Borrowed money from one person to pay back another

[JessMN]

Hi I'm new here and it looks like I will be filing chapter 7 in the near future. I have gotten myself into some trouble in the last 6 months or so financially, because of a man (yeah I know....) I kept lending him money and he never paid it back. He had other friends lend him money too - it went into my checking account, but ultimately went to him. Some of these people needed their loan back quickly so he borrowed from other people to pay the first people back - and yes, it all went through my checking account. Now he has disappeared and I will be filing bk, but I am wondering how these transactions are going to complicate things. I dont have an attorney and will most likely be filing pro se as he completely drained everything I have so I cant even afford food much less a lawyer.

And yes, I have filed charges against him.

Thank you!

Jessica

[SMinGA]

As I see it, your filing BK could hurt him. (Don't think you'll mind!)

You'll have to disclose payments to friends/family - and since the $ went thru your account then I'm thinking you must disclose those payments. The BK trustee may go after him to to pay the court, in order to dispurse evenly to your unsecured debts.

On the other hand, since people were lending him $ thru you, it might be argued that you were just cashing checks and not actually paying him for a debt. In that case he might not be pulled into your filing at all.

But either way, it does not sound like you did anything wrong.

[SMinGA]

ps-

Even if you ultimately decide to file pro se, schedule consultations and speak to attorneys about your case. First consultations are generally free, and you can honestly say you hare not yet ready to retain an attorney...

[jadams]

How frequent and how high were these transactions? How proportional to the rest of the activity in the account (salary, etc)? How long ago?

Do you have any documentation or such to prove these were really your ex's transactions? Notes from the friends, receipts for deposits and withdrawals, etc.

I handle some money for a family member, with deposits going into my account. I was co-mingling funds (I.e. Not a separate account just for their funds) with my own. I told my lawyer. He made a note.

Since there were none of their funds in my account on the day of filing, no need to worry about exempting anything. I was just concerned about the trustee looking over the statements and having a problem.

I was asked for a two second explanation at my 341 (I see lots of salary deposits here, what are those?), he moved on and it wasn't a problem.

In my case though, they were direct deposits that could be easily traced to the family member. And matching withdrawals out to pay bills I could prove were theirs. I wasn't asked to prove anything, but I could if needed.

[JessMN]

How frequent and how high were these transactions? How proportional to the rest of the activity in the account (salary, etc)? How long ago?

Do you have any documentation or such to prove these were really your ex's transactions? Notes from the friends, receipts for deposits and withdrawals, etc.

Thousands of dollars, between Novemebr and February, so relatively recently. very disproportionate to the activity in my account if you look back further or at any other time in my life lol. There may be some spotty documentation, but the genius of my ex was he didn't leave a paper trail and he got other people to do his stuff so you couldnt trace it back to him. And he worked in cash so there were a lot of large withdrawals. There were 2 wire transfers that totalled $10,000 from a friend of his I've never even met and don't know how to get ahold of. I know I screwed up trusting him, and now Im scared its going to but me in the butt!

Jess

[tigergem]

Wow Jess. It sounds like you hooked up with my ex! One of the "bad choice" reasons I am here now too. I'm sorry you went through that. Are you ok? I mean other than trashed finances. Are YOU ok?

[JessMN]

Wow Jess. It sounds like you hooked up with my ex! One of the "bad choice" reasons I am here now too. I'm sorry you went through that. Are you ok? I mean other than trashed finances. Are YOU ok?

No, really I'm not OK. Luckily I have my family, unfortunately they are 300 miles away, but at least they are supportive.

[tigergem]

No, really I'm not OK. Luckily I have my family, unfortunately they are 300 miles away, but at least they are supportive.

Not to get too terribly off topic, I am going to PM you with some resources to help you deal with and understand what happened to you. Just remember, that which does not kill us, makes us stronger. Of course, these days I much prefer "That which does not kill me had better run pretty damned fast."