Utility Security Deposts

[Kam]

I received my monthly ebill statement from our power utility company and noticed that they applied my $250.00 deposit towards my "old" bill. I had listed the utility company in my BK. When I spoke with a customer rep from the company she told me that company policy allowed them to apply deposits towards accounts. In her words, "You paid the deposit long before you filed for bankruptcy (4 year old deposit)." Can a company do this? Not only did I list the utility company, I also listed the 250.00 deposit as well.

Any thoughts on this?

Kam

[HHM]

Did you owe them money when you filed BK. (i.e. did you list them as a debt).

I don't know if utilities have any special exception regarding the automatic stay, but that seems to be a violation. The $250 is your money, and if you were current on your bill and paid your bill, they should not have touched it.

[Kam]

Yes, we owed them approximately $400.00 or so and so they were included in the BK. My impression from the way I read my bill was that the $250.00 was applied after I filed as well as a bunch of other credits (which I have no idea where they came from) in order to reduce the bill down to $34.00. My gut feeling is that AVISTA did every thing they could to reduce their risk of loss, including applying my deposit. It will be interesting because my May-June bill shows the deposit, but my June-July one doesn't. I intend to ask the trustee at our 341 meeting since we filed pro se. I told the customer rep that the BK court knew about the deposit since I was required to provide that information.

Regarding the auto stay, the customer rep did say that they had special permission or rights to apply deposits.