Question about check written to the power company

[bebc]

Hello everyone. I have been reading this forum for quite a while now and really appreciate all of the good advice. I just have one question that I can't seem to find the answer to.

My wife wrote a check to the power company for $584 for electric service. There was a mistake in the checking account and the check has bounced. I do not have the money to cover the check.

I have been preparing to file chapter 7 and am about ready to file. I was wondering if the automatic stay will stop the power company from turning the power off and will including this in the bankruptcy open my wife up to persecution for writing a bad check.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[NoMoreCards]

Writing a check that bounces and you don't make good on it, is grounds for criminal charges. You NEED to make good on this, regardless if you include your utility accounts into the BK filing. That can easily be a major problem for you, and it isn't worth it.

I highly recommend you do not include your utilities with your BK, and this is why. Lets say you include your past due balance with the gas company of...say 600.00. The gas company will get the filing of your bankruptcy, and that account will be closed. Then you will need to get a "new" account with them, and the gas company can demand "600.00" security deposit to open the new account.

[bebc]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't make my original question clear. I do intend on taking care of the check. I was just hoping that the automatic stay would give me some time.

I was thinking of listing them as a creditor and then reaffirming and paying what we owe.

[AngelinaCat]

I highly recommend you do not include your utilities with your BK, and this is why. Lets say you include your past due balance with the gas company of...say 600.00. The gas company will get the filing of your bankruptcy, and that account will be closed. Then you will need to get a "new" account with them, and the gas company can demand "600.00" security deposit to open the new account.

That isn't necessarily the case, though we were dealing with the electric company and not a gas company.

We fell late several times in making our utility payment, and sometimes we were short, i.e., trying to make weekly payments of $100.00, when the electric company wanted the entire amount. Finally we were charged a deposit of $791.00 in order to keep our electricity from being turned off, after having this account with no problems for more than 40 years. It took some scrambling trying to come up with that amount of money in one lump--and really hurt. But we did it.

When we filed BK we HAD to include the electric company because we had to list any deposits we had made. That $791.00 deposit was one of the non-exempt assets that we got to buy back from the BK Estate--albeit it was discounted to $500.00. So I feel like we paid that thing twice. However, the January after we were discharged August 2008, we received a 'credit' of around $1,100.00. Huh?

I understand the utility companies are not covered under the same rules that govern other creditors. But I do not pretend to understand the way they work. There have been several discussion threads about utility companies many times on this forum. I suggest doing some searches.

Good luck!