How "private" is BK?

[Dweezel]

Will my employer know? I'm sure it'll be public record. I'm on a school board and am considering getting off as to not to embarass others on the board. In general, I'm a very private person and will be doing this solely on my own. All creditors are out of state. Thanks in advance.

[FraggleRock]

Depends on where you live. My sis's in-laws read about her hubby's in the newspaper. Mine was never put in the paper. No one knows about ours unless we tell them.

[Dweezel]

Local newspaper doesn't post either

Thank God for that one.

Regarding the previous post..... were those percentages that you'll have to pay over time? I have most of my cc debt rolled into my 2nd now and very little on my cards. Sounds like that could work against me. Or will they possibly lower my 1st and or 2nd from all my consolidating and cashing out? TIA

[FraggleRock]

No, those are my intrest rates.

[Jman30]

Will my employer know? I'm sure it'll be public record. I'm on a school board and am considering getting off as to not to embarass others on the board. In general, I'm a very private person and will be doing this solely on my own. All creditors are out of state. Thanks in advance.

This is a good question and one I had asked when I first filed. Supposedly, they do publish BK filings in the newspaper, but from what I understand, they publish it in the newspaper of the location where you filed. For example, I live north of Cincinnati, OH and south of Dayton, OH. My lawyer filed in the South District of Ohio - Dayton Court. I think the filing was published in the Dayton newspaper, but noone I know lives in Dayton so noone found out that way. Even if they had filied in the local paper - I don't think many of neighbors read the fine print of court filings, you know?

Secondly, yes, my employer knows because of the wage garnishment. But the good news is that I work for a large corporation. So some nameless person in my HR Group in a different state put the garnishment on my paycheck, but as far as I know, nobody in my office knows at all.

And as far as friends/family...that depends on you and wether you want them to know you or not. My wife and I told her parents since they had gone through it years ago and needed their advice. We told my brother and his wife because we are close to them. We chose not to tell my parents, since they are sort of old fashioned and judgemental and we didn't want the lecture from them.

You also mentioned you are on a school board and you were thinking of resigning. I can see where you are coming from, but it would be a shame for your school district to lose someone who obviously cares and kids and education just because of this. I guess it depends...was the debt something you had no control over, like medical bills or an accident? Or was it something you did yourself like gambling? Also, are you the finances of the school board? I can see that causing a problem, especially if your school board is as political as mine is.

[wenderful]

Our court system publishes their court dockets online and they get indexed by Google.

I had a customer email me one day out of the blue and say "So how is your BK going". I was astonished and asked him how he found out and he said he put my name in Google and it came up. So I checked and sure enough, there it was for all the world to see.

However, when the docket got updated, it no longer showed up in Google.

As you know BK is public record, anyone can find out if they chose to look for it, I'd say most people don't look for it.

Maybe my customer was a stalker? LOL

[Jman30]

Our court system publishes their court dockets online and they get indexed by Google.

I had a customer email me one day out of the blue and say "So how is your BK going". I was astonished and asked him how he found out and he said he put my name in Google and it came up. So I checked and sure enough, there it was for all the world to see.

However, when the docket got updated, it no longer showed up in Google.

As you know BK is public record, anyone can find out if they chose to look for it, I'd say most people don't look for it.

Maybe my customer was a stalker? LOL

Geez, that customer had a set of brass ones on him!!!!!

I think if anyone wants to find it, they can. It is a public record. But mostly, someone really has to dig to find out. They have to read the fine print of the paper or look it up online specifically.

It is too bad there is such a stigma attached to it. Now that I am two years into it, I am way past the embarassment of it all. If anyone finds out, they find out. After awhile, I get tired of making excuses as to why I can't go the ball game with my buddies or why we can't fly home to Boston for Thanksgiving, etc. After awhile, you just want to scream "I AM IN BANKRUPTCY - DON"T ASK ME AGAIN UNTIL 36 MONTHS ARE UP." LOL

[wenderful]

LOL! You betcha! I have to admit, it FREAKED me out big time when I got that email. I don't care who finds out in my personal life, but to have a customer have that much information about me gave me the heebie jeebies!

Geez, that customer had a set of brass ones on him!!!!!

I think if anyone wants to find it, they can. It is a public record. But mostly, someone really has to dig to find out. They have to read the fine print of the paper or look it up online specifically.

It is too bad there is such a stigma attached to it. Now that I am two years into it, I am way past the embarassment of it all. If anyone finds out, they find out. After awhile, I get tired of making excuses as to why I can't go the ball game with my buddies or why we can't fly home to Boston for Thanksgiving, etc. After awhile, you just want to scream "I AM IN BANKRUPTCY - DON"T ASK ME AGAIN UNTIL 36 MONTHS ARE UP." LOL

[Jman30]

LOL! You betcha! I have to admit, it FREAKED me out big time when I got that email. I don't care who finds out in my personal life, but to have a customer have that much information about me gave me the heebie jeebies!

Like I said, it is too bad there is such a stigma attached to it. I mean, I know that being in Bankruptcy isn't something to be proud and nothing you want on your resume, but it does not mean you are a deadbeat or a loser. In fact, it says alot about you that you are willing to suffer so much during the BK process in order to get a new start. Many people just don't care and live their lives being hounded by creditor and being sued.

[FraggleRock]

Hubby's parents don't know and they will never know or they won't know until we are about 10 years past it.

[wenderful]

I just told my mother about 2 weeks ago. She was amazingly kind about it. I was blown away because trust me, my mother isn't kind about anything! LOl

People surprise you sometimes!

[Jman30]

I just told my mother about 2 weeks ago. She was amazingly kind about it. I was blown away because trust me, my mother isn't kind about anything! LOl

People surprise you sometimes!

Yeah, I hear you. We told my wife's parents because they had been through a bankruptcy before and they are pretty understanding. My parents are more judgemental - they would have seen us as a failure instead of beingf supportive.

But you are right...we told a few of our neighbors and I thought I would get crap for it, but they were great about it!

[wenderful]

thanks for this thread.......it reminded me that I needed to call my Mom today, we just "re-united" after 4 years of estrangement (my mom and I have this pattern and have had long periods of estrangement at least 3 times in my life dating back 20 years +)

Anyway, when I did talk to her two weeks ago I promised myself I wouldn't allow that to happen anymore.

So I called and left her a voice mail.

Sorry for the off-topics.

[Jman30]

thanks for this thread.......it reminded me that I needed to call my Mom today, we just "re-united" after 4 years of estrangement (my mom and I have this pattern and have had long periods of estrangement at least 3 times in my life dating back 20 years +)

Anyway, when I did talk to her two weeks ago I promised myself I wouldn't allow that to happen anymore.

So I called and left her a voice mail.

Sorry for the off-topics.

Wenderful, that is WONDERFUL!

My wife and her mother go through the same sort of thing, but not the same extent. They will get in a tiff and not talk for a week or two, then they are buddies again for another month until the next tiff. LOL

Sounds like things are good for you....getting rid of your bad debt, turning your financial life around and reconnecting with your mother! I wish you all the best!!!

[anonymuse]

Our court system publishes their court dockets online and they get indexed by Google.

I had a customer email me one day out of the blue and say "So how is your BK going". I was astonished and asked him how he found out and he said he put my name in Google and it came up. So I checked and sure enough, there it was for all the world to see.

However, when the docket got updated, it no longer showed up in Google.

As you know BK is public record, anyone can find out if they chose to look for it, I'd say most people don't look for it.

Maybe my customer was a stalker? LOL

Why the heck would someone be Google'ing you? I'm not saying that I've never Google'd anyone from work (I was looking for their research online), but I guess I'm getting a feeling that you're not in that kind of professional situation. And of course I've Google'd people from high school and college to see if I can find them when we were trying to find missing people for class reunions.

Strange customer.