Mercury Card Services 5 months after filing

[lookingforward]

So Mercury keeps sending statements. We filed in December, were discharged in February. The statement has the balance (8463.32), minimum payment due (1326.92), late payment warning (if we do not receive your minimum payment by the date listed above, you have have to pay a late fee up to 40.00), and over to the side a summary telling me that I've had a 40.00 late fee applied and that 1041.36 is past due.

Then there is a second page. On the top of the second page in all caps is "this communication is for informational purposes only and is not an attempt to collect a debt". Right under that is "Your account is now four payments past due."

I know, I don't have to pay this. I know, I should just ignore this. But really? The account is IIB on the CR. So why keep sending this, and what would y'all do. Should I pay for a certified letter and follow through or do you think their disclaimer keeps them off the hook?

[justbroke]

That is borderline an attempt to collect a debt. Unless that was secured debt, there's no reason they should send a single statement. I would contact their bankruptcy department as well as send a demand notice via certified mail return receipt (CMRR). Let them know, in no uncertain terms, that saying that your account is past due is an attempt to collect a debt.

They won't stop unless you take affirmative action. Keep copies of all correspondence including the bills that they send.

If you filed with an attorney, ask your attorney if they want to go after Mercury for sanctions.

Personally, I like to call these companies, that keep billing and let them know that they are violating the stay. The fact that the bill is not $0 and there is no past due amount, can be seen as an attempt to collect a debt. It is simply an illegal practice of trying to collect the debt. I would certainly try to get my attorney involved. In my case, I would personally notify the creditor by phone and send a CMRR demand. I always gave them 10 days to comply or the next notice they would receive would be a motion for sanctions and order to show cause.

[bcohen]

I would pay for the certified mail, return receipt requested. I would send a letter CMRR together with a photocopy of the discharge order. This puts the creditor on notice, and allows you to pursue damages if they continue to send dunning letters, make collections calls, or place anything negative on your credit reports.

Something like this:

Your name
Your address
Your city/state/ZIP

Date

Creditor name
Creditor address
Creditor city/state/ZIP

RE: Creditor Name credit card account # 0000 0000 0000 0000

Dear Collections Dept.

Please be advised that the above-referenced account was included in my Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and has now been discharged. The case number is 0000000, and the discharge was granted on 00/00/0000. As a result, this account should be considered closed and non-collectible. Any attempt to collect upon this discharged debt is a violation of the discharge order, and can expose your company to substantial civil penalties.

Please be advised that upon receipt of this letter, your company is required by law to cease and desist from all attempts to collect this discharged debt. This includes sending billing statements or dunning letters, making telephone calls, or placing any negative information on my credit reports. By law, a discharged debt must be updated on all credit reports to show $0 balance owed, and "account included in bankruptcy" or similar language to that effect.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Sign here
Your Name

BTW, I wrote this letter, and you are welcome to use it. This is not copied or taken from any other website or copyrighted source.

[lookingforward]

Thank you for the sample letter, it looks great. I had already sent one out that was very similar but I believe yours sounds better, wish I would have waited a bit. They send statements out on the 4th, just waiting for May 4th to see what happens.