Question Including paid off credit cards and loans in bankruptcy

[lexx98]

Our credit report lists about 20 creditors. 8 are active with balances that I haven't been paying on for the past couple of months. All of the other accounts but 1 are closed, and all have $0 balances (due to having paid them off). 2 are paid off and closed auto loans. A few of the closed cards are because they were transferred to a different company, 1 is closed due to the card being lost. My lawyer says we can remove them from the bankruptcy if we are sure they won't come after us. Since all of these have been close for 2+ years, and I have paid the balances I'm not sure why we would include them. If a card was transferred to another bank (such as a synchrony card being changed to a chase card), I would think it would be okay to not include the original card.

My thought is that if I include it in the bankruptcy, then I would assume it will be marked as included in the bankruptcy. Since probably 10 of these cards are actually cards where I have paid off the credit cards before they were closed, I would think keeping them out of the bankruptcy would be better for my credit score. I would especially think that keeping the car loans out would be beneficial, rather than having them show as included.

Am I correct in this thinking? Is there any reason why I should include them in the bankruptcy, especially those that are tied to open accounts with balances? I have one card with a 0 balance that is still open. Should I close this?

[sophieanne]

Hi and welcome. My comments are strictly just my thoughts. When I filed BK my attorney showed all accounts that showed up on my credit card regardless of whether they were paid off or not. Everyone was notified of the BK but only those who had a claim filed one - this just ensured no one was missed. You are going to be in BK so your credit score is going to be impacted negatively no matter what..I had accounts showed in my filing that were paid off. As my credit report updated, they never showed as included in the BK, they just showed as closed account. Your one credit card may be open right now but it’s highly likely the card will be closed by the creditor as soon as they are notified of your filing.
Good luck as you start on the journey..we’re here to answer questions and share experiences.