? Plan Current Increase On 13 Network

[pedsrn85]

HI HAVE A QUESTION FINISHED PAYING CH 13 OFF MID DECEMBER WAITING TO HEAR ABOUT DISCHARGE. WATCHING 13 NETWORK ALL OF A SUDDEN TODAY THE AMOUNT ON HAND SAME ,PLAN BASE SAME ,BUT PLAN CURRENT WENT UP $2OOO.00 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN DO WE OWE MORE ?WE THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO BE GETTING BACK SOME.HAD SO MANY CREDITORS THAT DID NOT PUT IN FOR CLAIM. ANYONE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE OR KNOWLEDGE WITH THIS? tHANKS

[HHM]

Please DO NOT use ALL CAPS

[GettinBy]

I'm basically in the same situation. All payments to the plan have been made on time, every time. Disbursements have been made to all creditors as per the plan and all of them now show a $0 balance due.

When the final disbursement to creditors was made by the trustee, a 'mysterious' "Unsecured base hold" amount suddenly appeared. Payments are still being withheld via payroll deduction even though everyone has been paid, and the account balance shown continues to increase as the payments are rec'd by the trustee.

It was a total waste of time contacting my attorney's office to find out what is going on. They were about as helpful as a drink of water to a drowning man.

Since you have to go 'through' your attorney rather than deal directly with the trustee's office, it looks like you're (me/we) are caught in more bureaucratic quicksand. Just keep sending us money until we decide to let you know otherwise.

I honestly feel like they don't want you to successfully finish the plan. They sure seem to go to extra lengths to make things as difficult and secretive as possible. These attorneys and trustees should be held more accountable for their performance (or lack of).

Sorry about the rant - I don't have an answer for you but hope it works out somehow.

[kmb]

Did you try calling the trustee's office and asking them? I had a question about my 13 datacenter account and when I called them they were actually very helpful. The questions they couldn't answer right away, they found answers and called me back within an hour. Honestly, I found them to be much more helpful than my attorney! I didn't speak directly to the trustee, rather it was one of the people that work in his office, but it might be worth a shot!

[GettinBy]

Did you try calling the trustee's office and asking them?

No I haven't but you're right. It probably couldn't hurt. All they can do is tell me to go pound sand in which case I'd be no worse off than now.

[Badjim19]

Similar

I ran into a similar situation In TN. Based on the premium due the Non-secured creditors (25%), and the creditors who did not file claims, I thought I'd be through in Dec 07. I'd been watching my balances every month, then all of a sudden in Nov 07, my premium shows as 58%! (41 mo into a 52 Mo plan by Dec 07)

I called the trustees office and they explained that in addition to the premium I also agreed to a base amount and since I was in a 52 mo plan the premium paid would go up. I would end up paying the base amount.

What really bothered me is that it took 40 months to show that 58%. When I questioned the trustees office about it they just said they're behind because of all the people filing. (3 Years behind???)

[2bfree4me]

Badjim19, what district in Tennessee do you live in? I live in middle TN. I hope they don't raise my percentage!!

[krielly]

If all of your creditors don't file claims, and you are at less that 100% payback to your unsecureds, your percentage paid to them is increased. Base plan remains the same. Reason being is that Chapt 13 is requiring you to pay all of your available income, which is already determined by your base plan.

We are 29 mos into a 60 mos plan. The trustee just filed an objection to one of the creditors claims, as they filed 2 mos past the deadline. The claim amount was around $5600. Their claim was denied. We were paying about 35.9% to unsecureds. Now we are at around 39%. You still pay into the "pot", the only difference being that with this creditor denied, the money they would have gotten will be distributed equally among the remaining creditors, raising their percentage slightly.

[holding on]

This is all kinda confusing. If everything stays the same (you don't any increase in income, etc) how can a plan mysteriously go up by thousands of dollars? Isn't everything set and spelled out after the 341 meeting?

[aa06a47]

When you check your 13, do they show paying the creditors anything in Jan / Feb time frame? You may be building a balance you'll get back some day?

[lrprn]

This is all kinda confusing. If everything stays the same (you don't any increase in income, etc) how can a plan mysteriously go up by thousands of dollars? Isn't everything set and spelled out after the 341 meeting?

Let's see if I can explain this so it makes sense...

When you file, your Ch 13 plan payback % is calculated as if ALL your creditors will file claims.

You don't know until after 90-120 days EXACTLY how much you'll have to pay back. If some of your creditors do not file claims, the payback % obviously goes up although the monthly payment amount you pay into your plan does not.

Here's an example...let's say you have six creditors that you owe $60,000 when you file and your payback % is set for 50% of the total ($30,000). Then let's say only three creditors actually file claims and you owe those three creditors $30,000. Now your payback is 100%, but your montly Ch 13 payment stays exactly the same. In this situation you could potentially pay off your Ch 13 in less than five years - that's a good thing! Your trustee and the court cannot force you to pay back more than you owe.

[holding on]

Yes, I understand that scenario Lrprn. But the OP says this increase happened at the end of his plan when his discharge was due. I would think by then everything should be cut and dry. Unless this is one of those examples where the trustee waits 2 or 3 months to discharge then like another poster said, you get the overage back.

[haines2323]

same boat

My husband and I filed Ch 13 2/28/05, 341 meeting on 4/5/05 and confirmed on 6/30/2005. We we scheduled to pay 10% to unsecured in a 36 month plan. We had a little over $10,000 in unsecured debt but only $7,200 in claims. $5,250 of that was a government student loan that we paid 10% then paid the rest off in full after all claims were paid. We thought we were up for discharge then the "unsecured base hold" appeared on our claim screen. It started at a little over $5,000 then went to $7,000 and now is $9,682.46. Our mortgage payments are made thru the plan and has been the only claim being paid for 6 month (along with the trustee of course). Our amount on hand is $6,745.36.

I was wondering why my base hold was so high. With the unsecured claims only being around $10,000 and more than half of that being a government unsecured claim that we first paid 10% then paid the remaining 100%.

Any answers or comments would be great. I just feel they don't want us to finish our CH 13 by the way they keep raising the base hold. Oh, what is a base hold anyway? Is it something I will get back? Even if they end up paying my unsecured claims at 100% I should have some excess funds.

[haines2323]

same boat

my mistake~accidently posted twice

[Flamingo]

Go and pull out your originally filed paperwork for your Chapter 13 - you should have a copy given to you by your attorney. Then pull out your confirmed Plan and compare. Also read your entire confirmed plan (you should have been sent a copy by the Trustee along with your confirmed matrix of creditors). All is listed there, including the Trustee's percentage. If that doesn't answer any questions or if nothing is explained in your Plan (ours was like a novel with all the information in it), your attorney can give you a complete explanation.