Creditors Should Not Call
Creditors should not be calling you after your bankruptcy case is filed. In some cases, creditors just have not received the required notice under the Bankruptcy Code. In some cases, notice has gone to the proper address, however, there is a collection firm involved now who did not have knowledge of the bankruptcy case and is calling you.
Stopping Creditors
There is a real simple way to stop creditors from calling. Firstly, and this is before your case is even filed, give your creditors your attorney’s name and number. Let them know that you are filing bankruptcy, you’ve hired an attorney, give the attorney’s name, give the attorneys number and advise them to call that attorney. You should also document when you got the call, who the call came from, who you spoke to and what number they called from. This way, if they call again, you have a record of it and you possibly have an action against them under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Most Collectors Obey
In my experience, I have found that most collectors and most law firms who are doing collecting are going to abide by the law and they are going to contact the law firm and inquire about the status of the case. In some cases, you will have a rogue collector who, despite the fact that someone has hired an attorney or despite the fact that someone has filed for bankruptcy, is still pursuing the debt and trying to extract some form of payment from the debtor. Those are the most egregious violations; they are few and far between and if you notify your attorney about it, your attorney can send the appropriate letter and/or bring a Motion for Sanctions before the bankruptcy court holding that collector or law firm in contempt.
Notice Of Filing
Once your case is filed, an official notice will be sent called a B-9A which goes to all the creditors that you listed on your petition. It goes to you and to your law firm. If you receive some type of written correspondence from someone, maybe it’s a collector or maybe it’s a creditor you didn’t know you had, you can photocopy that B-9A and send it to the creditor via fax or mail. That is the very notice that the creditor would have received had they been listed properly.
Discharge Order
Once your case completes, you will receive a one page discharge letter. If a creditor contacts you after your bankruptcy case is over, then you can send a copy of your discharge letter to that creditor. So creditors should not be calling you once you’ve hired an attorney and advise them of such or/and when you have filed for bankruptcy and a bankruptcy notice has been going out to creditors or the case is over and a discharge has gone to creditors. If you continue to receive harassing phone calls from Bill collectors, contact your attorney.
