Trustees and bank statements at 341 meetings

[Pizza]

Not sure what the deal is concerning the bank statements... how bad do they scrutinize? ie. are they looking mainly for large withdrawals (suspected hidden money), or do they judge everything like... oooooh, you spent $15 at Taco Bell on your debit card, should have paid Citi instead.. In a nutshell, why is the bank statement such an issue?

[ForumReader]

Not sure what the deal is concerning the bank statements... how bad do they scrutinize? ie. are they looking mainly for large withdrawals (suspected hidden money), or do they judge everything like... oooooh, you spent $15 at Taco Bell on your debit card, should have paid Citi instead.. In a nutshell, why is the bank statement such an issue?

That is what I have been wondering about regarding these bank statements. However, based on what I have learned from my attorney and on this forum, the trustees look for anything unusual such as large withdrawals from these bank statements and especially on the day the bk was filed, the trustee would look at the balance on the day of the filing. Even though I am still new to this forum, my advice is for anybody filing for bk with unusual transactions such as large withdrawals be prepared in case the trustee questions these what these transactions were for.

[Pizza]

I pulled out a little under $7000 back in March or April because some guy on the news said the FDIC was likley to run out of money and my bank was WaMu... Didn't want to lose that little dab of money I had to live on while I was job searching. Everything else on the statements looked like bill pays. There's about $15 in the account now.

I don't know if they'll go back that far, but I have invoices from the sewer collapse alone that total more than $5000. Can't stiff a plumber.

[backtoschool]

I pulled out a little under $7000 back in March or April because some guy on the news said the FDIC was likley to run out of money and my bank was WaMu... Didn't want to lose that little dab of money I had to live on while I was job searching. Everything else on the statements looked like bill pays. There's about $15 in the account now.

I don't know if they'll go back that far, but I have invoices from the sewer collapse alone that total more than $5000. Can't stiff a plumber.

As long as you can show where the money was spent, and are accounting for any that is left over in your exemptions, you will be fine. A LOT of people are storing money "under their mattresses" since the banking panic. Also, a lot of people who have creditors looking for their bank accounts, tend to keep cash on hand for daily expenses. You are not going to look any different than most of the cases the trustee sees every day, in my opinion.

[Pizza]

As long as you can show where the money was spent, and are accounting for any that is left over in your exemptions, you will be fine. A LOT of people are storing money "under their mattresses" since the banking panic. Also, a lot of people who have creditors looking for their bank accounts, tend to keep cash on hand for daily expenses. You are not going to look any different than most of the cases the trustee sees every day, in my opinion.

They could check under my mattresses, attic, scuttle hole, wherever they want and I guarantee you they wouldn't find a pot of gold... after all, I wouldn't be filing if I had a stash..

But if they really care about what happened to the remaining $2000, I'm sure I can find prove that... insurance, car repairs, utilities, etc. $2000 over six months is chickenfeed.

Thanks for the input.

[ForumReader]

They could check under my mattresses, attic, scuttle hole, wherever they want and I guarantee you they wouldn't find a pot of gold... after all, I wouldn't be filing if I had a stash..

But if they really care about what happened to the remaining $2000, I'm sure I can find prove that... insurance, car repairs, utilities, etc. $2000 over six months is chickenfeed.

Thanks for the input.

Oh my I can't imagine if they did that to search homes of BK filers, the entire system will be so clogged up!

[JustOverBroke]

What about a deposit every now and then with funds from a item you sold to pay a CC?

I sold a few items when I was low on cash over the last year to help try to pay a few of these CC. Will I have to account for every deposit?

My attorney had us write down on the statements where the deposit came from if it wasn't documented on the statement,like a payroll deposit.

If you're statement just says deposit $100.00 the trustee is going to want to know where that $100.00 came from.

The fun part was trying to remember where small deposits came from that were made 4 or 5 months earlier.

[JustOverBroke]

Oh my I can't imagine if they did that to search homes of BK filers, the entire system will be so clogged up!

They'll do that when the next Bush gets in office.

Dubya is the reason we're all going through this Hell.

I wonder if Dubya is still counting his piles of cash he got from M.B.N.A. for this mess of a law?

[shabam]

They'll do that when the next Bush gets in office.

Dubya is the reason we're all going through this Hell.

I wonder if Dubya is still counting his piles of cash he got from M.B.N.A. for this mess of a law?

While I don't disagree, the senator is the one responsible for federal laws. All too often the president is the scape goat while these guys go unnoticed.

Where I do believe we get short-changed is consumer protection against creditors; in particular, those operating out of lax states. The new laws don't go far enough to protect us against these types, who clearly work the system.

[shabam]

That is what I have been wondering about regarding these bank statements. However, based on what I have learned from my attorney and on this forum, the trustees look for anything unusual such as large withdrawals from these bank statements and especially on the day the bk was filed, the trustee would look at the balance on the day of the filing. Even though I am still new to this forum, my advice is for anybody filing for bk with unusual transactions such as large withdrawals be prepared in case the trustee questions these what these transactions were for.

It really depends on who your trustee is. My trustee just wanted to see the balances on the date of filing. That's it.

If you give me a hint of your trustee's surname. I maybe able to give you a heads-up on them.

[wantout]

My attorney had us write down on the statements where the deposit came from if it wasn't documented on the statement,like a payroll deposit.

If you're statement just says deposit $100.00 the trustee is going to want to know where that $100.00 came from.

The fun part was trying to remember where small deposits came from that were made 4 or 5 months earlier.

Thats what I was thinking. My attorney told me to not make any deposits to my accounts in the form of cash any more, last month I sold a couple items I had and deposited $500 total in 2 deposits, then used the money to make a couple of payments.

I would hope the TT would understand but then again I know they dont work for me either.