Creditor coming at you AFTER Discharge

[potsie834]

Please explain how a creditor can come after you after the discharge....I thought that they had 60 days to contest, and if they failed to contest in the 60 day period....well it just "Suck to be them" and they were SOL!

[BKDefender]

A creditor cannot legally come after you for pre-bankruptcy debts after you've filed your bankruptcy, and even moreso after you've received your discharge. If the debt was discharged it is PERMANENTLY discharged.
Under bankruptcy rule 4007, a creditor has 60 days after the first scheduled 341 meeting to file an adversary proceeding (AP) to request that the court determine their debt is nondischargeable. If they missed that deadline, then they're gone, done, finito.

You should contact your bankruptcy attorney about filing a motion for an order to show cause why the creditor should not be held in contempt for violating the bankruptcy discharge.

--William

[AngelinaCat]

Hi potsie834: I moved your post into a thread of its own so that posters can see it. You will get better responses this way.

To answer your question: yes. the creditors that do not file an objection before the 60 days expired, SOL. If a creditor is trying to 'dun' you post discharge, send a copy of your Discharge Order with a short note explaining that they are in violation of the law. Send everything certified mail with return reciept. Keep copies of everything for your file.

Good luck!

[NHC]

I'm guessing that they're hoping you're stupid and will be scared into paying the bill....Stupid *$&% holes....

I recently was very amused (okay I'm a tad off topic)...I filed BK on the original debt, plus listed the CA that bought the debt on my filing....I KNOW that both parties were notified....now, 3 days ago, I got a letter from a new CA wanting to collect on the original debt...I'm guessing that the first CA sold it to the second CA (gee, the debt went from 650 down to 98 bucks now)...so I call them up and inform them of the BK...and they sounded a little surprised when I told them they just bought a "bad" debt and might want to reconsider the debts that they buy before they buy them ....

[potsie834]

Thanks to all who replied; Love this site!

[potsie834]

BKDefender,

Have you, or do you know of any other BK Attorney’s that have represented clients during a Chapter 7 that have dealings with Chase Bank regarding Chase Bank filing Adversary Proceedings for HELOC deficiency balances. The reason I am asking is because 90% of my family’s debt is due to a Chase Bank short sale with a $160,000 deficiency balance. At the time of the sale, my father loaned me $8,000 which I offered to Chase as a settlement for them to waive the deficiency balance (The listed amount is in addition to the $18,000 they received from the Short sale); Chase Bank was the 2nd (Junior Lien Holder). Chase refused my offer and held me liable for the remaining deficiency balance. That is one of the main reasons why I filed bankruptcy. I’m just stressing that they are going to contest my BK and file an AP. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Potsie834

[DebtEnder]

There are a few reasons why debt could be decalred non-dischargable. An debt based on a house you got forclosed on is not one of them.

Most of them involve recent debts right before filing. Getting sued before going BK kinda of implies this debt is rather old. Thereby negating the vasy majority of reasons why they would file an AP.

Most often big debt holders don't sue on a house as for the very reason you did, the debtors file BK on them and they get nothing.

[BKDefender]

DebtEnder beat me to the punch.

Just because a creditor doesn't WANT their debt to be non-dischargeable doesn't mean it becomes non-dischargeable. If that was the case, every PayDay loan company and credit card company would simply do it and BK would become useless.

Chase will have to show that you committed some sort of fraud against them to get the loan. If you misrepresented your income on the loan application or they can find some other material misrepresentation on your loan application, which if they would have known the correct information, they definitely would have denied your loan - then they might have grounds to deem it non-dischargeable.

In short - fuggettaboutit. They can complain all they want.

--William

[potsie834]

Thanks Debtender and bkdefender,

I feel much better. No fraud on the loan, and was approved based on income. We paid on the loan for about 14 months, before my wife lost her part time job, and my income was reduced by about 30 % due to the economy. We tried to get WaMu to approve a loan modification but they were bought out by Chase. We then tried a loan modification with Chase, but they are horrible and dragged their feet, so we asked for the short sale to avoid a foreclosure. Chase finally approved the short sale, but would not waive the deficiency balance.

I have my 341 in early March and I’m just concerned, because Chase Bank just seems to be more aggressive than other banking institutions when it comes to recovering unpaid debt.

Again, thanks for you expert opinions/advice.

Potsie834

[backtoschool]

A deficiency balance from a short sale can definitely be included in your bankruptcy and will be discharged. Chase will not be able to come after you post bk for this deficiency.

[potsie834]

Backtoschool,

Thanks for the reply. I’m not really too worried about Chase coming after me after the discharge. I’m more worried about them filing and AP against me. I was concerned that Chase would file an AP claiming that I short sold the house after agreeing to the deficiency balance and then filed BK to avoid paying back the remaining balance (which is about $160,000). I don’t think they have any ground to really file the AP since I paid the loan for about 14 months before defaulting on the loan, but Chase is really aggressive.

Potsie834

[Dannmcg357]

postsie834,
I know exactly what you are talking about. I even had a dreamed my mortgage company showed up at my 341! lol. They can't cry foul because they don't like the deal or because you changed your mine etc. I like BKDefenders responce, they have to prove fraud

[potsie834]

Dannmcg357,

Thanks for the response. Did you short sale your house with a deficiency balance, or was your house foreclosured on? I would love to talk to you about your situation.

Potsie834

[forgotten]

Dannmcg357,

Thanks for the response. Did you short sale your house with a deficiency balance, or was your house foreclosured on? I would love to talk to you about your situation.

Potsie834

Why the heck would anyone bother with a short sale to be left with a deficiency balance? A foreclosure can't be worse than a short sale and a $50k collection account.

[dscurlock]

Why the heck would anyone bother with a short sale to be left with a deficiency balance? A foreclosure can't be worse than a short sale and a $50k collection account.

Good question..it does happen..

It happens as I just went threw this short sale process..

I contacted an expert on short sales...

and he got it done...

my neg balance was $40,000

and even got letters from the bank of the
write off, and I would be contacted no more
regarding this matter.

House was sold.

$40k bad debt written off.

deal done.

and I did not have to fork over one penny for
anything, as the short sale agent took care
of everything...