Bank Account Statements

[cwillie]

I'm wondering if the trustee questions you at the 341 meeting about your bank account statements, your withdrawals, etc. We haven't filed BK yet, plan to do it soon, but am wondering if we should hold off for a couple months to have better bank account statements. We do withdraw cash from it and pay the bills with most, but I don't keep the receipts - I shred them when I see the payment has been posted to the account. And of course we blow some of the money too. I'm afraid to keep waiting to file as we haven't paid our creditors for six months now ..... responses will be more than welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

[mikep]

Most trustees want to see what you had in your account the day you filed.It depends on the trustee.

[cwillie]

So you don't think they care what you did with your money for the months prior to filing?

[kmb]

We did not have to provide bank statements to our trustee, just the last 6 months of pay stubs. I don't even get bank statements, they are all online, and I can assure you I didn't print out hundreds of pages to give to our trustee.

[cwillie]

Our attorney asked us to provide two months worth of bank statements, which I printed out from online. Maybe just for her information? Just getting nervous thinking we should wait two months and clean it up a little???

[kornellred]

Neither my attorney, nor the trustee at the 341 meeting, asked to see my bank account statements. If you have provided 6 months of income advice, and your living expenses and disposable income have been properly accounted for, then why would they want to see your bank statements? You face BK fraud charges if you lie about anything.
Beyond that, the trustee has no interest in why or how you got into your situation. Chapter 13 is a remedy to which you are entitled by law, if you qualify.

[cwillie]

I wasn't planning on lying about any of it - it's all on paper anyway! I just thought maybe it should look a little cleaner since someone wants it and I cannot honestly account for everything. Just nervous is all.

[poor@budgeting]

Really depends on your situation(income/debts) & trustee.We had to provide 6 months bank statements etc.

[danaf]

If you are nervous and can wait a few more months, than do so. You attorney cannot force you to file sooner than you want as you have to sign the paperwork.

[chloe0724]

my attorney only wanted 2 months of bank statements. he said he has been too overwhelemed with any more than that. It seems like it's just for the trustee and this was when we were getting ready to complete the means test. SI I tend to think it was more for the in case we qualify for 7, which we didn;t.

[laurannm]

I'm wondering if the trustee questions you at the 341 meeting about your bank account statements, your withdrawals, etc. We haven't filed BK yet, plan to do it soon, but am wondering if we should hold off for a couple months to have better bank account statements. We do withdraw cash from it and pay the bills with most, but I don't keep the receipts - I shred them when I see the payment has been posted to the account. And of course we blow some of the money too. I'm afraid to keep waiting to file as we haven't paid our creditors for six months now ..... responses will be more than welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

Out of curiosity, what are you nervous about on your statements? I would think that as long as you don't have any large or questionable withdrawals (primarily for luxury items) you should be ok

[cwillie]

Just nervous about cash withdrawals and whether they question those as I cannot account for all of it. Like I said, we have blown money on occasions -dinner out, etc. The withdrawals range anywhere from $200 to $500. We just bought some Christmas gifts the other day (with cash) thinking we may not have money at Christmas to buy any after beginning Chapter 13. I never kept good records, not thinking I would ever have to file for bk and possibly need to have kept better records. Guess that's why we're in this position in the first place. I have learned a lot on this forum though and will use what I've learned for budgeting in the future.

[laurannm]

I think on the dinners out you'll be ok, as long as it isn't a weekly occurrence and your spending hundreds of dollars each time. As far as the withdrawals of $200 - $500, I am not real sure on that one. I think as danaf said, it probably really depends on your trustee and how much he/she wants to scrutinize your statements. Did you talk to your lawyer about your concerns?

[cwillie]

We haven't talked with our attorney about it yet, we meet with her tomorrow to put everything into place. I'll ask her about it then. I guess if we are going to be scrutinized, then so be it. Like they say, you can't get blood out of a turnip and so if I can't answer the questions (if any) then I can't answer them. I honestly never even thought about asking our attonrey about that! I'm sure she should know and advise us whether we should wait a couple more months or not.

[Cali]

We have to provide 2 months bank statements.