Newbie here with some questions about creditor claims

[TheOCDCh13]

Good evening all,

I am new to the board and just recently filed Chapter 13 in CA and am terrified of the upcoming 341 hearing and confirmation hearings. As it currently stands my payment will be quite significant and assuming all creditors due file claims will be around 60% of my balance paid back over 5 years plus the fees. I have a few questions that I would love some insight on. As you can see by my name I over analyze everything. My balances are north of 225k not including mortgage and other secured loans. As you can see the payment will be very high even at the 60% number.

1. Are there any creditors that actually don't file claims within the 70 days? Most of my debts are large amounts from the biggest lenders around. Do any just let them go or am I just kidding myself?
2. If I get a raise or bonus do they take that from me? If so what is the amount most consider cost of living each year?
3. Do they raise my payments each year if I do get extra money?

Anyway, I hear my court can be pretty tough and I am trying to see what the potential of a few creditors not filing which would get me close to the 100% payback that would help prevent my payment from going higher (I know it won't go lower). I am just terrified that if they bump up anything then I won't be able to make my minimum payments despite my very good income.

I was also in a unique situation in where I never missed payments before filing the bankruptcy but was running out of money to make minimum payments on a substantial amount of debt.

Any insight you have would be greatly appreciated as I am not sleeping and have extreme panic attacks. I am trying to do the right thing here and pay what I owe but also trying to not set myself up for failure.

Thanks in advance!!

[GL57months]

Hello,

I am not the best source for info/knowledge on CH13, but currently in month 33.
I had two major bank credit cards and another smaller account fail to file a claim. I wonder if the tax benefit to them exceeded the proposed payout percentage scheduled. That break may have been why my plan confirmed at 57 months instead of the 60 I was quoted by my attorney.

[TheOCDCh13]

Thank you GL57 and congrats on being past the halfway point.

[switch625]

Good evening all,



1. Are there any creditors that actually don't file claims within the 70 days? Most of my debts are large amounts from the biggest lenders around. Do any just let them go or am I just kidding myself?
2. If I get a raise or bonus do they take that from me? If so what is the amount most consider cost of living each year?
3. Do they raise my payments each year if I do get extra money?

1. In my case, Chase did not file claims on any of my unsecured debt back in 2014 and it was about 1/2 of the total debt. Some people on this board may have had the same experience with Chase over the years. BOA did not file claims on some of my unsecured debt. OTOH, it seems that Discover and Amex always file claims.
2. Depends on the trustee and the court district you are in. I got to keep all my bonuses, raises and tax refunds though the IRS reduced my refund slightly one year in my 13), but I don't live in CA.
3. Not in my case. Again, depends on the trustee/court district you are in. Some trustees want every extra cent through the life of your plan, while others leave you alone after confirmation.

[Carmella]

I am another one that Chase did not file. Maybe two others did not, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Discover definitely will file.

[sophieanne]

Another Chase survivor . It was nice, they didn't file a claim for 20,000. Good luck going forward.

[GL57months]

Thank you GL57 and congrats on being past the halfway point.

Thank you OCDC, it feels good, looking forward to the finish line. Chase and Citi were two of the three accounts that passed on claims for me, the other was low three figures. A fitness center contract was voided with no claim made also.

[Carmella]

I didn't look up who didn't file, but I think Citi was one that did not and it was a large amount.

I am not an expert, just someone ready to hit the 2 yr mark of 100% 5 yr plan, and my understanding is if you are paying back 100% they are less likely to want your bonuses unless it's some huge amount of money that most of us wouldn't see unless we were to win an amazing lottery. If your plan is less than 100% they may want bonuses. When your plan is confirmed you will get the details of what is expected. Recently we had some unexpected money so called the attorney just to keep it transparent I figured they would let us keep it. Not sure how they would handle raises in your case. In our case we give our income tax paperwork to the attorney to have on file, but the trustee didn't want it. Our raises were small/plus we are in 100% plan so they didn't blink an eye.

The way I look at it is bankruptcy is there to help us get out of an unmanageable debt situation. In our 100% plan we have to pay back A LOT, we are scrounging at times for money during these 5 yrs (but we were also scrounging and building more debt before), but we are not longer accruing interest, we are not longer getting sued or worried about creditors coming after us. If in a less than 100% pay back you are going to pay back "ONLY" 60% of the debt (which I totally get is A LOT of money) so if you have to turn over some of your bonuses, etc it is still helping you. It's part of deal to get us out of debt and avoid other negative consequences like lawsuits/wage garnishments.

Is it fun? Is it ideal, no, but it will get us in a better place.

My husband struggles with this sometimes since we make a larger income, but have little to show for it. Nearly half of my income is going to the trustee plus we pay the mortgage, HELOC and two cars outside the plan (but they are still "in" the plan) in reality half of our combined income is going to pay for our debt (including house/cars). It is what it is and I keep my eye on the prize and the light at the end of the tunnel to be debt free.

By the end of 5 yrs our only debt will be one car payment which will be nearly paid off.

[anunezal]

I didn't look up who didn't file, but I think Citi was one that did not and it was a large amount.

I am not an expert, just someone ready to hit the 2 yr mark of 100% 5 yr plan, and my understanding is if you are paying back 100% they are less likely to want your bonuses unless it's some huge amount of money that most of us wouldn't see unless we were to win an amazing lottery. If your plan is less than 100% they may want bonuses. When your plan is confirmed you will get the details of what is expected. Recently we had some unexpected money so called the attorney just to keep it transparent I figured they would let us keep it. Not sure how they would handle raises in your case. In our case we give our income tax paperwork to the attorney to have on file, but the trustee didn't want it. Our raises were small/plus we are in 100% plan so they didn't blink an eye.

The way I look at it is bankruptcy is there to help us get out of an unmanageable debt situation. In our 100% plan we have to pay back A LOT, we are scrounging at times for money during these 5 yrs (but we were also scrounging and building more debt before), but we are not longer accruing interest, we are not longer getting sued or worried about creditors coming after us. If in a less than 100% pay back you are going to pay back "ONLY" 60% of the debt (which I totally get is A LOT of money) so if you have to turn over some of your bonuses, etc it is still helping you. It's part of deal to get us out of debt and avoid other negative consequences like lawsuits/wage garnishments.

Is it fun? Is it ideal, no, but it will get us in a better place.

My husband struggles with this sometimes since we make a larger income, but have little to show for it. Nearly half of my income is going to the trustee plus we pay the mortgage, HELOC and two cars outside the plan (but they are still "in" the plan) in reality half of our combined income is going to pay for our debt (including house/cars). It is what it is and I keep my eye on the prize and the light at the end of the tunnel to be debt free.

By the end of 5 yrs our only debt will be one car payment which will be nearly paid off.

Hi Carmella. just wondering that if you will be finishing in less than 5 years, as you are in 100% plan and you mentioned some of your creditors didn't file. So I am assuming you should be finishing before the 5 years.

I just filed my case two weeks ago and waiting for my 341 meeting. I am also going to be in 100% plan. As I have a big debt, my payments will be pretty big, so I just was wondering if I am lucky and some of my creditors don't file, then I may be finishing before the 5 years. Most of my debt is is credit cards from Citi and BofA. I am really hoping for some of them to don't file.

[sophieanne]

anunezal - I know you asked Carmella but I'll share my experience. I was in a 100% payback plan and chase did not file. It did in fact shorten my 5 year plan...and I also managed to pay some of the plan down and completed the plan in 4 years. good luck to you as you start the journey to freedom.

[StuckinaRut]

I second Sophieanne. 100% plan here...Chase did not file & we also calculated our payment on 57 months. Our last payment will be in April, which is month 53 for us.

[anunezal]

sophieanne and @StukinaRut, Thank you for the information. This is good news. I am praying for some of my Credit Cards not to file. I don't have anything with Chase, looks like that is one most people is reporting not to file. Mine are mostly with Citi and BofA. I have HomeDepot and Sears that are also part of Citi.
I am counting the 70 days, and I am only in day 15 so far. But I check every day the NDC to see if there is any claims. I imagine they will start to show after the 341 meeting of after the confirmation. How did you found out that they miss the claims? thank you.

[StuckinaRut]

As claims were filed, I kept track. So I knew as soon as the deadline to file had expired.

[sophieanne]

Hi anunezal ...if you check pacer (and don't do it often) you don't want to run up charges (I believe it's $15/month no charge)...it will show you the date claims need to be made by. If any of your creditors (except the secured ones) don't file by that date, you won't be paying them.

[anunezal]

Hi anunezal ...if you check pacer (and don't do it often) you don't want to run up charges (I believe it's $15/month no charge)...it will show you the date claims need to be made by. If any of your creditors (except the secured ones) don't file by that date, you won't be paying them.

sophieanne Thank you for the information. After created the PACER account, I had to wait for 1 week to get the confirmation by regular mail. Now I just checked my information, and so far only my mortgages and lawyer's fee are in the claims. No credit cards yet (only 20 days since I filed), hope they don't show all of them! BTW it cost $15/quarter