Mailing Question and Humiliation...

[HARLEEBB]

Hi all,

So I just went to the bank to get a money order for my 1st monthly payment. The payment is 1130.00. I am sure you are all not envious of me!! Anyhow, the bank teller told me for a money order over 1000.00 she needed to fill in the name of who the money order was made out to. I was horrified. I had her give me two money orders totalling 1130. That is probably not the best thing to do as two money orders has a better chance of one getting lost in the shuffle. BUT...I don't want the bank knowing my business. Does anyone know another option where I don't have to tell the banker my business OR who to make the money order out too? I mean, making a check out to XXXX XXXX CHAPTER 13 TRUSTEE sort of makes it obvious what I am doing...any suggestions.

p.s....perhaps they should set this up so we can make our payments online?? It is 2009 afterall....


Second question...mailing the payment. Should I get the mail certified? That's an awful lot of money every month to just send a regular letter and hope it gets to the PO BOX each month?

Did I mention how horrified I am? Oh, yea, I did....

Thanks any suggestions helpful...

Lee

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

I would absolutely have it certified return receipt requested. I am in a C7 but anything important like this - especially with money I would do that.

[gettingby2008]

Out bank required us to get 2 money orders as well because they cannot exceed $1000. however they did not require us to tell them who it was being paid to.

On another note talk about horrified, I brought my envelope to the post office to mail certified return receipt and the ver talkative employee said oh MR XXXXX it must be that time of the month, I know who he is. I wanted to crawl under the desk. It is one thing to know who and what but is another to comment on it.

Good luck, I plan on always sending my payments certified return receipt it is worth the extra few $$ for the back-up and documentation .

[BigJohn]

Buy the money order at the post office. No embarrassment.

[HARLEEBB]

Thanks...I did send this payment regular mail this time but will plan on sending certified from this point on.

Only 59 more payments to go...sigh.

[fslady]

money orders and the post office

I buy my money orders at Wal-Mart for less than $1 each - and then use the the Trustee's name and Post Office Box address. Her position as a Trustee never appears on the money order. And I do send the payment in - certified mail but request that I get the receipt by email which is a couple dollars cheaper. It does add up month by month.

[intipuca]

Is there a reason why you all send plan payments via money order? Is a personal check not allowed? I just sent in my first plan payment and used a personal check and made it out to the Trustee's name.

[arkienurse]

Is there a reason why you all send plan payments via money order? Is a personal check not allowed? I just sent in my first plan payment and used a personal check and made it out to the Trustee's name.

It mostly depends on your trustee and their preferences. You should have received instructions on what types of payment he/she would accept.

[Nicollette]

At my bank, they only issue money orders up to $1000, and anything over that amount, has to be a certified check(cashier's check).This is when they need to fill them out, because it helps protect the person who bought it just in case it gets in the hands of someone other than who it was made payable to. They would have a hard time cashing it.

[AngelinaCat]

Is there a reason why you all send plan payments via money order? Is a personal check not allowed? I just sent in my first plan payment and used a personal check and made it out to the Trustee's name.

To add to arkinurse's post: we once sent our payment to our trustee in the form of a regular check from our CU checking account. In that we had been for the previous month or so running into problems with checks hitting the account BEFORE our money did--never had happened in about 40 years previous--we sweat real bullets until we saw the trustee's check posted in our ledger. After that we swore that any further payments to the trustee would be by Money Order, and it would go by Certified Mail, Return Receipt.

Your peace of mind is well worth the extra 5-7 dollars.

[optimistic1]

There is nothing to be embarrassed by, it is you utilizing your rights, nothing more.

[ccfriend]

Mine is set up to come directly every two weeks out of my checking account so there is no need to pay postage or anything. It is sent via an ACH

[2live]

when I went thru a ch 13 back in the late 80's, I used a personal check....no problem.

[DOA]

Is there a reason why you all send plan payments via money order? Is a personal check not allowed? I just sent in my first plan payment and used a personal check and made it out to the Trustee's name.

I just finished my 36 months, mailed a check from my home, on my personal account for all 72 payments and never, ever had a check lost or not posted to my case account ledger in a timely fashion.

[lrprn]

If your bank has online bill paying and your Ch 13 trustee allows you to make your payments using personal checks (ours does), then you can send your monthly payment to the trustee via electronic check from your bank yourself.

No fuss, no muss, no extra costs, and you have objective, rock-solid back-up proof in case there's a question about whether a payment was really sent. We've been doing this for years - works great for us.