Any suggestions on voicemail message?

[justagirl]

As my BK filing date is approaching (filing pro se), I have been tossing around the idea of creating a voicemail message to inform creditors of my BK case after filing to ease some of my stress until they get the official notification from the court.

I was thinking something along the lines of:
You have reached "Me, Myself and I". If you are calling regarding a debt, please be advised that I have filed for protection under the US Bankruptcy code, case #"123456" in the "Southern District of Disneyland." Accordingly, the automatic stay is in place and you must cease and desist all collection attempts. The phone number, date and time of your call has been logged and any future attempts at contact will be documented and reported to the proper agencies. If you are calling regarding another issue, please leave a message.

I'm not worried about others hearing this message...I don't care at this point. I'm thinking of leaving the message on my voicemail for a month after filing, just to be safe...although all my creditors call on a daily basis, so it shouldn't take long for them to hear the message!

I'm so sick of talking to these people on a daily basis that once I file I don't want to speak with them again, not even to inform them of my BK filing, so I thought this may be the solution I need.

It sure is a mouthful (I have the tendency to be thorough...lol), but I can get it out without rushing in the allotted time for my voicemail message length. Should it be shorter? Drop the automatic stay rambling? Any suggestions?

Thanks,
~JAG

[damooster]

You could do that, but I would personally file, get the case number and then personally tell them. Even though they will receive notification through mail, answering their calls and telling them the case number is effective. You'll get a lot of "ok, thanks, bye." They won't want to talk any more.

It's all up to you though.

[SocalBroke]

I agree with damooster. I think most of these guys work on commission and once they find out there's no chance in hell of getting money from you, they're all too happy to move on. Looking back, I think every single collector I spoke with after filing was extremely polite. I nicely informed them that I had filed and my atty is so and so and my case number is blah blah blah. They thanked me and told me to have a nice day.

[frogger]

I like the one a friend of mine has. He simply states:

"You know what to do"

[RainMoM]

there is a post on here about cell phone messages, mater of fact I used one of em, till the calls stopped !! Try to look it up, there some good ones !

[kenshirley]

I didn't need a voice mail message as we surrendered our home and moved out of that area at the same time resulting in the phone number changing. I provided them an email contact point but no phone number knowing we had to file.
When I filed the attorney gave me the case number.
I in turn emailed every creditor affected by the BK with the date of filing and the case number. All except one accepted that email with no further problems or contacts.
It took two threatening letters by the attorney to get rid of the last one.

[ProjMgrNewb]

Something else to consider is that many times the collection agencies have autodialers, so when the machine picks up and is giving your speel, the autodialer may just be saying something like "Please hold for an operator"... and then of course, they don't get the info and keep calling.

[justagirl]

thank you

Thanks all for your input. It's nice to get another's perspective on things!

Kenshirley, I really like what you did emailing them with the info, and I think I'm going to do something along those lines also.

Again, thanks to all for taking the time to answer. You are all fantastic!!!

~JAG

[kenshirley]

And another hint, print or keep copies of the emails.
There may come a time when you need to prove when they were notified.