What Creditors and the IRS Can Legally Do to You

Consumer Rights in Debt Collection: The collection sequence, what requires a court, and where borrowers can still respond

Barry Levine has spent 45 years in courtrooms and at kitchen tables explaining what creditors can and cannot do, and most people are frozen by powers those creditors do not have. The common picture is an agency that arrives overnight and takes everything, when the real process runs on notices, hearings, and fixed timeframes with protections built in at each stage. He lays out that sequence for consumer debt and IRS arrears, including what a garnishment or a lien requires first, and where a person still has room to respond. He has recorded around 14 bankruptcy episodes on YouTube working through these questions, and wrote Bankruptcy Through the Looking Glass for the same reason. Listeners leave knowing which creditor threats carry legal weight, and how much time they have to act.

About Barry Levine

Barry Levine, podcast guest

Bankruptcy Attorney and Debt Strategist for Everyday Americans in Crisis

45 years Representing people in financial difficulty1 book Author, Personal Bankruptcy Through The Looking Glass322 videos On his own bankruptcy YouTube channelBankruptcy attorney Massachusetts

The calls often come late: someone has ignored letters from the IRS, missed too many loan payments, or watched their small business slowly bleed out. They don’t open with legal questions. They ask if there’s any way out.

For almost 45 years, Barry Levine has answered that question with calm, practical guidance. A Massachusetts-based bankruptcy attorney, he works with individuals and small business owners navigating serious financial strain, people who are scared, out of options, and unsure what the next step even looks like. His work isn’t about judgement or quick fixes. It’s about helping people understand what tools are available, how the system works, and what choices they can still make.

What Barry sees again and again is that fear, not just debt, is what traps people. The legal process has structure, options, and predictable outcomes; what derails most clients is the panic that keeps them frozen in place. Barry’s role is to bring order to the chaos. With each case, he applies decades of legal experience to help clients understand what’s happening, what’s possible, and how to move forward with a strategy that restores both stability and control.

He first started practicing bankruptcy law in a hands-on Boston office while still in law school, learning case by case how to navigate both paperwork and people.

View profile →

Book Barry Levine for your show

15+ podcast & stage appearances. Remote or in studio, broadcast-grade audio.

Request an interview →
What Bankruptcy Actually Does with Attorney Barry Levine
0:00 / 45:33
Money Talk With Tiff· Listen to Barry Levine on air