Please help, used credit card after filed

[weRN2deep]

This is really hard to post, so please be kind before chastising me. It has taken me this long to even ask... I'm very upset and scared.

Our BK was filed 1/31. 2 weeks ago our very-loved cat fell ill. One day she was fine and the next she was non-responsive. We went to the vet and she was dying. The vet said we should do some tests, and long story short, we had to put her to sleep. She died in my arms.

In a moment of desperation I used a care credit card that was not listed on our BK, it had a zero balance and I actually thought the acct would have been closed from non-use. I hadn't used it since 2007. $300 was put on the card. I actually stood at the counter expecting it to be declined, but it went thru. We didn't have any cash and felt desperate.

I don't know what to do.... are we in huge trouble?

[justbroke]

You could be in trouble, but I think the worse would be that since the charge was "post-petition" you would need to pay it. You really need to take all your credit cards that you had pre-petition and take them out of your wallet to remove any temptation.

Since the account balance was $0.00 and you didn't BK the card, you will be responsible for paying the card. While the United States Trustee (UST) can admonish or otherwise punish you, I don't think it's a big deal. I used a couple of cards while traveling for work because I didn't know. I thought I could keep them. But they shut them down a few weeks later. I never heard anything more about it.

[weRN2deep]

I want to pay this, I was desperate and thought we could save her. In the end, we had to choose between $300 to have her put down or upwards of $1000 to put her in the pet hospital on dialysis. Please don't think we didn't consider that - but she was old and she looked so sad. This is breaking my heart really.

"While the United States Trustee (UST) can admonish or otherwise punish you, I don't think it's a big deal"

What kind of punishment? and am I to mention this card activity in our 341? I am even scared to tell our lawyer. I'm sick to my stomach thinking about this.

[Depressed]

I wouldn't worry about this too much. Is there anyway you could just pay the bill off asap?

[AngelinaCat]

First of all, you have my sincere condolences on the loss of your little furry child. My heart goes out to you. I also had an 18 year-old sweetheart that finally had to be put down because of 'non-insulin' type diabetes.

Next, JB (JustBroke) and Clark Howard is/are right. Get rid of the credit cards. Cut them up and throw them away. If you can't bring yourself to cut it up, put in in a zip-lock bag of water and throw into the freezer and FREEZE it. Okay, enough about that.

On your situation with that particular card, you *might* be okay. In our situation, my 'Hub and myself, we made a purchase after we had filed BK, at a local electronics store using their store credit card. We knew when we made the purchase that we had already filed, and expected this to be 'new debt', non-dischargeable and all of that fine stuff.

Next month, we went into the store with cash in hand, to pay this off--we were learning to go 'cash only'--the shopkeeper could find no transaction of the earlier purchase at all! What? we asked. 'There is no record you exist', we were told.

We had cash money in our hands, and no one would take it. That is when we looked at our Credit Reports. And after a few telephone calls, we learned that the store we made our new purchase in on their credit card--that in-store credit card--was owned by the parent company of two major CC that we filed against. So not only were those two CCs written off and discharged, so was this little 'child'-card, even though this was NEW debt.

So here we were with the item, no record of purchase, no record of payment. The store would not take this back, nor could we give them payment. And we had the receipts for all of this. Yet it didn't exist. DUH!!! So we went home.

Anyone viewing, please do not think this is the norm. This was a weird anomaly that our attorney had never heard of either.

[weRN2deep]

Thanks Depressed, if I could pay it off quickly I would, but if I could do that I wouldn't have care-credited it 2 weeks ago. I suck.

Just to set the record, all cards are gone, and this card was in the sock drawer, didn't even remember I had kept it and thought it was def closed because of non-use. In my desperate hours I was digging thru the sock drawer to see if it was still there. I signed on to GE and it showed as still open. We even went to a diff vet because our reg vet doesn't take the card. I am not proud of this moment, at all. I put the furry pet in front of my good judgement.

I miss her so, and on top of it all I'm stressing so much about the 341.

[music12]

i don't see why you would be in trouble. it may not have been a great idea (not that you really had a choice), but i don't think you broke any bk rule (in ch 13, you are not supposed to get into any debt without permission, but i don't think that applies in ch 7). you should know that it's new debt that will not be discharged as the others have said, but i think that's the extent of your trouble.

[HakunaMatata]

So sorry to hear about your cat.

You acted in love during a stressful moment. Your story is compelling. The charges weren't excessive; and, you're prepared to pay them. I don't think you have a major problem. Try to suspend your worry and focus on healing. If the Trustee inquires about the charge, explain your story and intentions.

You're not the first person to have used a card prior to the 341. I know someone who accidentally did this (due to pre-stored CC information); and, it wasn't an issue. In fact, the charge was somehow included in BK.

Hang in there!

[Flamingo]

All you have to do is be open and honest with your attorney. While the circumstances were extenuating and we all know the expense and going through the issues of putting down a beloved pet, this is a financial transaction during a time shortly after filing that probably will not be an issue but it is certainlysomething to discuss with your attorney. Take the emotion and reasoning out of it and you make a purchase on credit two weeks after filing Chapter 7. That is the crux and issue of the matter.

[OhioFiler]

As someone who recently lost a dear pet I can sympathize with your plight. What I see, however, is you still wanting to rely on credit after you filed bankruptcy. This is a red flag for me. Please try to be more judicious in the future.

[justbroke]

I wasn't clear earlier, but I wouldn't worry about this. when I said the worse thing the Trustee could do is admonish you, that meant saying "bad girl" or something like that. The absolute worse that I can think of, is that you have to pay it back.

As AgnelinaCat wrote, this happens and I'm guilty of it too. Nothing became of it at all.

[weRN2deep]

Thanks Justbroke -

and Ohio, thanks so much for the finger wagging. I feel so much better!!

[OhioFiler]

Thanks Justbroke -

and Ohio, thanks so much for the finger wagging. I feel so much better!!

Do what you want with my advice. It's nothing more or less.

I know I won't be using a credit card I stuffed in a sock drawer and forgot about until I actually needed it after I file and then worrying whether I fouled my filing. I think I would end up becoming dependent on credit way too soon if I took that approach.

[LSUTiger32]

Obviously you are going through a trying time, we all know what it is like to go through the process and it is hard enough without having other things going on in life. I am very sorry for your loss and I know it's tough. Ohio Filer is right though.....you have got to shred them, cut them up or eat them......something. You have got to learn to live without them. You could have spoken to the vet and worked out some kind of payment plan possibly. You do not want to do something to jeopardize your BK filing and you need to get used to not having credit to fall back on. That is of course unless like a lot of people who plan on going right back into the arms of the banks and getting credit again. Don't take it the wrong way, some of us just can't understand why people don't learn their lessons.

[Dannmcg357]

I am even scared to tell our lawyer. I'm sick to my stomach thinking about this.

Don't keep it from him, He can't help you if you don't disclose it to him.