After 341 question

[BrokenBrklyn]

Hey-
So I hired a laywer in April (which is when I stopped paying my cards), didn't file until November, and I had my 341 meeting almost three weeks ago.

I had MANY credit cards that I used for work and often it was hard to keep up with the balances on them.

I decided to go through my petition against my old information from the last time I looked at all the credit card bills back in March.

It appears one creditor wasn't listed on my Schedule F. In April, I didn't have a balance on the card but I think a membership fee was charged sometime between then and Nov 1st (When I filed). Do I need to amend the petition? I believe the company already closed the account due to the bankruptcy filing.

Also- I realized there were BMG credit purchases and books from a cook book service were bought with my information that wasn't a debt of mine.. Should I just write it off and notifiy the credit reporting agencies and ask for extra security? (I've had problems with identity theft in the past)

[BrokenBrklyn]

Just checking to see if anyone has any ideas on this..

[LALADY]

I'd amend on the membership.

I'd dispute the second with all 3 credit reporting agencies.

[mtbc]

Well, the debt still exists even if the account was closed. Normally I would guess that you're supposed to amend your schedule F and the summary of schedules and add the creditor to the creditor matrix. However, what happens when you only notice the creditor after the 341, I don't know -- if you're obliged to add them, and if they then get their own shot at attending a 341, or what. So I didn't reply because I'm not sure of the answer!

It's especially awkward for things that don't actually materially affect the case. For instance, if you're no-asset, and they have no basis to allege fraud or abuse, and especially if you still pay them anyway, then it probably doesn't change anything. Similarly, I had been thinking to myself, if I forgot an asset (quite plausible as relatives seem to have a habit of putting our names on titles/accounts without telling us), I'd have enough room in my exemptions to exempt it anyway as we have thousands of dollars of unused wildcard exemption, so then I'd wonder, if I notice such a thing after the 341, if it's really worth amending my schedules, or if the trustee found out about it after the case was closed and reopened it, if I could just amend schedule C then to include the extra thing as exempt. Honestly, and this is certainly not any kind of recommendation, I'd be tempted to just not bother, on the basis that it's not going to actually affect anyone or deny anybody any money -- it's not like you perjured yourself at the 341 because you really didn't know and weren't trying to avoid finding out -- but I'd be very interested to learn if you do have some statutory duty to notify the trustee of such late developments, even ones that seem immaterial.

[mtbc]

LALADY makes a good point: additionally, if you amend schedule F, remember to check the `disputed' column for that BMG charge thing.

[BrokenBrklyn]

If I amend, I'm going to have to pay for my lawyer to do it and pay court filing fees again, aren't I? My lawyer is going to charge at least another 375.00 to do this, possibly even 750.00 on top of additional filing fees. The membership fee was 90.00.

The account was closed off by the bank because of the bankruptcy already. Wouldn't the bank just write it off?

[tdawg]

If I amend, I'm going to have to pay for my lawyer to do it and pay court filing fees again, aren't I? My lawyer is going to charge at least another 375.00 to do this, possibly even 750.00 on top of additional filing fees. The membership fee was 90.00.

The account was closed off by the bank because of the bankruptcy already. Wouldn't the bank just write it off?

If it's only $90 (plus fees) and your lawyer would charge at least $375, doesn't it make sense to just pay it after you're discharged?

[BrokenBrklyn]

That was kind of my point but, I wanted to see what people said and I don't know if that would be considered "preferential" if I did just end up paying it.
I haven't received a bill for it or any calls about it since october..

[mtbc]

Probably they will, especially if you're a no-asset case so there wouldn't be spoils to divide. However, technically, they're meant to have had their fair chance (341) to interview you to see if they think there's any fraud, file motions accordingly, etc. And, of course, if it becomes an asset case, they should have a chance to put in a claim.

It's my understanding that you can use assets that aren't the bankruptcy estate's (new money you earned after filing, exempt money the trustee abandoned interest in, etc.) to pay creditors without there being any issue of preference. The preference stuff is more about equitable distribution of what ought to have been in the bankruptcy estate (i.e. catching unfair payments to reduce it before filing).

[BrokenBrklyn]

Thanks, Mtbc.. After the discharge, I'm going to check with the bank to see if they just wrote it off nor not and go from there.

Thanks!