Question about what to expect end of 13

[pedsrn85]

Hi I am new to this forum Just finished paying my Ch 13 Mid december.Checked NDC and no payout of our balance on hand had been made since end of November.When can we expect payments to be dispursed when can we expect discharge letter.We call the trustee and get no answer to our question . They said they would send us a query report which is the same info on the NDC. On PACER we are listed as awaiting trustee report. Somewhere on their it says close date 2/10/08. what does that mean. We feel we
finished paying our debt 2 months ago now they are just sitting collecting interest on our money! I appreciate any & all help.Thank you

[sinkorswim]

from what I have gathered every trustee and region has its own "timelines" in regards to truly "finalizing" the chapter 13. I am in NYS and filed under the old laws. I hope this info helps:

We made our last payment (as in paid our entire plan base) in mid-November 07. Payments continued (drawn direct from paycheck) because, according to my trustee's office, they needed to do an audit on our entire plan which basically encompassed making sure we paid all the creditors what we were supposed to and had provided the trustee with all the stuff we promised them as well. The reason for the continued payments seems to be a "just in case".

The timing of our disbursements also made it seem like an eternity -- while we finished paying in mid-November, we had to wait until early December for the final disbursement and once that was done, only then the audit was able to commence. The continued payments seems pretty standard for most chapter 13 cases from what I have heard. Our monthly payments were significant so, to date, we have overpaid a large sum of money but we are getting a refund check. I know how painful it is to keep making those payments when you are technically 'done'. But that refund check, what a great, new start towards financial freedom ...

It is now February 08 and we JUST received our "case complete" letter directly from our trustee this past weekend. Yes, I am 'wahooing'. Our trustee even congratulated on us on finishing. the letter from the trustee said that we should stop making payments but since we do auto pay from my paycheck, we needed a court order stopping the payments. That was automatically done for us as we received that letter as well this past weekend, separate from the trustee letter. the court order was also sent to my employer but I'm going to drop off a copy tomorrow to my payroll department just to know it really gets there. What I'm ticked off about is that a payroll period just ended, and the order wasn't done in time, so our payment was deducted. I will probably have to wait another month to get that back too.

Finally, the trustee letter emphasized that our case is still an open case in the federal courts. He has to allow 90 days to give time for creditors to cash any final checks (and we need to cash our refund checks too) before the discharge can come from the court. There was no mention in the letter about creditors being able to object to the case being discharged, but I suspect if they really wanted to, the could probably do so during this time period. I really doubt that will happen. SO, we are done paying, our case is completed from the trustee end, we just need to be discharged by the court. I am not getting overly excited yet and am hoping to hit the official finish line by May.

Maybe this is a good time to add, i wish i had known when we started this chapter 13that it wouldn't be exactly 36 months. I mean, I think I knew it wouldn't be as simple as "36 months and you're done!" but thinking it would probably made this time period easier. I am grateful for having the chance to be debt-free and to pay back some of the money we owed but i wasn't mentally prepared for the final steps. And even now, being just about done, it's a crazy weird awesome feeling!

[Flamingo]

Hi I am new to this forum Just finished paying my Ch 13 Mid december.Checked NDC and no payout of our balance on hand had been made since end of November.When can we expect payments to be dispursed when can we expect discharge letter.We call the trustee and get no answer to our question . They said they would send us a query report which is the same info on the NDC. On PACER we are listed as awaiting trustee report. Somewhere on their it says close date 2/10/08. what does that mean. We feel we
finished paying our debt 2 months ago now they are just sitting collecting interest on our money! I appreciate any & all help.Thank you

After you send in your last payment, the Trustee will do an audit and send out the final payments to the appropriate creditors with which will be a document for them to sign and return to the Trustee. The Trustee cannot close out your 13 until all of those signed forms are received back from the creditors and you will receive your discharge. It takes 60 to 90 days. Do you have an attorney? If so, that is why you are not hearing back from your Trustee. The Trustee will only interact with your attorney if you have legal representation. Contact your attorney's office and get an update as to where your discharge process sits at the moment. We all have to wait for it even though it seems like we paid forever to get it! :-)

[jgarton244]

First, congrats on finishing your plan! Only one out of three cases reach a successful closing. In our case, we asked if we could pay directly to trustee, instead of automatic payroll payments. The trustee allowed us to pay by personal check during our plan, except for the last payment. Our plan was to finish in December a couple of years ago. I contacted trustee by email after our November payment. We were notified by email and a letter by regular mail on the final payment amount, to be paid by cashier check. We made that payment in December, which was the last payment we made. Notice of dismissal was received in March, and notice of final closing received in June.

During our plan, I contacted the trustee directly by email on a few occassions, with copy to our attorney. Two emails were asking for permission to skip a monthly payment and double up next month. I was traveling and paying business expenses through our debit card, and had to wait a few weeks for expense check from company. Trustee granted permission each time. One year, we had a $6,000. tax refund. I asked trustee if we could have 50% of refund, and detailed expenses that we needed the $3000. to use to cover those expenses. Trustee did allow us to keep the $3,000 to my surprise. I live by "if you do not ask, then you will not get anything".

We were very fortunate to have a understanding trustee and an excellent attorney. I found when emailing trustee, keeping emails to the point, and short worked best.

[pedsrn85]

Thank you all for the great words of wisdom

Thanks for the help. WE do have an attorney but never seems to have any answers. We thought we also would be done 36 months over what a joke! Its nice to hear what other people's timeline's were to put it in perspective. I am in the Western PA area &have a friend eastern PA who had closing & discharge 4 weeks after last payment.I guess we have to wait till money paid out to even get approximate time. Thanks again for all your help !

[MajorMike]

I'm so grateful that we don't have our payment coming from our paychecks!! Congrats on finishing!!