US Trustee requesting CC Statements

[alh]

I have my 341 on April 10th. Today in the mail I recieved a request from the United states trustee asking for my CC statements for the past year, my pay stubs for the last 3 months, and a statement on how I acquired so much debt.

One of the issues, I think, is that I was laid off from a high paying job a little over three years ago. We have been struggling since then. If you look at the tax returns we had to file with the BK (last 3 years) it would be easy to wonder how someone with the income we had for 3 years acquired so much debt. Prior to 3 years ago we were paying down our debt, but then came the job loss and the CC bill went way up.

We have not used the CC in almost 2 years. Most were written off some time ago and we no longer recieve statements.

Not sure how to to address that.

I have a meeting with my attorney on Mon but was just looking for input from anyone. Is this going to be a problem or is the US trustee just doing a routine check?

Thanks

[gak555]

Do you mind sharing how much debt sent up the red flag ? Just curious.

[SinkingFast]

I won't be one bit surprised if the same thing happens to us.

Last 2 years on paper, we had in excess of $100K in income each year.

1st year, Hubby worked about half a year and then got laid-off. He received a severance package that paid him 2 weeks for every year of he'd been with the company. 17 years. So he got about 9 months of pay in lump sum. With a lump sum payment like that, taxes ate a huge part of the severance package pay. Then he was laid off for about 7 months before finding a new job.

2nd year, 2005, Hubby cashed out his Retirement IRA to pay off the second on our house. Plus we did all the fix it up to sell it stuff on the house. I have envelopes of receipts where we bought things for the house. And a deed showing the loan was paid.

I can bet there will be red flags come up on us as well.

If the Trustee is ordering a year's worth of CC statements, are the CC companies gonna provide those?? Or do you have to come up with those your self??

Probably something about your filing that was a little irregular. Got your case booted out to be examined more closely. Generally they are looking for fraud so if you dont' have anything to hide, you probably don't have anything to worry about.

[aa06a47]

I figure I'll be the same way, however, I do not have cc statements much past 3 months. I do not know, if asked to produce them, how I can get them.

[FoolAndHisMoney]

Do you mind sharing how much debt sent up the red flag ? Just curious.

Also besides the amount of unsecured debt, how much is it compared to your income & assets? Low income & assets and high debt generally raise flags with the US Trustee.

Alh, you should be ok providing you did not use anything in the last year and you didn't make large luxury purchases and suddenly lose the luxuries. 30% interest & fees will run up balances very fast!

[annikasaunt]

When I signed on with my atty, HE had me bring him 1 years worth of my CC statements, bank statements, check stubs, so if the court wants them he already has them for me. It's a good thing I save everything!! He had me fill out forms for each card saying what I purchased with it and when the last time it was used. He is so prepared...after reading all of this I'm really glad!

[alh]

My lawyer has the pay stubs and there are no recent credit card statements as they were charged off. The last activity on the CC is at least 18 months ago. (and my credit report reflects that)

I don't really think (hope) there is going to be an issue. Hopefully just the US trustee making sure the i's are dotted and the t's crossed.

[djk]

I have my 341 on April 10th. Today in the mail I recieved a request from the United states trustee asking for my CC statements for the past year, my pay stubs for the last 3 months, and a statement on how I acquired so much debt.

One of the issues, I think, is that I was laid off from a high paying job a little over three years ago. We have been struggling since then. If you look at the tax returns we had to file with the BK (last 3 years) it would be easy to wonder how someone with the income we had for 3 years acquired so much debt. Prior to 3 years ago we were paying down our debt, but then came the job loss and the CC bill went way up.

We have not used the CC in almost 2 years. Most were written off some time ago and we no longer recieve statements.

Not sure how to to address that.

I have a meeting with my attorney on Mon but was just looking for input from anyone. Is this going to be a problem or is the US trustee just doing a routine check?

Thanks

if the supposed debt has been charged off and you have gotten no statements
in 2 years what exactly is the debt that is so large?. It seems you are saying there is no debt due to a charge off yet you must have listed debts for the trustee to wonder about whay the debt was so high.

[alh]

We haven't gotten statements in about a year. The CC debts are charged off but we still owe them. A couple of them have judgements against us.

We would have filed BK sooner but we could not afford too until recently. We are still not in great shape by any means, but we can afford to buy food and clothes now.

[Minnymouth]

Get together all you information for the past 5 years..... this will show a high income starting out and then job loss and low income...... debt ratio will show cc not being used for the last 18 months (good thing).....

All US Trustee audit Trustees periodically.... yours may be one of those cases....

Give them what they want, hope they see the drastic change in income from before and now..... that will really explain how the debt happened. Lots of cc expense then no job............ downhill sprial...

Keep us posted.

[SinkingFast]

We've been asked lots of questions about income and expenses. We have high debt, higher sounding income for a couple years, and we're letting the house go in the BK.

There were other questions too.

Was there proof of unemployment income in the docs we gave them, which there was.

And was there proof of the IRA payout, which there was. And I have the Court Certed doc that shows where the loan was paid in full. The retirement IRA was $43K and the loan pay-off was $49K.

We still have Hubby's Severance packet they gave him. We kept the actual letter, the pay stub of the Severance Package pay-out showing the taxes taken out, and a letter of recommendation. I kept all that stuff and can produce it. Even tho Hubby got $59K on paper in severance, the net was $36,500.

And we supported 2 households, fixed up another house getting ready for sale, which I have receipts for all those expenses, etc etc etc., copies of checks showing rent, and utilities paid for the apartment.

If the Court wants proof of what happened to us, we can sure give it to them.

I just can't produce a year's worth of CC statements. We'd have to get those from the CC companies.

[Minnymouth]

Your attorney can get the cc statements that you need....

But SOUNDS like you got all the rest TOGETHER..... GOOD JOB............

Here's hoping that all your efforts, documents, PROOF OF EVERYTHING, etc tells them what they want to know......

keep me posted,

[edwards2]

Okay you guys we had to do the same thing for the trustee. We did not have the assets you have but we did have the high income. We had to produce 2 pages of documents for the trustee..twice. We had to submit bank statements dating back 3 years from the time we filed, insurance statements, loan papers, etc. It took me 2 days to assemble all of it. She was looking for disposable income. The implication is BK fraud but we were upfront with everything just as you guys are. High incomes automatically send up red flags. Sounds like you guys have done your homework so try not to worry. Getting a letter from the U.S. Trustee is intimidating but not terminal. Good luck...we are all here to support you.