i am new to this forum and just started the process of filing....

[daxtell]

i have gone through the process of comparing all of my paperwork to my credit reports and talking with the creditors to make sure i have all of the most current information to report to file chapter 7. i turned all this in to my attorney. she is working on the final pieces of the petition and i just have to look it over and sign it this week before she files.

i am just scared i have missed something. plus i have read some threads where peoples bank accounts were frozen. will this happen to me?

i have no assets except my old 1995 jeep that i paid 750 for. i rent a cheap apartment and i make less than $30k a year. my income for the last three years has been sporadic until i found something full time.

i lost my well paying job three years ago, my house was foreclosed on and my svu was repossessed, and at the time i was almost 30k in credit card debt. now that is well beyond that with the interest tacked on.

thank you all for your thoughts.

[ccsjoe]

Your bank account should be ok if you have no credit relationship with them, do not bank with Wells Fargo or a small CU.

Best thing you can do is to take your time going over the final paperwork before you sign it. Make sure everything is in correctly. It is normal to be a bit jittery; I was right before signing.

Take a deep breath, you'll be ok.

[frogger]

Welcome to the forum. Just chill, treat this as the business decision that it is, and move forward. Good luck.

[daxtell]

thanks for replying. i did ask the attorney about my bank account and she said it was exempt, just as you all said. i had about 2900 in there before i paid the attorney and now after bills i have less that a thousand. i was worried they would freeze it.

i also asked her about my lease for my apartment as i had read posts about landlords being called. she said that because it is an active lease and they are a credit holder that they probably will be contacted. that is embarresing. but i have been current on all my payments to them and my lease goes until december of next year.

i keep checking my credit report. my problem is my accounts are over three years old and have changed hands so many times i am just worried i do not have the most current information. most of the big ones were sold to asset acceptance which eventually got a garnishment on me. now that stopped since i have another job they do not know about. and they can't restart it now anyway that i am filing right? i sign the petition papers monday.

and this business of reviewing my credit report from now on to ensure everything comes off is taking some work. although i am current now with my power bill and paid all past due to get the current one in my name. i found two collections agencies that are still reporting the same bill from the power company as open on my report. they were alliance and nco. i have to call them i guess.

plus i am just scared in general. this has been a long three years. i found my current job and went thru hell to get it. i am an accountant and had to take one with a small company that did not do a background/credit check. i make just 11 an hour and i just got a raise to 13 an hour! yeah! with no benefits though. i have to tell my attorney about the 2 dollar raise before i sign the petition right? i mean even with it, i still make less than 30k a year. it won't change my means test i believe.

thanks again for all the help

[free2breathe]

Since you got your raise pre-petition, you'll need to let your attorney know so that he can change the numbers on your schedules. You'll still fall below the median, but it will change the numbers on Schedule I and J. (Congrats on the raise, by the way.)

Re: the garnishment. There must have been a judgment granted prior to the garnishment. Though they won't be able to try to collect on that through the automatic stay, the judgment will still exist in the court system. I think you'll have to file a motion to vacate that judgment once the bankruptcy is discharged. Ask your attorney about that, as they may be willing to work on that motion to vacate for you (at an additional cost, of course).

[daxtell]

so i have to ask my attorney to file a motion to dismiss the judgment for asset acceptance? i actually had two judgments, one from capital one and one from asset acceptance who bought the loan from first usa/chase. only asset acceptance went further and got the garnishment. i gave all that information to my attorney. she did not mention anything about filing any motions. i will ask her on monday to do that when i go to review everything and sign.

[free2breathe]

That's the way I understand the whole judgment process. If the judgment already exists in the courts, a motion has to be filed to vacate that (or in your case, those) judgments.

[helpme2010]

I looked over my checking account to see all bills I have paid over the last couple years to make sure I didn't miss any creditor to include in my bk. My attorney also ran my SS to find all creditors, to make sure I wasn't missing anybody to list in bk. I was a little worried as well, thinking what if I miss something, what if a creditor shows up, etc. But the 341 went very well. Having a good attorney sure helps relieve the stress.

[daxtell]

okay now i am concerned. back in late 2006/2007 i took out many online payday loans. i think most were paid when my final checks from my employment checks came in. but some were not. at that time my bank was bank of america. i closed the account due to the many demands on it from the bi monthly withdrawals from these payday online companies.

only two to this date proceeded to report it on my credit report. and i have listed them on my petition.

should i call bank of america and get a statement from back then to try and get addresses and phone numbers to list them on the petition?

[free2breathe]

okay now i am concerned. back in late 2006/2007 i took out many online payday loans. i think most were paid when my final checks from my employment checks came in. but some were not. at that time my bank was bank of america. i closed the account due to the many demands on it from the bi monthly withdrawals from these payday online companies.

only two to this date proceeded to report it on my credit report. and i have listed them on my petition.

should i call bank of america and get a statement from back then to try and get addresses and phone numbers to list them on the petition?

While it's good to list everyone you can possibly think of, one little bit of help here is that in most cases, if you are a no-asset Chapter 7, the courts recognize that all pre-petition debt is included in the bankruptcy. If you were to miss one along the way, you would just send a copy of your discharge paperwork to the creditor along with a nice little letter stating that you filed and were discharged.

I called BofA for a copy of a credit card statement from 2 years ago. They were very nice about providing it free of charge. So if you think you might find a creditor or two you've forgotten, it wouldn't hurt to get a statement.

[tcreegan]

Hi daxtell,

The wheels of bureauracy don't always turn as fast as you might want....ask your atty how to get the garnishment to stop ASAP instead of eventually.

Like f2b said, since you have a judgement against you, something to remember after your discharge is to go to the court where the judgement was awarded and file a motion to vacate/set aside the judgement. You can ask your atty about doing this, but it is not hard to do yourself.

I hear you on the debts that were sold to X who sold them to Y who asked Z to collect and when that didn't work sold it back to X who....what a mess!! Who knows what Alliance and NCO have, they might have bought the debt, power co. didn't tell them the debt was paid, they haven't bothered to take it off the credit report, they are scumbags and still trying to get some $$ out of you, etc Who knows, put them on the creditors matrix...

I just listed everyone I could find, it was a loooong job but I just felt better having them all on there. But apparently if you forget one there is no need to panic, if they show up later you mail them your discharge papers and politely tell them to go away.

And now, to make things worse.....medical accts are usually not on credit reports as well as past landlords and some local utilities. And speaking of landlords, better to be proactive; I would go and tell them what I was going to do, and that I would be making payments and staying on as a tenant.

Good luck with all of this!

Tom in Colo