ahhh, forgot to put postage on my chapter 13 payment

[itlm062]

i just sent out the envelope with cashier check for my trustee, and as soon as it felt in the outgoing mail slot of our HOA's mailbox, i realized i didn't put a stamp on it...

(dog distracted me during the process, still no excuse thou)

what should i do now?

wait for post office to return it?
would the envelope get delivered with one of those "postage due" on them?
or get another cashiers check ?

the date due is on the 25th of every month.

thanks in advance!

[lillymarlene]

If you just mailed it, would it be possible for you to contact your local post office as soon as they are open? Maybe you could get this returned to you very quickly, and then mail it out maybe Priority Mail.

[itlm062]

it's still sitting in the mailbox outbin (locked)...the mail person won't pick it up until monday afternoon i think.

maybe i'll leave a note by it and hopefully he can then just put it back in my mail slot.

[AngelinaCat]

When I was handling the matter of mailing the monthly check to the trustee to buy our stuff back from the BK estate, I was always nervous about how it would go. The trustee did not make any conditions on us, so we paid a couple of times by personal check. These we sweated out, watching the account to make sure they cleared.

However, the time I arrived at the P. O., with our payment, and found that the glue on the envelope had failed, and the envelope was essentially 'open', I panicked. From then on, every payment was by postal money order, with certification, and return receipt requested. I kept every single receipt and ticket. It cost a few dollars more than the regular mail, but the peace of mind was well worth it.

[catleg]

Do not do certified mail, it slows things down by requiring a signature on the receiving end.

[AngelinaCat]

Do not do certified mail, it slows things down by requiring a signature on the receiving end.

Not really. The turn around for us was usually a couple of days--normal mail handling time, then (2008). With the new reduction in hours for the post office, this can take much longer.

[mountanddo]

If you put it in a post office mailbox it is against the law to return any mail to you from the box. The reason being is that they don't know for sure it was you who put that particular piece of mail in there even if it has your name on it. You would need to either wait for it to come back to you or they may just decide to deliver it postage due. It might be different with you putting it in your HOA's mailbox as that might not be considered a USPS mailbox.

[BNKRPTinNC]

it's still sitting in the mailbox outbin (locked)...the mail person won't pick it up until monday afternoon i think.

maybe i'll leave a note by it and hopefully he can then just put it back in my mail slot.

Problem with that would be the time involved to go thru all the mail and find the letter missing postage. If it is substantial then you might be out of luck with the note idea. However, if you can meet whomever is making the collection and explain what happened I would imagine you would be able to get it back. Depending how your mail is processed it could take several days or longer before it comes back to you as I am fairly certain that it will not be sent postage due. I worked at a processing center for USPS for 36 years and if you are unable to intercept the letter before it goes there then a phone call to the plant may help. We would bend over backward to find mail with missing postage to try and get it back to the customer if so informed and we processed several hundred thousand pieces of mail each day.

As for using USPS as your mailer, before doing it electronically thru my bank, I did mine priority with delivery confirmation. Cost was under $6 but found that was the fastest and gave the most peace of mind as priority mail is handled a bit differently than first class.

[jange]

I recently mailed something that did not have enough postage, I received it back in 2-3 days from the post office for additional postage.

[catleg]

Here is my process, hope this helps someone. I have 2 ch13 cases, mine and my wife's.

1. Buy money orders.
2. Print out payment sheet for each money order. Has name, address, case#, date payment is intended for, and trustee's name address.
3. Photocopy money order on top of payment sheet. (I could probably skip this step).
4. Record money order serial number along with date purchase and date mailed in Excel spreadsheet.
5. Mail the money orders in seperate envelopes, one per envelope.
6. Check 13datcenter until payment is posted, then put posting date in spreadsheet.

This gives peace of mind just in case someday there is an audit and a discrepancy about the payments arises.

[ValleYum]

Perhaps she could meet the mail carrier at the mailbox with a stamp in hand so she can put the postage on the envelope? Just a thought. (skip the dog though as one of our mail carriers makes you step outside the door to sign for anything if she hears a dog bark - perhaps rightfully so, too!)

Delivery confirmation for an additional 75 cents rocks my socks when I send checks or gift cards to my kids down south.

[catleg]

I would try dropping a note in the mailbox along with a few extra stamps and hope the letter carrier reads it and applies the postage!
Maybe make it a big pink heart shaped note to get his attention.

[itlm062]

thanks for all the tips!

this morning at 7am, i put a note in front of the mail slot to let the mailman know what's going on.
they usually stop by around 3-4pm, and i will also leave work early to wait for them.

it's ok if they can't give the envelope back, but i was hoping i can convince them to let me at least put a stamp on it.

wish me luck!

(also notified my atty, who has said if all else failed, just wait for it to come back, one late payment should be ok)

[LadyInTheRed]

To avoid this happening again, get a bunch of these envelopes with forever postage. I ordered 60 of them right after I filed and addressed them all. Now I grab one each month before I head to the post office to buy my money order. 22 payments mailed by regular mail on the 15th and all of them have made it well before the deadline on the 1st.

[itlm062]

success!

waited by the mailbox for about 30 min, and i got him!

he let me put the stamp on and also gave me my mail for the day...all wihtout asking much questions.

thanks all.