keeping debt collectors at bay

[wildamative]

Hello
i will be filing a chapter 7 within the next few months and i am wondering what's the best way to keep nasty debt collectors at bay?? i have told them that i will be filing a chapter 7 BK and that my lawyer told me that i qualify for one i am wondering if that will keep them at bay for a while vs them getting a judgement that will be null and void after i file. and now there telling me that my case is a special case and they put it off to the side LOL i have never heard of a special case!! maybe they know that they won't get squat from me and they won't bother filing as well as they know that i have violations on them as well from one of there reps threatening me and i can go after them for a violation!! funny how this scum changes there tune when people know the laws. it is also the original creditor as well. my account says that it's in profit and loss write off status but yet there still charging me intrest and fee's is that legal???

[LadyInTheRed]

Welcome to BKforum!

If they wrote off the debt, they are probably going to sell it along with a lot of other defaulted debt. Whoever buys it will have the same contractual rights the original creditor had, including charging interest and costs of collection.

There are a lot of tips on dealing with creditors in the collections forum: http://www.bkforum.com/forum/before-...ge/collections Read the stickies first.

[bcohen]

What exactly is your concern with keeping creditors "at bay"? Are you trying to prevent them from bombarding you with phone calls and sending threatening letters, or is there more to it than that? Do you own any real estate, or live in a state where judgment creditors may slap a lien on your vehicle and attempt to seize it in order to satisfy said lien? Do you need time to spend down non-exempt funds prior to declaring bankruptcy? If the answer to all these questions is "no" then who cares if your creditor(s) file a lawsuit and win judgment(s) which will become unenforceable once you file for bankruptcy? If the answer to any of them is "yes" then please post back with details so we can better advise you.

Also, it is very common for creditors--including original lenders, collection agencies, and junk debt buyers--to continue charging fees and interest and reporting a new charge-off status each month. They do this in order to torpedo your already low credit scores, kind of as a big "F you" to the consumer. My creditors continued to report ongoing fees and interest, and new monthly charge-off statuses each month even after I filed for Chapter 7, and the case was pending. Once the discharge was granted, suddenly the balances were updated to $0 with a notation of "account included in Chapter 7 bankruptcy" and no more monthly status updates were made after that. Several of my creditors simply deleted their accounts from my credit reports in the months following my discharge.