Be CAREFUL on pacer!

[FloridaGuy]

Hi all,

Just another quick "Be Careful" post about PACER. I have been very careful, when dealing with PACER watching our case, and we have had a lot of activity. In the first 3 months, I had less than $20 in charges. and that was checking multiple times a week, and with several large (50+ page files)

BUT... our trustee is a real pain, so I thought I'd look at a few of her other cases, to check how they went. BIG MISTAKE!

The query ended up being almost 700 pages.... causting me over $58 for the one query! OOpppssss! Crap! Lessen learned.

Just for a reminder your pacer query costs you .08 per page, and a max. of $2.40 for any individual DOCUMENT that is over 50 pages.

[Flamingo]

There was a poster on here in the recent past who ran up several hundred dollars worth of charges on PACER before she knew what happened. I believe she had to include that in her BK filing cause she could not pay it! We never used PACER - there is really no need for it (can cause stress and anxiety beyond belief for some folks) because if there are problems, your attorney will contact you and your trustee sends out a report to you every six months on your entire case, what comes in and what goes out, and your attorney can always print out an up to date copy of your case for you and email it to you on request.

[MNBK7guy]

I just got my PACER bill for this quarter and on the PACER site it says my charges for the quarter are around $79. But the actual bill they sent me for the quarter was $13. I did a couple trustee searches that were around 54 dollars and stuff and those did not end up on my final bill. Maybe they check stuff a little before sending the bills? I was surprised expecting that big bill as it shows on the website, but only receiving a bill for that small was a relief. Unsure of the reasons though, as the history report included in the bills shows alot of the searches I made, but is missing all of the big dollar ones. Luck of the draw? who knows, but i will take it.

[AngelinaCatHub]

There was a poster on here in the recent past who ran up several hundred dollars worth of charges on PACER before she knew what happened. I believe she had to include that in her BK filing cause she could not pay it! We never used PACER - there is really no need for it (can cause stress and anxiety beyond belief for some folks) because if there are problems, your attorney will contact you and your trustee sends out a report to you every six months on your entire case, what comes in and what goes out, and your attorney can always print out an up to date copy of your case for you and email it to you on request.

I was caught in the PACER plan, but I like it very much. I only look once at the history link. If there is a new document, I save to my hard drive and number it as PACER does. So if I need to look back on a document I have the pdf file on my machine free. If another file is added I know right away and simply save it so I have become frugel with it. I learn from PACER days before snail mail. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

I just got my PACER bill for this quarter and on the PACER site it says my charges for the quarter are around $79. But the actual bill they sent me for the quarter was $13. I did a couple trustee searches that were around 54 dollars and stuff and those did not end up on my final bill. Maybe they check stuff a little before sending the bills? I was surprised expecting that big bill as it shows on the website, but only receiving a bill for that small was a relief. Unsure of the reasons though, as the history report included in the bills shows alot of the searches I made, but is missing all of the big dollar ones. Luck of the draw? who knows, but i will take it.

As stated above, PACER has a maximum charge in one document. I forget the charge but it stops at less than three dollars per document for a large paged document. 'Hub

[FloridaGuy]

I like the power!

I really like pacer as the fact it is real time. If anything happens or is filed I know quickly. I usually know before my attorney calls or e-mails.

Just FYI... you can check your usage and charges any time you log in... it is real time too. At least our district breaks it down by each individual search, and by the day. I hope I'm lucky like MNBK7guy, and won't get billed like he stated. But If I do, it was my own doing... and I knew the possible outcome.

As 'HUB stated, I too save all documents locally so I don't have to view them multiple times. I did save the HTML page showing the query as well... so If I get brave and want to look at some indiviual cases, I have the numbers, and won't do a search like that again!

Normally I log in, and check the last date change. If date changed, then I check documents, and claims. Then save new documents.