IV - ORIGIN AND REGULARIZATION OF INFORMATION

24 - What are Public Service Offices ("Serventias Públicas")?
Public Service Offices ("Serventias Públicas") are government agencies that register documents and issue certificates and the acts of which are public and accessible to anyone. Extrajudicial Notary Offices of any nature (Protest, Real Estate, Titles, Documents, etc.) are included among such agencies.

25 - What is a Protest?
Protest is the action that proves non-payment of an obligation entered in a title (debt document), to protect the rights arising therefrom. The Protest Document is called "Instrumento de Protesto" in Brazil.

26 - How to regularize a Protest?
The steps to regularize a protest are the following:

• Go to the notary office in which the protest was registered and request a certificate to obtain the data of the protester.
• Contact the protester, regularize the debt and request a letter stating that the debt has been settled or an agreement has been reached.
• Authenticate the signature of the person/company, return to the notary office where the protest was filed and request its cancelation.
• After cancellation of the protest in the notary office, present the certificate to SERASA for the entry be removed from its archives.

27 - What is a Voided Check?
It is a check that has been issued but, upon presentation at the bank of the account holder, there wasn't sufficient funds in the account to cover it, i.e., there is not enough money in the account to cover the value written in the check. When the same check is returned for the second time for having no funds, the name of the account holder enters Central Bank's Registry of Issuers of Voided Checks ("Cadastro de Emitentes de Cheques sem Fundos" - CCF), which in turn forwards the name to the Data Banks.

28 - What is the Registry of Issuers of Voided Checks ("Cadastro de Emitentes de Cheques sem Fundos" - CCF)?
It is the nation-wide registry of people who issued voided checks, organized by the Central Bank and operated by Banco do Brasil.

29 - How to regularize a voided check?
The steps for regularization are the following:

• Go to the Bank agency that presented the occurrence of voided check.
• Request to the Bank information on the number, value, and date of the check that has been presented twice without sufficient funds to cover it.
• Next, check the checkbook (counterfoil) to see to whom the check was given and seek that person or company to settle the debt and recover the check.
• With the check in hand, prepare a letter following the instructions of the bank manager of the Bank that informed the occurrence of voided check. Attach the original check you recovered, pay the fees for check return to the Bank and register in a public notary a copy of the documents presented to the bank in order to regularize your status before the Central Bank.
• To regularize his or her status before the Registry of Issuers of Voided Checks ("Cadastro de Emitentes de Cheques sem Fundos" - CCF), the account owner must accompany and obtain the regularization communication protocol from its Bank to Banco do Brasil, which was charged by the Central bank with the responsibility of processing and updating the CCF archives.
• The regularization of voided checks is only valid after Banco do Brasil has electronically sent the removal of entry to SERASA.

30 - What is a legal action?
It is the right of individuals and legal entities to request in a court that which belong or is due to them be given by court order. The term also refers to the documentation (process) that was entered before the court.

31 - How do I regularize a legal action entry?

• To regularize such an entry, certify that the action was judged and is concluded, or a settlement agreement has been reached, or the action was embargoed.
• The certification is obtained by means of a copy of the judge's sentence or certificated issued by the Civil Court in which the action was judged.
• Present the proof of embargo to the action, pledge, homologation of agreement, or termination of the action to a SERASA.

32 - What is a bankruptcy ("falência")?
It is a process of collective execution in which all assets of the bankrupted party (commercial company deemed by court to be in no conditions to settle its debts) are collected for a mandatory judicial sale, with proportional distribution of the assets among creditors, vendors, suppliers, employees, and taxes.

33 - What is a forced agreement ("concodata")?
It is a legal benefit which the merchant (store owner, seller, etc) may file against his or her creditor to force them to grant the merchant a extension of deadline for payment or to accept a smaller payment, in order to allow for financial organization.