subsection, highlight just the text you need, and copy and paste to your document.

At last---a clear, readable, well-formatted version of the complete set of the Oregon Admin Rules now online

OregonAdminRules.org is a free public service to Oregon attorneys and all Oregonians, provided by a partnership of

    * John Gear Law Office LLC, John@JohnGearLaw.com
    * Hanson & Walgenkim, LLC, Hansonwalgenkim.com
    * 855ZipDebt.com, Consumer Bankruptcy law, and
    * Lawptimize, a legal productivity apps foundry.

OregonAdminRules.org was inspired by the refreshing ease and error-reducing readability of OregonLaws.org.  Now the Oregon Admin Rules, which are often at least as important to the public and practitioners as statutes, are available in a readily accessible, readable form as well.


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Great Editorial on Arbitration

1/22/2014

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Tremendous editorial by the SF Chronicle. 

A real breath of fresh air and truthtelling about the chains that pre-dispute arbitration clauses create.  Funny, businesses love to spin about how great arbitration is, but they don't want you to be able to choose or decline it.

What is it that they know that makes them think that, if you have a choice, you won't choose arbitration?

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Pretty good summary of new mortgage lending and servicing rules

1/12/2014

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http://www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/index.ssf/2014/01/new_mortgage_rules_take_effect.html

"New mortgage rules designed to cut down on risky mortgages and avoid another foreclosure crisis take effect today.

The rules, created as a result of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, have been a moving target, especially in the past year. They’ve been tweaked and clarified as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sought to cut risk without cutting too far into consumers’ access to credit.

But now that the rules are finalized and in effect, here’s a look at how they’re expected to affect homeowners and homebuyers. . . ."



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Before you sign up for any student loans, read this

1/3/2014

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The federal student loan system has become so bloated and rife with abuse of borrowers by debt collectors that I'm forced to conclude that the only people who should borrow to pay for schooling are those who could afford to pay for the schooling without borrowing if they chose. 


This story tells the tale, a ruthless firm that gets nice contracts to squeeze student-loan debtors, complete with morals that make the Sopranos  enforcers look like choirboys.


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LAWYERLY FINE PRINT:

John Gear Law Office LLC and Salem Consumer Law.  John Gear Law Office is in Suite 208B of the Security Building in downtown Salem at 161 High St. SE, across from the Elsinore Theater, a half-block south of Marion County Courthouse, just south of State Street. There is abundant, free 3-hour on-street parking throughout downtown Salem, and three multi-story parking ramps that offer free customer parking in downtown Salem too.

Our attorneys are only licensed to practice law in Oregon. This site may be considered advertising under Oregon State Bar rules. There is no legal advice on this site so you should not interpret anything you read here as intended for your particular situation. Besides, we are not representing you and we are not your attorneys unless you have hired us by entering into a representation agreement with me. While we do want you to consider us when you seek an attorney, you should not hire any attorney based on brochures, websites, advertising, or other promotional materials.  All original content on this site is Copyright John Gear, 2010-2022.

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