US Trustee has a question!

[eddiep]

I was warned by HHM and others, so I am not surprised, but my huge debt ($160k) has attracted the attention of the US Trustee! My attorney sent me an email today, he said the us trustee's office called him and wanted to know how old this debt is! Yikes!

My answer is going to be "This debt has been accumulating over the past 18 to 20 years." It has been at least that long that we have been using credit cards and at least that long since we have been debt free. Many of these cards have been open for a long time, but we have done balance transfers over the years to get better interest rates.

Has anybody else had to answer this question? What was your answer/situation?

[mamaluv]

I guess I got lucky (so far!) My unsecured was about $128k and haven't heard a peep.

[2manybills]

I've been nervous about that too! We are over $150K in So. Cal. We filed on 7/3/09. I looked back and I've had some of my cards since 1989. They started accumulating way back then, but last 3 or 4 years is when it got really out of control with DH's job and the economy.

[Trixie007]

We were asked 2 questions (1 about income and 1 about our charitable contributions) by the UST. Our unsecured was approaching 200k by the time we filed. I just typed up a very matter-of-fact letter and provided some light documentation and we haven't heard anything further on this. At our 341 the regular T asked us a lot of questions about various things, I just gave brief, concise and truthful answers - we haven't heard anything further from him either. Our atty said that the way we presented our answers worked in our favor as much as what the actual answers were, so I would say just be calm and matter-of-fact and give the highlights. Good luck to you!

[2manybills]

Thanks Trixie for your post. I keep thinking, it's not like we went out and charge $150K in the last year or something. But I tend to overthink things, especially since I work in the legal field. . .

[eddiep]

I asked my attorney if ustt was looking for an explination, he said no just wanted to know if this debt was accumulated in the last 10 years, 2 years, or just a couple months. Just looking for intentional fraud I assume... Hope that is the last we hear from him, it has only been three business days since we file, he certianly did not waste any time reviewing our case!