Does the trustee have to be paid through payroll deduction?

[sophieanne]

I work at a school in the Finance office. As we are a small department of only 4...anything that effects people's pay (such as garnishment) is generally known by all of us. This is a very personal and confidential issue and i don't want to feel uncomfortable knowing the whole department knows my business (which means others can to). I don't feel my bankruptcy is anyone else's business (especially sine it is voluntary and we will be paying everyone back fully)

Is it possible to send monthly payments to the trustee rather than having them sent by payroll deduction. FYI The monthly payment will be large, so the payment is going to come from both my husband and my pay.

I would appreciate any info that can be provided before I meet with my lawyer to sign papers this week.

Thanks!

[AngelinaCat]

The payroll deduction may be something that your particular trustee requires. Ask your attorney when you sign your papers. He/she will (or should) have knowledge of what the different trustees in your district require.

I know I have read of different trustees requiring the payroll deduction, and others are happy with a check or money order being mailed in. In our case, an Asset Ch7, we mailed a money order to the trustee's postal box every month.

Good luck to you, and welcome to the forum.

[ksgirl38]

I asked that of one of the attorneys I saw and they said you can send a payment in yourself. I work for a small company so I didn't want everyone knowing my business either. I think they try to get you to enroll in the automatic payments because it's easier for everyone. I guess they are afraid you won't pay otherwise.

[justbroke]

This is usually District specific. You can also petition the court for permission to pay the Trustee without a wage deduction. I did this for a portion of my monthly payment. The reason I needed to do this, was because I had two investment units and was not collecting rents at the time. I did not want the Trustee taking all the money from my payroll when I wasn't even drawing any money in rents. My motion was approved.

But, in general, it is usually a requirement of the District which determines wage deductions. They have found that debtors on wage deduction orders have a better chance of staying "in plan" and "on time" than those that mail them in.

[kornellred]

Unfortunately, if your trustee requires payment via payroll deduction, an excuse like not wanting anyone you work with to know your business is not sufficient to waive the requirement. There has to be a practical reason for the waiver.

[katztoo]

In our case the trustee asked if our jobs would be in jeopardy with payroll deductions and we said yes and they allowed us to send a personal check every month. My husband works at a software firm and they trust him with expensive equipment and we didn't want to jeopardize that trust. I work for a very small company and did not want them to know my business!

[Sammie]

When we met with our Attonry two weeks ago I asked that question & he said that we can mail the check in ourselves.

[flowerchild]

Due to my position, I didn't want my company knowing anything about my personal business. I asked my attorney to ask the trustee if I could mail my payments myself. The trustee agreed. I have been paying now for 65 months and just waiting on the end to come next month. I get paid twice per month and set my banks online payment up so that every time my direct deposit hits my account a check is sent to the trustee. I have NEVER had a problem in all of these years. Checking with the 13datacenter my check is usually posted within a few days.

Oh and to add, I am in one of those districts that say you must have payroll deduction. Of course its just to make sure people comply with the plan. But don't let anyone tell you that it can't be done. Now some trustee's just might be a pain to deal with may say no just because they want to be a horses behind. But stand your ground and let them know what kind of situation that puts you in within your work environment.

[sophieanne]

Rhank you everyone. Met with the attorney today and it went very well. Will write more when i catch my breath. I believe we've chosen a very good attorney.

The good news is we can pay directly and not via payroll deduction.

Thanks again.

[AngelinaCat]

Congrats!! That is good to read!

[dolphindan1]

Our didnt say anything about payroll deduction but bank draft was there preference....we had 3 options...draft on the 1st, the 15th or split....I honestly do not know what my wife chose and we filed yesterday...LOL

[jcsawyer]

I hope they give us the option to split the payment! they dont do payroll deductions in our county with really bugs me! Id rather they just take it out rather than having to get a certified check every month.

[fslady]

My payment was scheduled for around the 25th of each monthbut I'm paid once a month on the last working day of the month. So the trustee said that I could send in a money order after the first of each month which usually made each payment a couple of weeks early. I made sure that I was never late and it worked out find.

[Billssuck]

Started out as a payroll deduction from my husband's job until he lost that job then we just mailed checks in and the trustee was good with it. It took him 3 jobs later to find good employment so it was good that we could just mail in the payment.