I Hate Being Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

[$$only4ever]

Sorry I just need to vent:

I have been waiting a long time for a job opening with a particular company. A position finally came up and it was a perfect fit! I applied online and they were really excited and so was I until.........

......you guessed it, they do a credit check. I decided to be honest with them so I advised the H/R fool on Friday, (Exact Words) " I am currently in an active Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and will not be discharged for 2 more years." I think that most people would understand that sentence, wouldn't you? She replied that she was pretty sure that bankruptcy was excluded so go ahead and complete the application on line.

On Monday, she calls and wants to know when the bankruptcy was discharged??!!??**++##. I again repeated the same statement that I said on Friday. She then informs me that my application was being sent upstairs for review............What she was really saying was, "Thanks, but no thanks."


I just wish that people would be honest. If it is their policy not to hire anyone in an active bankruptcy, fine, just be up front about it.She could have told me and not put me through the BS. What really makes me mad, is once I told her my "dirty little secret" then my qualifications meant nothing. I was just another scumbag, deadbeat who filed BK to get out of paying their bills.

Sorry for venting but I am so sick of being treated like dirt because I filed Bankruptcy. If I had been able to file a Chapter 7, then I could have been hired because I would have been discharged for 3 years. As far as I am concerned, when you get stuck filing a chapter 13, the punishment does not stop for 5 years. I hate being in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and the sad part is that I have 28 more months of this s**t before I am paroled.

[stljohn]

so i don;t know if it will help and i mean well but your personalizing this to an unhealthy degeree. IMO.

HR exists not to hire people but screen people out... any little negative makes their day easier. you may be jumping the gun give it a minute. if they do turn you down you got to understand they deal with a lot of labor laws so it doesn't pay for them to be "honest" about why. its how they work.

in the meantime you got this thing on your record that's a pain i know. i've had to talk to x more landlords to find a great house, x more credit unions to find a non-usurious rate. so it goes...

just makes life a little more challenging but its shouldn't keep you down.

good luck

[CindyLou]

maybe she would have said said the same thing if you had told her your credit score was 850....maybe that's her canned answer. You should waiting until you get a final answer from them before you get upset...you never know.

Good luck!

[Flamingo]

Employers today are more careful than ever before when they hire someone. The bankrupty on your credit report just raises a red flag to them that you have had financial difficulties so the company is more careful in whether or not they may want to choose another qualified applicant over you that has a clean record (credit and criminal). The employer does not have to hire you - they screen applicants. Banks or other lenders are extremely careful in who they hire because they want to avoid people in their departments who can embezzle or commit fraud by opening fake acounts, credit cards, etc. It happens all the time and costs the consumer and companies billions. Once you view the hiring process like that, you will realize that it's not a personal thing but a business thing. If you have a good reason for having to file (i.e., big job/monetary loss from which you could not recover, huge medical bills), you could mention that to HR. Many people have down times in life and need to recover and they would realize that. Also, your past resumes and letter of recommendation/references should be able to help you. They may also be checking those out.

Let us know your outcome and best of luck to you!

[$$only4ever]

Thanks everyone for your responses Actually I feel better since I vented. With that being said, however, I still do not expect a call back and I do understand their reasoning, but it is hard not to take it personal when you are the applicant involved. But life is too short and like Forest Grump says, "That is all I have to say about that." lol

[JollyGG]

My husband got a new job in March of last year. He applied for a job and did well on the interview. Then we got a letter stating that a PRELIMINARY decision had been made not to hire him based on information in his consumer report.

He gave HR a call and talked to them about the bankruptcy. He told them that basically we had gotten in over out heads, we filed bankruptcy, we would be discharged soon (we were chapter 7) and that we paid all bills on time and in full now. They agreed to reconsider his application and he got the job. The job is at a credit card company.

Don't give up just yet.

[$$only4ever]

It appears that filing bankruptcy is okay as long as you have been discharged. It is when you are in an active bankruptcy that gets their panties twisted. If I was discharged, then I would have probably been offered the job. No discharge, no job.

[$$only4ever]

Update On Previous Post

Surprise of suprises! I received a phone call late Friday afternoon from the prospective employer. They had alot of questions concerning why I filed bankruptcy which was okay..

I explained honestly why we filed bankruptcy. I also explained that what we did to try to avoid BK. (working second job, tons of overtime, cashing out 401k, etc). I stated that finally all options had been exhausted and we had to make a business decision. I advised them that I had never been late on any of debt before I filed. The HR person said that they could see that on the credit report, which helped.

My ending statement went something like this:

"Unfortunately, sometimes bad things happen to good people. We tried for approximately 5 years to avoid bankruptcy. It wasn't like we just stopped paying our creditors and let everything be charged-off. There was not one creditor who was over 30 days late when we filed. However, when all of our options were exhausted, and our health was in danger, we had to make a business decision concerning financial survival.

Yes I am in an active chapter 13 bankruptcy with 2 years of payments to go, but I do not look at this as being a negative thing. To date, all payments have been made on time. At least my creditors are receiving a percentage of the debt unlike a chapter 7 where all debt would have been discharged. Yes, bankruptcy is not a good thing, but I firmly believed that many things have been made as right as they can be by filing a chapter 13."

The only other question that they asked was how the payment was being made and I advised them that a wage order was on DH's paycheck and they send the $$ every month to the trustee. The HR person seemed to like that. Now, I am again waiting for someone higher up in HR to yay or nay me. I will keep everyone posted.

What I thought was funny was (2) things:

1) If I had filed a chapter 7, I would have been discharged now for 3 years and that would have ok with this employer even though none of my creditors would have received a dime, and 2) This company does not do mandatory drug screening, so my question is: If your FICO was 750 you would be hired even if you were a heroin addict

[Minnymouth]

Yep...... they can ask all they want about your credit history and job history....... but their VERY LIMITED about what they can ask about your medical history or your bad habits..............

How ironic, huh!!!

[LadynRed]

If it is their policy not to hire anyone in an active bankruptcy,

LEGALLY they cannot discriminate against you because of your bankruptcy.

[Flamingo]

LEGALLY they cannot discriminate against you because of your bankruptcy.

An employer does not have to hire you if you have bankruptcy on your record. The same applies if you have a criminal record. However, if you file bankruptcy while employed and are fired for that reason, you have one heck of a case. You cannot be fired for filing bankrupty but bankruptcy on your record can keep you from getting hired.

Most people are hired as "at will" employees and that is on the documentation that you sign when you are hired (I am not talking about contracts for higher-up executives). That means the employer can terminate you for any reason and you can leave for any reason. However, if you can prove you were terminated due to discrimination (race, religion, gender, sexual preference, pregnancy, blowing the whistle on someone and receiving retaliation for doing that, etc...), then you can sue for discrimination.

[$$only4ever]

An employer does not have to hire you if you have bankruptcy on your record. The same applies if you have a criminal record. However, if you file bankruptcy while employed and are fired for that reason, you have one heck of a case. You cannot be fired for filing bankrupty but bankruptcy on your record can keep you from getting hired.

Most people are hired as "at will" employees and that is on the documentation that you sign when you are hired (I am not talking about contracts for higher-up executives). That means the employer can terminate you for any reason and you can leave for any reason. However, if you can prove you were terminated due to discrimination (race, religion, gender, sexual preference, pregnancy, blowing the whistle on someone and receiving retaliation for doing that, etc...), then you can sue for discrimination.

Exactly, Flamingo. "At will" means just that. But it goes both ways for the employer and the employee.

[Flamingo]

Exactly, Flamingo. "At will" means just that. But it goes both ways for the employer and the employee.

I stated that and I think you missed that in my posting - here is what I said "Most people are hired as "at will" employees and that is on the documentation that you sign when you are hired (I am not talking about contracts for higher-up executives). That means the employer can terminate you for any reason and you can leave for any reason."

[$$only4ever]

I stated that and I think you missed that in my posting - here is what I said "Most people are hired as "at will" employees and that is on the documentation that you sign when you are hired (I am not talking about contracts for higher-up executives). That means the employer can terminate you for any reason and you can leave for any reason."

Flamingo,

I stand corrected. However, was it necessary for you to post the above comment?

[Flamingo]

Flamingo,

I stand corrected. However, was it necessary for you to post the above comment?

I'm sorry - you corrected me in your reply posting that "at will" goes both ways (employer and employee) and I had already stated that in the posting you responded to - I just responded that you apparently missed that portion of my posting; that's all. And if you missed it, maybe others did also. It was not meant as anything else and I am sorry you may have taken it the wrong way. I am sure you would have replied the same to anyone else if it was you who had originally posted.