Question Utilities

[Anon]

Has anyone had the situation where you were not behind on your utilities, did not currently owe so therefore they were not listed on the Chapter 7 BK. What happened after the bk? Did you simply keep paying your bill or did they shut off your service and make you give them a deposit once they discovered the bk? Will they shut off your service even if you aren't behind when they find out a bout the bk? If so, then I am not going to pay these current bills and will instead include them in the list and then use that money for the deposit. I hope this makes sense. Anyone???

[jsofaz]

I can only tell you my experience. I am in Arizona. We were just discharged July 28 for Chapter 7. None of our utilities were listed on the BK. None of our utilities were affected at all. Nothing shut off. No deposits. They did change our account numbers. That's it.

[ssmdem]

I'm worried about this too. Actually mostly worried about my cell service.

[DebtHater]

When I filed I was not behind on any utilities, cell service, cable, etc. Because I was not behind, I was not required to notify them (per my attorney) of my Chap 7 filing.

Fast forward to today, everything is status quo with all of the providers. No deposits have been asked for, no demands have been made. I just get my monthly statements and pay them like I did prior to filing. Briefly glancing at my statements it doesn't even appear that the account numbers have changed since filing.

[ssmdem]

Good to hear. I'm not behind on any utilities either. My attorney in our first meeting said nothing about including them, didn't even ask if I was behind on any utilities. So, I'm assuming it works that way here too as well. I sure hope so. Hoping that none require me to make a deposit after I file -- but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I know our water company - I already have a deposit on file with them, a ridiculous amount that they charge everyone - but that's another story. Everyone else, there is no deposit, so hoping it stays that way. Again, my cell service is what I'm most concerned about. I've been late on it several times over the past few months -- never more than 30 days, usually less than 10 days - just have to wait on my husband's company to pay their portion before I can pay the bill, and it kicks us over into being late frequently. Don't know if this is going to bite us when we file.

[angles]

We were not behind in utilities or cell so we did not list them when we filed. So far no changes, notices, or anything else different from them.

[Anon]

Thanks! I am going to go ahead and pay them and hope for the best. As for the cell phone, I have the Straight Talk plan from WalMart (actually had it even when I had money!) and it cost me $30 a month! I LOVE IT!

[gmk]

My local (township) water, sewer and trash bill just jumped up $10 or so and there are some strange listings on it. Could be coincidence or ?? I'll talk to the neighbors and see if they had an increase, if not, call I'll call city hall. Other utilities, including cell, are so far the same.