Employed by bank where I have debt

[bnt623]

Hi everyone, I am sad and shamefully here to make my first post. I believe I’ve reached the point of filing for Ch. 13 (make too much for 7). I have a lot of questions, concerns, and anxieties, but my biggest is related to my job and I’m hoping someone has some experience or knowledge on this!

I am employed by a bank where I have two of my credit cards. I am worried that filing will result in me losing my job. It’s a large bank, so maybe HR and bankruptcy never even communicate on things like this. And maybe it’s less of a concern because with a 13 I’d still be paying them back, I am just not sure. My mental health has taken a scary turn due to my financial problems and I can’t really fathom losing my job on top of that.

any info you can offer is much appreciated. Thank you so much!

[justbroke]

Generally speaking, a bank or any other employer cannot fire an employee "solely" because they filed or had filed bankruptcy. This is well settled. If you have any sort of licensing which has fiduciary responsibilities, it could raise some questions. I hold a security clearance and during my renewal I was in the middle of my Chapter 13. They were thorough and I had to talk to the investigator about every single creditor in my credit report. My clearance was renewed without a hearing or further investigation.

Hopefully someone else can chime in that is in the banking (or financial services) industry. Depending on your situation, HR may not even know since bankruptcy is never known by the employer unless (1) they run periodic credit reports or (2) there is a wage deduction order (WDO). If you're able to just pay directly to the Trustee, you may be able to avoid your employee being notified.

However, you wrote that you have credit products at the place that you work. The bank will definitely receive notification of the bankruptcy filing either via the "automated" notification (electronic bankruptcy noticing) or you scheduling the debt and them being on the creditor matrix. Either way, the bank will find out. The issue is whether the bank has a flag on the credit accounts that indicates you are a current employee. I don't know what that does given that they can't dismiss you "solely" because you filed.

[bnt623]

Thank you for your response, justbroke. I do not have any licensing.

I do know my cards will be coded as employee, as we get a reduced interest rate. So that is where my concern lies - I know the bankruptcy department will be aware I’m an employee, I just don’t know if they care enough to share the information with HR.

Thanks again!

[Carmella]

bnt623 I don't know if it's different in a bank when you mention the bankruptcy department, but HR is who got the communication and set up the deduction to my payroll to make chapter 13 payments. My HR is not in the building where I worked so that was a blessing to me as in other jobs I had in nursing homes the HR people were not the most professional and would gossip about employees. Since corporate office was where HR was I knew it would be kept confidential.

I know my bank had a bankruptcy department because I had to call them in order to pay my mortgage before they restored my online payments. My mortgage and HELOC were in the plan, but I was paying them outside the plan, meaning the trustee was not paying them for me, but it was still required to be paid.