Will trustee take my eBay sale money after filing date?

[Violet]

Hello,

I will be filing Chapter 7 on Tuesday in Michigan. I have a few auctions listed on eBay which end Sunday night. I will probably get at most $100. Any money I make goes toward my bankruptcy. If some of my buyers don't pay until after my filing date on Tuesday, will the trustee take that cash?

I am currently unemployed and have no other income.

[keepmine]

Nobody is going to care about $100.

I gotta ask. If your broke and unempoyed, why are you filing bk at this time?
Why not wait until you're finances are stable and you can support yourself post bk?

[tigergem]

Don't you believe for a minute that "nobody is going to care about $100.00". My trustee objected to my cash exemption $118.09 I think it was. AND made me change my Schedule I for what amounted to less than $10/month net changes. But there are differences in in that violet is filing a 7 and I filed a 13, plus a different district, different personalities involved with the poking and prodding...so I don't know what to tell you, really. One does have to have money for basic living expenses! I mean... I don't know about anybody else, but I like to eat....

[tigergem]

Oh but if you are getting paid by PayPal for eBay auctions, you know that PayPal has some ridiculously long funds hold for auctions now right? You might actually be able to get hold of that cash in March sometime...You'd be better off getting money orders from your buyers if you need that money now. Seriously.

[Violet]

Nobody is going to care about $100.

I gotta ask. If your broke and unempoyed, why are you filing bk at this time?
Why not wait until you're finances are stable and you can support yourself post bk?

I'm being sued by Discover, and have a pre-trial conference next week. I thought it was better to get it over with rather than let judgments pile up. That's what most people on this forum have told me. I filed an answer, but really don't want to try and defend it against an original creditor. I found a lawyer who would charge $1200 all inclusive as long as I get it in before a judgment.

I'm still kind of ambivalent about filing, but I am under so much stress right now, I think it might be better to get it over with so I don't have to think about it every day. It's been a year since I defaulted, and it never really leaves my mind. Also, I've read that the firm that's suing me keeps contacting you every 3 months to see when you're going to pay.

I've sold a few things in the past few months through PayPal and haven't had a problem with any holds.

[tigergem]

Well there sure are a lot of uber vocal complaints about it, and apparently this is something eBay/PP implemented just before Christmas.

[AngelinaCatHub]

I'm being sued by Discover, and have a pre-trial conference next week. I thought it was better to get it over with rather than let judgments pile up. That's what most people on this forum have told me. I filed an answer, but really don't want to try and defend it against an original creditor. I found a lawyer who would charge $1200 all inclusive as long as I get it in before a judgment.

I'm still kind of ambivalent about filing, but I am under so much stress right now, I think it might be better to get it over with so I don't have to think about it every day. It's been a year since I defaulted, and it never really leaves my mind. Also, I've read that the firm that's suing me keeps contacting you every 3 months to see when you're going to pay.

I've sold a few things in the past few months through PayPal and haven't had a problem with any holds.

Good thinking. Your little "penny-anny" PayPal sales will never even be considered. Like a yard sale it meet no real value. Now if you were an eBay store and you made big volume that could be different. Forget it. you are fine. 'Hub

[Violet]

Good thinking. Your little "penny-anny" PayPal sales will never even be considered. Like a yard sale it meet no real value. Now if you were an eBay store and you made big volume that could be different. Forget it. you are fine. 'Hub

I just did the math and I've made less in the last six months than my bankruptcy is going to cost.

Another reason to file now is I owe around $40,000, and my lawyer said the trustees get a little twitchy when you get above $25,000. (I was surprised, because I've read of people with much higher debt on this forum.) He said it shouldn't be a problem though. However, I don't want the debt to grow any more than it already has over the past year.

I'm going tomorrow to file. I'll let you know how it goes!

[BKDefender]

I don't know where your attorney is getting that 'twitchy over $25k' thing, unless it's specific to your jurisdiction. Here in Nevada, where a house worth $120k now has a loan owed of $250k, it's not uncommon to see people discharging $200k-$250k in debt. Granted most of it is that underwater mortgage. But I've seen $80k in gambling debt discharged here. Mercy.

--William

[PJP]

I'm being sued by Discover, and have a pre-trial conference next week. I thought it was better to get it over with rather than let judgments pile up. That's what most people on this forum have told me. I filed an answer, but really don't want to try and defend it against an original creditor. I found a lawyer who would charge $1200 all inclusive as long as I get it in before a judgment.

I'm still kind of ambivalent about filing, but I am under so much stress right now, I think it might be better to get it over with so I don't have to think about it every day. It's been a year since I defaulted, and it never really leaves my mind. Also, I've read that the firm that's suing me keeps contacting you every 3 months to see when you're going to pay.

I've sold a few things in the past few months through PayPal and haven't had a problem with any holds.

I don't know if you're being sued for your credit card debts by Discover but I wonder if you file your bk petition, the automatic stay estopping creditors from their collection activities include a law suit. If so, hopefully by filing a bankruptcy, you wouldn't need to deal with the lawsuit either since they will be notified of your petition and they are estopped from their collection activity?

[BKDefender]

Violet/PJP
YES, if you file bankruptcy, any ongoing civil lawsuits against you must stop immediately. When you file you have an affirmative duty to file a 'suggestion of bankruptcy' in every case you know of where you are a party. If the lawsuit alleges fraud and other non-dischargable liability, then the plaintiff can file a Motion for Relief of Stay to continue with the case in a non-bankruptcy forum. That's rare of course except in fraud cases, which most credit card collection cases don't specifically allege fraud, they just say 'X signed an agreement, used the credit card, did not pay the balance, so the balance is due.'

If you hire a bankruptcy attorney to prepare your case, that attorney can call the attorney for the credit card company and tell them you're about to file bankruptcy. Whenever I do that, the creditor attorney usually asks for me to fax them a letter of representation on my letterhead saying the same thing, and they'll often just withdraw any motions set for hearings. As I was told by one of them "A bankruptcy is still a disposition in the eyes of my client, Credit Card Company X".

--William

[Violet]

Violet/PJP
YES, if you file bankruptcy, any ongoing civil lawsuits against you must stop immediately. When you file you have an affirmative duty to file a 'suggestion of bankruptcy' in every case you know of where you are a party. If the lawsuit alleges fraud and other non-dischargable liability, then the plaintiff can file a Motion for Relief of Stay to continue with the case in a non-bankruptcy forum. That's rare of course except in fraud cases, which most credit card collection cases don't specifically allege fraud, they just say 'X signed an agreement, used the credit card, did not pay the balance, so the balance is due.'

If you hire a bankruptcy attorney to prepare your case, that attorney can call the attorney for the credit card company and tell them you're about to file bankruptcy. Whenever I do that, the creditor attorney usually asks for me to fax them a letter of representation on my letterhead saying the same thing, and they'll often just withdraw any motions set for hearings. As I was told by one of them "A bankruptcy is still a disposition in the eyes of my client, Credit Card Company X".

--William

I will ask my attorney to call the plaintiff's attorney. The conference is on Thursday, February 4, and it will be great if I don't have to go to it. I just want to be sure they won't get a judgment.

Discover's complaint just refers to breach of contract and account stated, not fraud.

[Violet]

I filed today. My lawyer said I didn't need to go to the pre-trial conference and that the bankruptcy filing would take care of any judgment. I'm in SE Michigan. If I felt like being nice I could call and tell the plaintiff's lawyer I just filed, but I won't get a case file number until Monday.

[BKDefender]

Monday? When I file a case I get the number immediately because we have to file every case electronically. Your attorney should be filing a suggestion of bankruptcy in that case anyway which alerts the court that you've filed and the court won't allow the case to move forward any more. It is like hitting 'pause'. If you get your discharge then the case gets dismissed with prejudice. If you don't get your discharge, then they press 'play' and start from where the left off.

I have a client who filed BK to stop two lawsuits, messed their BK case up, it got dismissed, they refiled the same day and the creditor took the order of dismissal from the previous case to the court stating the debtor was not in BK anymore and got two judgments. I'm a big proponent of people being able to file bankruptcy on their own, but if you messed up your first bankruptcy, you should not try to file your own second one without an attorney unless you actually fix what you messed up last time.

--William

[Violet]

I don't have a case number yet, but I do have the receipt from the lawyer and a copy of what he's going to file. Should I take that to the conference and see if they'll dismiss it, or not bother?