clearing up some loose ends

[adkid22]

I had some loose end questions. I am ready to file now, just waiting a few weeks to take my time on the paper work

1) Bank Account - I have a bank account. I have nothing tied to it. That would be safe from being frozen, correct?
2)Creditors - I have a list of debts I owe. I was able to find very little information on the address to serve them. Does anyone have any advice to track that down? Or can I just state I don't know.
3)Income - My job offered me some OT. I have put this off due to my garnishment and not wanting to mess up my filing. Once I file, will they look at my income if I start to pick up overtime?

[free2breathe]

Hi adkid22. Just from reading some of the posts on this forum, I'll toss out a few answers.

1) Generally, if you don't have debt through the bank where your account is open, you should be fine. However, some posters have stated that Wells Fargo often freezes bank accounts regardless. If you are concerned, you can contact your bank and ask. They can't freeze your account before you file, so there will be little risk in calling them to inquire.

2) Get copies of your credit reports from the big 3. That's a good place to start to get addresses of your creditors. If they aren't listed there, doing web searches is probably the best next step. If you don't submit addresses for them, the courts can't send them notices.

3) You will be asked at your 341 if anything has changed since you filed your paperwork. Your trustee may even ask you to submit your most recent paystubs and bank statements at your 341. In our case, we had to have the statement which included our balance on the date of filing and the statement including the 30 days post-filing. Also, we had to provide all of our paystubs up to the date of the 341. If it shows you get overtime every week, the trustee may question it. If your paystubs show that it wasn't something that you were getting on a regular basis prior to filing, there probably will be no issue. Overtime is not a guaranteed income. In my humble opinion, best case scenario, wait till after your 341 to start picking up the overtime if it is a concern.

Good luck!

[adkid22]

Hi adkid22. Just from reading some of the posts on this forum, I'll toss out a few answers.

1) Generally, if you don't have debt through the bank where your account is open, you should be fine. However, some posters have stated that Wells Fargo often freezes bank accounts regardless. If you are concerned, you can contact your bank and ask. They can't freeze your account before you file, so there will be little risk in calling them to inquire.

2) Get copies of your credit reports from the big 3. That's a good place to start to get addresses of your creditors. If they aren't listed there, doing web searches is probably the best next step. If you don't submit addresses for them, the courts can't send them notices.

3) You will be asked at your 341 if anything has changed since you filed your paperwork. Your trustee may even ask you to submit your most recent paystubs and bank statements at your 341. In our case, we had to have the statement which included our balance on the date of filing and the statement including the 30 days post-filing. Also, we had to provide all of our paystubs up to the date of the 341. If it shows you get overtime every week, the trustee may question it. If your paystubs show that it wasn't something that you were getting on a regular basis prior to filing, there probably will be no issue. Overtime is not a guaranteed income. In my humble opinion, best case scenario, wait till after your 341 to start picking up the overtime if it is a concern.

Good luck!

thank you, I have grabbed about 3-4 addresses from the web, but it's hard cause apparently collection agencies like to remain ghost.
I have my credit report and there are some stuff that wasn't ever reported on my credit I'd like to make sure was discharged. I will continue searching. It's also confusing cause the credit report shows all the agencies that bought/sold my debt, so it's hard to find out who actually has my debt

as for the OT, it's not a regular thing. I work in the maintenance industry and this time of year is busy for HVAC techs. I was offered overtime because of this. I will decline until is all clear.

[free2breathe]

It is hard to figure out who has your debts. That being said, usually having the original debt listed with the address of the creditor is sufficient. If you have additional names and addresses, definitely list them as well, but having that original creditor will generally cover you. Also, if you have NO assets, and are unable to provide some of the addresses, you'll probably be ok. The courts have generally allowed that all pre-petition debt is discharged, even if a notice is overlooked, so long as you have no assets to be distributed to creditors. Do the best you can. If you would like help searching, you are more than welcome to send me a private message with the names of creditors you haven't found, and I'll help you search for addresses.

[adkid22]

Thank you so much, it makes it that much easier by listing the original creditor. I may have everything covered. If I have any issues, I'll definitely message back.
You guys are so helpful in this stressful time, it really is appreciated.

I definitely would be a no asset case, but just want to make sure I cover all my bases. I will try to list everyone.

[adkid22]

Well, just wanted to give an update on my progress.

I was able to obtain an address for every creditor I had. I used the ones that were off my credit report and I will also include the original credits address (can never be too safe)

Would a corporate headquarters address be good? or should I be searching for something else. (Chase I have listed for my over drawn bank account as their corp hq in NY or would I list the branch at which my acct was at)

Also, I have some past due balances that is not showing up on my credit report (apt complex i moved out of that I know they have sent me a bill in the past). I want to include them so they can't come back on me in the future, is this proper procedure even though they're not on my credit report?

On my credit report, it list my acct numbers as 5555XXXX. Should I call the collection agency to get the full acct number or does it not matter?

I have the 300 dollar filing fee placed aside now with the intentions of filing July 5th. I am writing checks for rent/utilities off my bank account so I have proof of my residence/payments. I have a bank card through my bank. Can I still continue to use that for food and etc since I will be keeping that?

Thanks for the help so far and I feel a fresh start is right around the corner

[free2breathe]

Well done on getting all the addresses. I am not sure what the best address to use is, but in our case, I used our bank branch address for the account that had been dinged for overdraft fees for, get this, a one penny overdraw! I think the fees added up to about $50. They wouldn't reverse the fees, and it was ONE STINKING PENNY overdrawn. LOL

As far as debt you know you have, but that is not listed on a credit report, list it anyway. List every single debt you can think of.

I had many account numbers that listed either the first four or last four digits, but the rest were filled in with "x". No problems arose from that at all either.

Using your bank card, which I'm assuming is a debit card, is perfectly fine. What you want to avoid as much as possible is using credit cards. I've seen several people mention they used their credit cards for small purchases of necessary items, but I think the majority of opinion is to cut them up and get used to using cash (bank card, checks, on hand)

[adkid22]

wow, 1 penny? that is ridiculous and the banks wonder why we don't trust them.
Maybe I'll list both addresses just to be safe, don't want to mess anything up. The worse that happens is they receive 2 notices haha.

I will list the accounts with the XXXX on them. I don't want to call up the collection agencies if I dont have to.

As for the bank card, it is a debit card. I actually never had credit cards, which is a blessing in disguise I am hoping. I think once everything is cleared up, I'll still be able to live frugal since I've went so long without credit cards as it is.

I'll keep everyone posted on my progress. Right now my credit rating is 474, so I am hoping that once I get this squared away, it will shoot up. I then can focus on my student loans.

I still need to call and find out what it means when it says on my credit report "filed claim with government"