Am I up a creek with out a paddle??????

[drowninginflori]

I had something that have come up this week that is stressing me out beyond belief. First, about 7 months ago before my spouse and I finally decided to file I made a foolish decision to pay a collection company by giving them a series of check numbers to withdraw a payment each month (I know this was stupid but the company was calling my job ten times a day and calling family members and I just wanted them to leave us alone).

Anyway, in May I called the company to inform them that we were filing a chapter 13 and requested that they contact my attorney and cease putting the remainder of the checks through. We were assured that they would and they would also contact our attorney.

Needless, to say they tried to run two checks through since then that have returned as NSF. I contacted them again this week and said "Please stop-please contact my attorney!!" The agent for the company told me that it sucked that we were filing and that they were going to send the checks to the State's Attorneys office. I do not know what to do....I called and left a message for my attorney but they closed early today and are not open on Friday.

If I pay the two checks by money order will that be considered a preferential payment? On the other hand, I do not want to have to go to court over these checks. HELP-Info needed.

[drowninginflori]

Also, the reason we did not have any money in our account is because we used a credit union and because of the cross collateralization our accounts were being drained each month. We had to switch to a different bank.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

what credit union in fl?

[danaf]

What is the States Attorneys office going to do for them? Why would a States Attorney's office even care? You did not commit a crime. You are filing for bk. They were just trying to scare you into paying. I honestly would not be stressed out about this at all.

[epiphany]

I had something that have come up this week that is stressing me out beyond belief. First, about 7 months ago before my spouse and I finally decided to file I made a foolish decision to pay a collection company by giving them a series of check numbers to withdraw a payment each month (I know this was stupid but the company was calling my job ten times a day and calling family members and I just wanted them to leave us alone).

Anyway, in May I called the company to inform them that we were filing a chapter 13 and requested that they contact my attorney and cease putting the remainder of the checks through. We were assured that they would and they would also contact our attorney.

Needless, to say they tried to run two checks through since then that have returned as NSF. I contacted them again this week and said "Please stop-please contact my attorney!!" The agent for the company told me that it sucked that we were filing and that they were going to send the checks to the State's Attorneys office. I do not know what to do....I called and left a message for my attorney but they closed early today and are not open on Friday.

If I pay the two checks by money order will that be considered a preferential payment? On the other hand, I do not want to have to go to court over these checks. HELP-Info needed.

Hi Drowning. Sorry that you are in this situation.

Were those actual paper checks that you signed or just check numbers that you gave them to electronically make the withdrawls?

My thinking is that if they were just check numbers and they are using them to electronically withdrawl, then it would be no different that stopping an automatic withdrawl (minus the check numbers) from any creditor, which is not illegal.

You definitely need to talk to your lawyer but I really don't think you have anything to worry about. You already told them to stop. It would have been better to do that in writing, and I am assuming that you didn't, but I don't think that any prosecuter in their right mind would bother with it. In order to prove fraud, one has to prove intent to defraud which is clearly not the case.

You might want to think about closing your bank account and opening up another one somewhere else, somewhere you have no previous affiliations with. Many of us here have done that for one reason or another.

That being said, I also believe that the creditor is blowing smoke. Trying to scare you into paying. I don't think you should do anything before you talk to your lawyer.

Good luck,
ep

[BigJohn]

If you have already filed, then the bankruptcy stay should be in effect. If they cash checks, aren't they violating the stay?

[rrockinggramma]

man, creditors will say anything to scare people. They were trying to tell you that they were going to file criminal charges for the NSF checks. Now, in my state, this is what happens. The checks are turned over to the court. The court writes you a letter and they give you like 30 days to pay the check. If you pay, nothing more happens. If you don't then it could go from there. Now, in your case, these are "authorized" auto draws which you verbally told them to stop. Go back and reconstruct your timeline and when you authorized and deauthorized. Have you actually filed yet? If you have they are in violation of the stay at this time. You also mention that you are no longer "using" that credit union account. Have you actually "closed" that account" If not, then put a stop pay on those auto pays. But if you are already overdrawn due to the auto draws at the credit union, then just make sure that account is included in your BK filing (state checking, auto loan, cc etc) If by chance they do send this off to your court, then contact the court and let them know of your BK and that this was included. I am sure that will stop all court action from thenm. Criminal fees I don't think are discharged but you don't have any criminal fees as of yet so you should be good to go. If you are worried, then, without giving your name, call your court and ask what their procedure is for a NSF check turned in to them. Then you will know and also ask what they do if this situation is/was included in a BK. Then you will know exactly what to expect. The fear of the unknown is what you are stressing out about. Plus they make you feel like you are a criminal because you did this. I believe that this situation is NO different than what the payday loan people do which is to continue to redeposit checks or auto draws which will simply overdraw your account to untold amounts. But the BK will wipe that all away. Since you already have another account, if the credit union sends you to chexsystems, then it won't matter because you already have another account and have moved on.

You are going to be ok. And I understand your stress right now. I have been turned over to my prosecuting attorney on more than 1 occasion and so far not 1 time has it gone beyond just paying the check. And I did include an overdrawn credit union account in my BK and no repercussions (other than I can't do business with them ever again) please relax. You are going to be ok. GL

[southernbelle]

You did the right thing switching to another bank. These guys are just like every other creditor, they want their money and don't care about what happens to you. It is your RIGHT to file BK because it is a business decision made to help you solve your financial problems. They might not like it, but those are the facts. Document every transaction and conversation with these people just in case and talk to your atty about the situation.

I remember one creditor tried to get me to agree to pay him over $600 per month to repay a loan my ex received from him. I asked him if he was joking and he said he didn't care where the money came from as long as he was paid. From that moment on I don't have much sympathy for creditors because they don't seem to care about us.

Don't let these guys stress you out. They are just blowing smoke.

[stopcallingus]

I did not read all the responses I will when I have time though. I will tell you this. I work for what you call the State's Attorney's Office. We call it District Attorney. We have a worthless check unit and we prosecute people who write bad checks and do not take care of them. In your case they can not do that because at the time of the agreement the money was not in the account and they new it. It is considered a post dated check. As for your situation with making the agreement I did the same thing with Tribute Mastercard and Discover. Both stopped the withhdrawals on the day I called and cancelled it and gave me a confirmation number. Sounds like they are trying to scare you. I would call the atty and tell them.

[drowninginflori]

Thanks everyone for your great replies. We wish we could close our old credit union checking account but because we have loans with them that are going to be included in the bk13 they will not allow us to close them which leaves it open as fair game for some of the creditors. We do plan to include the negative amounts in the bk from our checking. Our old credit union was NFCU and they have not been over friendly during this whole process either. We have thought about it this way (we know we owe the debt and we are filing a chapter 13 so they will get their $$$ back (maybe not in the timeframe they had hoped).