Those who have filed bankruptcy....question about who finds out about your case

[momindebt]

I live in a smaller size town and while I know bankruptcy is our only option, am very nervous about people finding out. We have no intention of disclosing it to anyone unless we have to. I know it is public record but is it in the newspaper? Is it on tv or the radio? Does everyone we do business with know? What about all out health providers? What about our mortgage company if we are in a Chapter 13 and continuing mortgage?

Thanks for any information you can give. I just want to be as prepared as possible...

[forgotten]

I live in a smaller size town and while I know bankruptcy is our only option, am very nervous about people finding out. We have no intention of disclosing it to anyone unless we have to. I know it is public record but is it in the newspaper? Is it on tv or the radio? Does everyone we do business with know? What about all out health providers? What about our mortgage company if we are in a Chapter 13 and continuing mortgage?

Thanks for any information you can give. I just want to be as prepared as possible...

The newspaper? 99% of the time, no, your local paper COULD print it. Grab a copy of the paper and look to see if they have a section for it if you want to be sure. TV and radio, not unless you are Microsoft or GE.
Anyone who you currently owe money to will be notified, including the mortgage company. They aren't going to care, they get hundreds of them a day.

Chances are slim anyone you do not owe money to is going to find out unless you tell them or they are really bored and search bankruptcy filings for their neighbors names. Not to mention if they know how to search BK filings it probably means they have filed themselves!

[tobee43]

I live in a smaller size town and while I know bankruptcy is our only option, am very nervous about people finding out. We have no intention of disclosing it to anyone unless we have to. I know it is public record but is it in the newspaper? Is it on tv or the radio? Does everyone we do business with know? What about all out health providers? What about our mortgage company if we are in a Chapter 13 and continuing mortgage?

Thanks for any information you can give. I just want to be as prepared as possible...

personally, we also got a post office box...it was bad enough since we new every person in the post office for over 30 years...but this way in case there was a missed delivery which happened often in our area we lived in, i had no worries my neighbors would know our business.

also...i just want to let you know, we only rec'd a total of ONE piece of mail from the court...everything else was via email via our atty....so really it was actually very "private".

[DebtHater]

The only place you BK will be is in the newspaper. But don't worry, it won't be on the front page, or second for that matter. It will be somewhere tucked in a little 1" x 1" square in the legal section. I attempted to find mine after I filed, although I never did find it.

As far as health care providers and such knowing, they will not (unless you BK'd them). You mortgage lender will find out as you will be required to list them as a creditor. It's not something I would stress about. The only think out of the ordinary I received after filing was some ripoff car lenders to "rebuild" my credit after BK. These guys go around looking at the public records to pray on the vulnerable. Once again, I wouldn't worry about it.

The only way for someone to find out about your BK for sure is to look it up in PACER by name. If someone has that much free time, I'll save them the trouble and tell them about it myself.

[Flamingo]

If your state or major area newspaper publishes public information such as births, engagements, arrests, etc., they probably publish on a weekly basis bankruptcy filings for the area covered. Our newspaper is statewide and every Sunday in the Business Section, prominently displayed right next to all the stock quotes and business information are the listings of those filing BK in Sections for Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 11. Listed are the names, city/town of residence, amount of assets and amount of debts. No street address. So comments above that this does not occur are wrong as it varies from state to state/location to location/paper to paper and if bankruptcies appear on a weekly or so basis in your newspaper, and you live in a small town, someone will see it - don't think they won't.

The other source of someone finding out is yourself or those in your family who know. All it takes is you on the phone at work discussing your situation, thinking you are out of earshot of someone and you are overheard. Also, bankruptcy usually causes a big change in one's behavior (i.e., doing more personal stuff at work, taking more time off of work, etc.) which can cause some questions to be asked and you may have to cover yourself somehow if you want to stay quiet. Someone will know something is wrong.

All of your creditors, including your mortgage company, will find out as if you owe them money, they will be part of your BK. Your mortgage will be transferred to their bankruptcy section and if in a Chapter 13 your payments will need to be sent to a new address when that change is made.

Also, if your name appears anywhere published as to filing BK, if someone googles your name, it will appear on the search as quoted in the publication/newspaper.

Unfortunately, all of this is true and there is no way to cover it up. The best thing to do is if asked be honest but don't offer the information to anyone otherwise and be careful where you discuss your situation.

[tobee43]

If your state or major area newspaper publishes public information such as births, engagements, arrests, etc., they probably publish on a weekly basis bankruptcy filings for the area covered. Our newspaper is statewide and every Sunday in the Business Section, prominently displayed right next to all the stock quotes and business information are the listings of those filing BK in Sections for Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 11. Listed are the names, city/town of residence, amount of assets and amount of debts. No street address. So comments above that this does not occur are wrong as it varies from state to state/location to location/paper to paper and if bankruptcies appear on a weekly or so basis in your newspaper, and you live in a small town, someone will see it - don't think they won't.

The other source of someone finding out is yourself or those in your family who know. All it takes is you on the phone at work discussing your situation, thinking you are out of earshot of someone and you are overheard. Also, bankruptcy usually causes a big change in one's behavior (i.e., doing more personal stuff at work, taking more time off of work, etc.) which can cause some questions to be asked and you may have to cover yourself somehow if you want to stay quiet. Someone will know something is wrong.

All of your creditors, including your mortgage company, will find out as if you owe them money, they will be part of your BK. Your mortgage will be transferred to their bankruptcy section and if in a Chapter 13 your payments will need to be sent to a new address when that change is made.

Also, if your name appears anywhere published as to filing BK, if someone googles your name, it will appear on the search as quoted in the publication/newspaper.

Unfortunately, all of this is true and there is no way to cover it up. The best thing to do is if asked be honest but don't offer the information to anyone otherwise and be careful where you discuss your situation.

good point flamingo...loose lips sink sinks!! and there's always one PERSON who just works at YOUR bank and knows YOUR friend WHO knows anothers...it's bad!!! what ever happened to privacy!!!

interesting thought here...this actually happened where we use to live, and i am wondering if presently, with the increased amount of filings, if this applies to other newspapers....

i had asked our son in law to watch or just keep an eye on our old local paper just to see if anything was listed anywhere about our foreclosure ( it usually was in the local paper for 4 weeks prior to auction)...we filed our bk in another state so i was really thinking about that so much being publish since no one knew us at all at the time in our new home state.

our son in law explained that while that newspaper USE to publish all the bk's and foreclosures, there now had become so many that it would have taken more pages to publish that the entire little local paper had with total worldwide and local news!!! so apparently, they stopped publishing the list, at least for that time frame.

[HHM]

The funny thing, no one is really going to care and more people than you think in your smallish town have filed BK.

This is the one aspect of BK that I think causes more trouble than any other. The perceived stigma tends to prolong the inevitable. How many people on this board and others who file BK waste thousands of dollars, blow through savings and retirement, all in effort to avoid BK because of this stigma. The problem with the perceived stigma is that it is "self created". You are NOT doing anything wrong or breaking the law by filing BK. The stigma really only exists in your mind. How you fight a stigma is to be open about it. Be proud that you are doing the RIGHT thing for you and your family. I am not saying go shout on the roof tops that you are filing BK (although that couldn't hurt ) but don't live in fear of people finding out. As with anything, you can only control you. If BK is right for you, then it is right for you. It is no different than taking your kid to the doctor. If you kid has cancer, are you going to sneak around or not take him to the doctor so other people won't find out? Of course not, so why treat your financial situation any differently, if bankruptcy is right, then it really doesn't matter who finds out.

[tobee43]

The funny thing, no one is really going to care and more people than you think in your smallish town have filed BK.

This is the one aspect of BK that I think causes more trouble than any other. The perceived stigma tends to prolong the inevitable. How many people on this board and others who file BK waste thousands of dollars, blow through savings and retirement, all in effort to avoid BK because of this stigma. The problem with the perceived stigma is that it is "self created". You are NOT doing anything wrong or breaking the law by filing BK. The stigma really only exists in your mind. How you fight a stigma is to be open about it. Be proud that you are doing the RIGHT thing for you and your family. I am not saying go shout on the rough tops that you are filing BK (although that couldn't hurt but don't live in fear of people finding out. As with anything, you can only control you. If BK is right for you, then it is right for you. It is no different than taking your kid to the doctor. If you kid has cancer, are you going to sneak around or not take him to the doctor so other people won't find out? Of course not, so why treat your financial situation any differently, if bankruptcy is right, then it really doesn't matter who finds out.

amen to that! had i NOT had the guilt and the feeling everyone was going to know...( and really intellectually i did know better ha!), however, still failed to fight through those emotions. blew our entire 401......blew our entire investment account all for what....to simply continue attempting to fool ourselves all while bobbing water the entire time.

and your correct hhm...really who cares...we all think everyone does, but the fact is, most people have their own situations to do deal with and enough on their OWN plates...one would hope. but, keeping that in mind, there are always going to be those busy bodies flapping their mouths to everyone, it's just a fact of life. we need to learn to move on and forward!

[crabcakes]

I am wondering too. I got a letter from a car dealership that even states the date my bk was discharged. Scary isn't it?

[HHM]

I am wondering too. I got a letter from a car dealership that even states the date my bk was discharged. Scary isn't it?

Not really, that is just marketing. It is public record and car dealerships in particular subscribe to a service that notifies them of people in their area that file BK. Not a big deal.

[oregonpilot]

amen to that! had i NOT had the guilt and the feeling everyone was going to know...( and really intellectually i did know better ha!), however, still failed to fight through those emotions. blew our entire 401......blew our entire investment account all for what....to simply continue attempting to fool ourselves all while bobbing water the entire time.

and your correct hhm...really who cares...we all think everyone does, but the fact is, most people have their own situations to do deal with and enough on their OWN plates...one would hope. but, keeping that in mind, there are always going to be those busy bodies flapping their mouths to everyone, it's just a fact of life. we need to learn to move on and forward!

AMEN.
I was sooooooo worried that someone that i had wallpapered for would see me at my 341. BUT then it dawned on me....why would they be there. hahahaha

As HHM said..we prolong the inevitable because of the stigma. I went thru 10 yrs of savings...which was really hard to come by with my small income. ALL GONE. basically wasted to save face.

[crabcakes]

Thank you. My first time to file for bk.

[helpme2010]

The time I think my neighbors will find out is if the mortgage company puts up a for sale/foreclosure sign before I leave or when I bring up the moving truck to my driveway. I honestly don't give a flying crap about my neighbors. I really don't like them. I just don't want them approaching me when this happens or getting nosey about my business.

I am plotting how I will back the truck up to my driveway, put a blanket between the truck and their view of my garage, so they won't be nosey. My goal is to do the move and not have to see their ugly faces.

The one bad thing is my girlfriend thinks she may have some packages arriving from some contests she won during that time and is afraid UPS or the post office may not forward them to my new address and she wants to come back to the house several times and check up on it (which I don't want to do because I don't want to see my neighbors)!!! I just want to leave and never come back.

[frogger]

You know your small town better than any of us could. Do you ever see bk information published in the newspaper or on tv? If so, you can assume that yours will be published. If not, you can assume that it won't be.

[ValleYum]

When I had my last appointment with our attorney, they told me that they needed a Spousal Support Declaration form signed. Even though DFAS pays my husband's ex-wife her portion of his military retirement (as well as sending her a yearly W-2), we still have to disclose this information to the trustee and court *and* she will be notified as well. UGH! This was not something we had expected nor wanted.

::sigh::

Oh, well, this too shall pass. As long as we have each other, new goals and the freedom from this crippling debt to pursue them - I can do anything necessary to achieve that.

~V~