Some insight on meeting with creditors/trustee

[imbroke2]

Hi all. We have our meeting this Wednesday and I am having a panic attack. Will they be grilling me up to the penny of what I've spent in the last 2 months since I filed? I don't have all the receipts although I've set up an excel spreadsheet that I log everything into. All I was told to bring was my ID, proof of SS number and our last paystub, which in hubby's case will be his last paycheck and his unemployment check. We are having the payments auto-deducted from my pay and the mortgage is taken care of. It's all the nickle and dime things I'm worried about. Is there any way to find out about the trustee ahead of time? I'm so nervous I think I might pass out at the hearing! Any insight into how the creditor's meeting works would help me. Thanks!

[tofargone]

Don't panic, It's doubtfull that any of your creditors will even appear at this meeting. Unless you have some major pain in the butt local creditors its not worth the time or money for a national creditor to send someone. As for you last two months, as long as you can make your payments the trustee should be satisfied. He is not going to be looking for how much money you have spent in the last 2 months, unless the amounts are large and he determines a preferential payment.

I was freaked before I walked into my 341. It took all of 5 minutes and I was asked 1 real question. Pretty simple.


Good luck

[imbroke2]

Thanks tofargone. I appreciate the response; made me feel better. I'm still a little freaked out, but I get like that with anything that I don't know what I'm getting into!

[dizyblond]

If this helps... each trustee proabably has one big thing they focus on. In watching the others at our 341 public meeting, turns out a lot of people seem to claim a ton of witholdings, but in their expenses, they list the amount that will be taken out when the witholdings are set to the appropriate amount. Problem was, by the time of the 341, few had changed their exemptions, and trustee wanted to see paycheck stubs to prove the amount was indeed being deducted. And if it wasn't, he contended that the amount should be mailed to the IRS until the paycheck. Do I understand that? Yes. Was I expecting it? No. For those without proof of the adjusted witholdings, their cases were continued.


FYI -- Public 341 felt VERY public, but everyone there is in the same boat as you, so don't worry!!!

I would imagine that the worst case is a continuance if this is your first hearing. I only saw one dismissal, and that was for a person that had had literally tons of continuances.

I'm pro-se, and I expect I may have some problems to fix, but at least I feel that I may have a chance to fix them!

Good luck!!

[aveda6]

hello, we just had our 341 meeting yesterday and I was panicking the whole day leading up to the meeting. We had a noon appointment and we were out of the room by 1210pm. The trustee asked very basic questions. He started a tape recorder and asked our names, our lawyer's name, our chapter (we're going ch13), he asked if we were above the median income (we were), and then he asked if we had home owner's insurance (the proof of policy was not in the paperwork). He then asked if were turning over our home for foreclosure (we were which seemed to answer his own question about the homeowner's insurance). He quickly looked at our expenses and noted that they were all reasonable and then stated the payment plan. After that we were done. No creditors showed up and it was very painless and quick.

[lrprn]

Glad your 341 went smoothly yesterday, aveda. Now you just have to stay under your trustee's radar and keep making those monthly payments on time. Welcome to Club 13!