On the whole creditor harassment hasn't been all that bad for us because we had a plan and went from defaulting on the cards to filing in about 9 months. However, in the mail yesterday my wife got a letter from a collection agency which seems to be in violation of the automatic stay. Should I forward it to my lawyer? I know that it if it's truly a violation we have the right to sue, but is it worth it, or will it cost me more to sue than we'd ever recover?
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Don't waste your time with this. Perhaps the creditor has not received notification yet, perhaps things are crossing in the mail, regardless, it's just no big deal.
Make sure that this creditor is listed on your mailing matrix in order that they have notification. If not, have your lawyer add them.
Patience grasshopper. Let the system work..........All information contained in this post is for informational and amusement purposes only.
Bankruptcy is a process, not an event....... -
This is a collection agency on behalf of an original creditor (Chase)-the collection agency was not listed, the original creditor was. The attorney told us that listing only the original creditors would be fine, but I'll forward this to them and tell them to add it.Originally posted by frogger View PostComment
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To get an award for a violation of an automatic stay, the violation must be willful. From what I understand, there are conflicting court rulings on what constitutes a "willful" violation. But I would suspect that even if the letter was from Chase, it would be hard to prove a letter sent 5 days after your filing date was a willful violation.LadyInTheRed is in the black!
Filed Chap 13 April 2010. Discharged May 2015.
$143,000 in debt discharged for $36,500, including attorneys fees. Money well spent!Comment
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If you received the letter on Dec. 5, then it was most likely printed and mailed a good 7 days earlier. Thus, there is no violation of anything. Even assuming you had gotten a collection letter or phone call a couple weeks after the filing date, there is still no provable violation, because it is very likely that the creditor simply hadn't received notice from the court yet, and therefore wasn't aware you had filed BK.
If you want, you can send a letter to the collection agency saying that you filed for bankruptcy on (date) and your case number is (case #) and that any further contact will be treated as a violation of the automatic stay. Send the letter certified mail, return receipt requested, and then if you are contacted after the date when the letter was signed for you have a provable violation.Comment
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