Undeliverable notice of proceeding

[vterry1022]

I got a letter in the mail today that was return to sender where my trustee sent out a notice of proceeding to Advanta Bank with my name in the return address field. What do I do with this? Do I open it and try to send it to a different address or what? Any suggestions?

[tigergem]

Yes you should check for a better address and resend it. Maybe a corporate address. You might be able to get this information - - or the address of their registered agent - - from your Secretary of State. Then you should probably update the matrix. I'm not sure if you need to send in a separate Certificate of Service on the new address, that might depend on what sort of notice was returned to you, but you can ask your bankruptcy clerk that question.

By the way, updating an address for a creditor that is already listed on the matrix should NOT involve the $26.00 fee. But here again, you should ask to be sure.

[vterry1022]

What is a Certificate of Service? I have not filled any of those out. Should I have?

[tigergem]

Well, it probably depends on your district, but when I filed my bk, I had to provide service upon the matrix and file a certificate of service (or a certificate of mailing) on the plan, and subsequently on amendments to schedule C and the plan. I guess some districts do the service for you, and even my district serves "some things" but not others. For example, my trustee had told me that I had to mail notice to the matrix of my rescheduled 341, but the court did it automatically after I did it, and I was not required to. The best thing to do with a procedural question such as this (if you can't find the answer in your local bankruptcy rules) is to call your bankruptcy clerk and ask if/when you are required to file a certificate of service/mailing. The certificate itself is just a sheet of paper where you swear that you mailed the following document on the following date via United States Postal Service to the following list of addresses. Sometimes that is the full matrix, and sometimes it is just specific parties in interest.

[justbroke]

If the "Notice of Bankruptcy" was sent and returned to you as undeliverable, then you do need to serve it correctly on the creditor and file a certificate of service, under penalty of perjury, that you served the creditor. You file that certificate of service with the Court.

If you don't do this, the Creditor can claim that they never received notice of your bankruptcy filing and in certain cases the debt owed to the Creditor will not be discharged.

Do you have the NoLo book?

Tiger is too quick for me. I was going to add about getting the "registered agent" in your State. Tiger is now a pro at this!

I will add this, and Tiger did reference this. Your "Case Manager" is your best friend in the whole world. Make them happy. If you are unsure of procedure call your Case Manager. A Case Manager is assigned by the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court to your case. They usually work for a specific Judge and handle only certain cases (based on some round-robin way to divide cases amongst the clerks). Always start your questions with "I have a procedural question". Make sure you stick to procedure and not questions of law. Some Judges have law clerks that will answer some limited questions of law, but provide no legal advice.

[LALADY]

https://www.advantabankcorp.com/ADV/Corporate/CustomerService.page?

[LALADY]

http://www.asianjournal.com/consumer/atty-larry-yang/4166-advanta-bank-corporation-files-for-bankruptcy.html

[justbroke]

What are these links for? You looking for the address? Is one of those addresses the one that you used already? Note that many "payment" addresses are "lock boxes" and don't accept anything but payments.

Also, Advanta is in Chapter 11, not Chapter 7 liquidation. They are still entitled to payments so that they can pay their creditors.

[tigergem]

Tiger is too quick for me. I was going to add about getting the "registered agent" in your State. Tiger is now a pro at this!

No, I'm not really a pro at this lol. I just did a good job ONCE. Ok actually twice. I guess I probably never told you that last August I took Verizon Wireless to small claims court for over $300 in overcharges on my internet bill. They sent a rep. Granted, he was just a SALES REP (ROFL!), not an attorney, but he tried really hard to look like a lawyer. But I had killer evidence. And I won.



Ok, sorry for taking this thread OT. Back to our regularly scheduled topic.

[LALADY]

Corporate headquarters address is provided through that link.

Here it is for ease

https://www.advantabankcorp.com/ADV/Corporate/ContactInformation.page?

[LALADY]

The link to the article on their being in BK is FYI only.

[vterry1022]

Thank you. I found it and sent it yesterday. I originally used the addresses from my credit report. I guess that wasn't the best option.

[tigergem]

Yeah I did that too, (used my credit report for addresses) and several of those addresses turned out to be wrong.

[vterry1022]

So, Do I have to file an amendment each time one of these come back, and pay the amendment fee? If so, I will be broker than I already am. Not including postage.

[justbroke]

So, Do I have to file an amendment each time one of these come back, and pay the amendment fee? If so, I will be broker than I already am. Not including postage.

If you're only changing the address and not "adding" a creditor, there is no fee.