1st payment to trustee?

[beachgirl]

We met w/our attorney Monday, mailed the retainer today. Once we file, how long before our 1st payment would be due? The attorney advised us to stop paying cc as soon as we retained him, so I would like to be able to stash a little away in case of emergency.

[Minnymouth]

Okay, start putting that money back, BECAUSE, when the attorney, Trustee and Court tell you how much your payments are going to be in your Chapter 13 Plan - you better have the money to start making them..... and they usually start right before the 341 meeting or close in that area.....

Minny

[DOA]

Shoot, I have made 3 months worth of plan payments so far and the OBJECTION to confirmation hearing isn't until July 25th. Nice present on my birthday, an objection hearing and all.

[lrprn]

Pay trustee within 30 days after filing for us

Our lawyer told us we need to make our first Ch 13 payment to our trustee within 30 days of the date we file.

We did the exact same thing you are planning to do...once we retained our lawyer, he advised us not to pay any of our non-secured creditors and use that money to pay him and catch up on a few secured payments we were behind on. We are filing in about a week, our secured payments are all caught up, and everything has worked out just fine. Yours will too!

[13inOR]

Minny is correct, we filed on 7/28/04, our first payment was due 8/30, and the 341 meeting wasnt till 9/10.

[aa06a47]

When you get your form from the court house (notice of 341 meeting) it will tell you somewhere on the paper when the first payment is due by. But, it is always due 30 days from the date you filed. So, if you file on the 25th for example, your payment will always be due on the 25th unless you get automatic payroll deductions, then the trustee takes them on payday.

[beachgirl]

lrprn -
Did you get any problems from your cc companies when you stopped paying? As of right now, we are just a few weeks behind on some payments, current on others. I am concerned that when we stop paying, they will start giving us problems. Our attorney did tell us that we can refer our calls to him, but it's still so scary.
Also, how long after you paid your attorney did you file? I know we have to do the online counseling and pay our filing fee. I'm just trying to figure out how much time I have to save my pennies!!

[Minnymouth]

Try to cut corners everywhere you can for the next couple of weeks and put that money back, till you see how all your expenses are going to run in your Chapter 13......

Remember, they will cut you no "slack" during this payment plan - its the Fed's Folks............ you sure don't want your case dismissed down the road, so plan wisely.............

Minny

[aa06a47]

Yeah, I recommend you have it taken out of your pay check. Since my payment is due on the 3rd each month, I actually mail it the day I get paid so I bascially don't have the money to not pay the plan. I have signed the form for the payroll deduction, but that has not happened yet.

[lrprn]

lrprn -
Did you get any problems from your cc companies when you stopped paying? As of right now, we are just a few weeks behind on some payments, current on others. I am concerned that when we stop paying, they will start giving us problems. Our attorney did tell us that we can refer our calls to him, but it's still so scary.
Also, how long after you paid your attorney did you file? I know we have to do the online counseling and pay our filing fee. I'm just trying to figure out how much time I have to save my pennies!!

We paid our lawyer his retainer in early February and stopped paying our cc and non-secured loan companies the day we signed the check. Just like you, our cc's and non-secureds were either only a little in arrears or on time at that point. However, in February we had to pay back several thousand dollars of personal charges on my husband's corporate credit card - skipped our two Feb mortgage payments to do that - so then we had to wait 90 days to file so that the money couldn't be taken back by the trustee as payment to a preferred creditor.

As each of our creditors called asking us for payment, as our lawyer instructed, we told them we were planning to file Ch 13 bankruptcy. As soon as they heard the words "Ch 13" whatever persuasive twaddle they were using to get us to cough up some money stopped immediately and they just asked for our lawyer's name and phone number and hung up. My husband and I kept a running list of which company called, the date, and who we talked to. Over the three months, we've heard from just about all of them - some of them have called us a few times again wondering why they haven't gotten a case number yet - we tell them we are still working on the paperwork with our lawyer and are filing soon.

This month a few mildly threatening letters have started arriving in the mail from our credit card and non-secured loan companies. Also a few weeks ago the first and only one of our many cc accounts finally went to collections. Our lawyer assured us last February with our creditor list we'd be ok waiting until June to file - the companies first would call and cajole us trying to get a payment for a few months, then they would send us to collections, wait another month or two for that not to work, file a lawsuit, and then finally get us into court and get a judgment to garnish our wages, etc - that can't all be done before our 90 days would be up. He was absolutely right.

We're filing in early June - it's been a l-o-n-g 90 days and we are very glad the waiting is almost over. We've had three and a half months to get things in order to file, and during that time I was able to make up our two missed mortgage payments and caught up on our car payments and utility bills too.

Ask your lawyer how long he thinks you have with your creditor list, then follow his advice and file when you're ready - not before. You'll be fine, beachgirl - hang in there!