Trustee payments

[JillyBean]

We filed in Oct. and we are to pay $150 biweekly. We set it up to be garnished out of my husbands check every other week. So finally this pay it was taken out except they only took $138.46 out instead of the $150 payment. Why would they do that? So do I have to send the difference to the trustee? Or maybe they will make it up in the next pay and take the difference out? Its supposed to be $300 monthly, so I want to make sure he gets that full amount.
Im going to ask our lawyer but just wondered if that happend to anyone else. I guess I could call payroll except his work is so difficult, we are in PA, payroll in FL and I don't even have a phone # for them only an address. This is so annoying....

[Tbornetun]

It is possible that they multiplied $300 by 12 and then divided it by 26 pay periods per year. It comes out to $138.46.

[JillyBean]

So that is still wrong if our payment is $300 a month right?
I remember seeing a copy of the garnishment papers and it said $150 on biweekly checks or $300 on monthly paychecks. I just want to make sure our trustee gets our full payment!
Thanks.

[StartingOver08]

Well, see this is what I was saying about attorney's not being able to do math, in another post. A bi-weekly paycheck is a paycheck EVERY TWO WEEKS. That means there are 26 pay periods in 1 year. If every pay period is $150 then you have a total paid of $3900/yr. ($150 x 26 = $3900) If you have monthly pay checks (1 time per month) and the payment is $300/month then you have a total paid of $3600/yr. ($300 x 12 = $3600)

Trustees are also good with the legal type stuff, apprently not so much with math. $3900 does not equal $3600. When you deal with accountants and HR people, who are math people, you have to be precise. Is it 26 pay periods at $150 or is it 12 pay periods at $300? The two are not equal.

[JillyBean]

Wow that's a good point...
right now our plan is set up to pay back $18,000 in 60 months...
I'm getting confused now! I just sent our lawyer an email!!

[Tbornetun]

5 years times 26 pay periods per year equals 130 payments.
130 times $138.46 equals = $17,999.80 $.20 short of your $18,000

If you were to pay $150 back per pay period you will have paid $19,500 over the course of your plan.

I beleive your current $138.46 per pay period is correct based on the numbers you provided.

[arkienurse]

5 years times 26 pay periods per year equals 130 payments.
130 times $138.46 equals = $17,999.80 $.20 short of your $18,000

If you were to pay $150 back per pay period you will have paid $19,500 over the course of your plan.

I beleive your current $138.46 per pay period is correct based on the numbers you provided.

Yeah, but.... her garnishment orders should have reflected the actual amount being taken out. I know mine did, to the penny

[Tbornetun]

That is the reason why some people get a refund at the end of their plan.

$138.46 DOES reflect $300.00 monthly. You do not figure out your disposable income per pay period, you figure it out monthly. It is not mear coincidence that $138.46 paid bi-weekly for 5 years equals out to $.20 short of $18,000.


If the trustee doesn't like it that way, they will let you know. Don't worry about something out of your control at this point. Your lawyer, the trustee, and the payroll dept will work it out if something is wrong.

[NowImDownInIt]

Your payment is absolutely correct. Mine is 324 bi-weekly to make a 700 a month payment.

[lrprn]

A suggestion - talk to your lawyer to make certain that your payroll department's payment amounts are going to be acceptable to your trustee. Don't want to find out in a few months when you receive a dismissal court order that it isn't.

Always, ALWAYS be proactive in a Ch 13!! When in doubt, call or email your lawyer and ask. It's dangerous to assume anything when Ch 13 trustees who vary widely in how they interpret the law are involved. What one might accept, another might not. Your lawyer will know what's going to fly with your trustee who frankly has the only opinion that matters in this situation
.

[JillyBean]

Well, our lawyer answered already and this is what she wrote:

They may be creating their own formula--$3600 a year divided by 26 pays equals $138.46. They should take the bi-weekly amount of $150.00 however, so we will contact them. Thanks.

So I guess it is wrong and she will have them fix it. As long as everything is right, I just didn't want to be short and have it messed up or something!

[busby]

Here's a general question regarding the above payment schedule -

If your filing states that your payments will total $18,000 over five-years and the $138.46 bi-weekly payments gets you within .20 cents then I see no problem at the end of the case.

However, if someone else that was in a similar circumstance repaid $150 out of each check and ended up paying $19,500 at the end of the five-years - wouldn't the extra of $1,500 be considered extra income and just distributed to the creditors? I understand that it's often refunded (which is good) but since it's money you've lived without and the purpose of a bankruptcy is to pay as much as possible to your creditors - couldn't a trustee simply distribute that $1,500 to creditors and then discharge the case?

[Tbornetun]

At the $150 per pay period, they would receive a refund at the end of the plan.

[arkienurse]

Well, I got a refund at the end of my plan not because too much was held out, but because the order to stop the withholding didn't get across in time to stop it before it came out of my last month's worth of checks.

My plan was to pay 1275 per month for no less than 36 months, no more than 60. My order to pay was for 588.46 a paycheck. No way would I have just sat back if my work deducted less than this. The OP did the right thing by contacting their lawyer to make sure if the lower amount was right or not.

[Tbornetun]

I was answering Busby's question. If there is an amount that is collected by the trustee over the plan amount, you would receive a refund.