Charles Juntikka & Associates, LLP (CJA Law) was founded by Charles Juntikka on July 3, 1984. Mr. Juntikka graduated from the University of Michigan in 1978 and from New York Law School in 1982. As a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, he has served on the Committee on Judicial Ethics.
Since Mr. Juntikka’s firm was founded 35 years ago. The firm files Chapter 7 bankruptcies in New York and New Jersey. The firm has grown to be the largest filer of personal bankruptcies in New York City over the last thirty years. The firm has represented over twenty thousand clients.
CJA Law’s guiding spirit remains to protect struggling families from the greedy credit card industry and other consumer frauds. Mr. Juntikka has explained his view on this subject in the media on many occasions:
“While no one wants not to pay their debts, it has become clear to everyone during these bad economic times that the banks have been intentionally lending money in the hopes that financially strapped families will borrow too much. Once individuals are trapped in debt, the banks raise interest rates astronomically. When this happens, the bankruptcy law is the help our society gives to everyone – including companies themselves – when hard times happen.”
From the beginning, Mr. Juntikka’s firm has been well known for the spirit with which it represents its’ clients. Mr. Juntikka, along with his associate attorneys and staff enjoy using the bankruptcy law to eliminate their clients’ debts and to help them get a “fresh start.” They also encourage clients to rebuild their credit after bankruptcy. The staff at Mr. Juntikka’s firm derives real satisfaction from protecting financially pressed individuals that are being taken advantage of by high interest credit card companies and predatory lenders.
Charles Juntikka himself is also well known for his consumer activism. He has been consulted by and quoted on bankruptcy issues and credit reporting issues by media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, and CNN, among others. A few highlights of his career include his help with the following consumer campaigns:
● Successfully Fighting to Improve New York State’s Bankruptcy Protections
● Stopping Credit Counselor/Credit Management Frauds
● Successfully Suing to Stop Credit Reporting Errors
● Preventing the New Bankruptcy Law from Ending Bankruptcy Protection
Here are some of the details of Mr. Juntikka’s campaigns that have improved the lives of New York and New Jersey residents and millions of others who have been the victims of predatory bankers, credit card companies, credit reporting agencies and other consumer fraud perpetrators:
● Successfully Fighting to Improve New York State’s Bankruptcy Protections
In December of 2010, Charles Juntikka successfully organized a coalition of law professors, consumer and good government groups, and bankruptcy attorneys to the fight to improve New York State’s bankruptcy protections. Public Radio, NBC Albany and other news outlests all covered Mr. Juntikka’s efforts. The New York Times wrote an editorial lauding the new leglislation. See below:
The Public Radio Coverage: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1740392/WAMC.New.York.News/Advocates.Urge.NY.Gov.Sign.Consumer.Protections.Bill
Albany NBC affiliate story: http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S1892569.shtml?cat=300
NBC Albany News Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhN6q70X9Hc
NY Times editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/opinion/24fri3.html
Here is what consumer advocates said in email’s to Charles about his successful fight:
● Professor Alan Resnick of Hofstra Law School: “I want to congratulate and thank you for taking the lead on this. You should feel gratified by the result, which will touch the lives of many financially troubled individuals and their families.”
● Kirsten O’Keefe, the head of the premier consumer rights group in Albany: “I attribute 99% of our success to you, personally.”
● Blair Horner, head of NYPIRG, the main good government group in NYS: “If you hadn’t pushed, it would have been vetoed. Great job.”
● Russ Haven, also of NYPIRG: “Thanks, you’re very kind. This certainly wouldn’t have happened without your leadership and constant pushing on every lever. Until we did the news conference I was operating on an abstract basis. When you hear the victims’ stories it makes everything different. This really unfolded perfectly in many ways.”
● New York Time’s editorial writer, David Firestone, in response to my email thanking him: “Thanks for your note, Charles, but it sounds like the fine work you guys did had far more effect than our phone calls. Either way, very glad it got done. Congratulations”
● Stopping Credit Counselor/Credit Management Frauds
Mr. Juntikka, along with former NY Attorney General Oliver Koppel, sued four major credit counselors/credit managers (The InCharge Institute of America, American Financial Solutions, Genus Credit Counseling and Cambridge Credit Management). These phony credit counselors/credit managers were defrauding consumers who hired them to assist them in paying their debts. In 2010 and 2011, the Court ordered these unethical “credit counselors” to return funds to over 50,000 consumers.
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/money/consumer/alerts/2-class-action-lawsuits-may-mean-money-for-you
Successfully Suing to Stop Credit Reporting Errors
In 2005, Mr. Juntikka instigated a class action lawsuit against Experian, Equifax and Trans Union for failing to clean up debtors’ credit reports after bankruptcy. This lawsuit was started because errors on credit reports were preventing debtors from re-building good credit. (If consumers have clean credit reports after bankruptcy, they can normally have good credit scores in two years and even obtain a mortgage after three years. The idea that you cannot have good credit for 7 to 10 years after bankruptcy is a myth.) Unfortunately, the credit reporting agencies were not cleaning up most reports after bankruptcy. In 2008, the U.S. District Court ordered Experian, Equifax and Trans Union to clean the credit reports of 15 million consumers who filed bankruptcy between the late 1990’s and early 2009.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122273650932088677.html
● Preventing the New Bankruptcy Law from Ending Bankruptcy Protection
From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Juntikka helped organize the effort to stop the credit card companies from lobbying the politicians in Washington, DC to destroy the bankruptcy law. Although a new law did pass in 2005, the worst parts of the new law were intercepted by the efforts of Mr. Juntikka and other consumer advocates. As a result, most people can still file bankruptcy.