retained lawyer -

[LookingAhead]

I paid the retainer fee for the lawyer we chose (hope he was the right one!) this evening. We left the ringer on the phone off tonight and will start fresh tomorrow. I know I can tell the creditors about the bk now, but what exactly do we say to them? We are filing for bk and have retained XX XXX from XXXXXX. Their # is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Goodbye. ?
Thanks!

[sadbutinneed]

All I am saying is sort of interrupting them once I know they are a creditor and saying "I have hired an attorney and I can give you her name, number and my client number to contact in the future" then i just go into the name, contact number, etc. once they have it, i say thank you and hang up. done. Two have asked if that means I am filing bk and I've answered "you can talk to her about that".

Started doing this on Monday and as of this afternoon....no more phone calls. what a glorious relief!

[LookingAhead]

Should I have a client #?? I wasn't given anything like that.

[liz417]

I told them that I retained an attorney, here's their #, goodbye. They would always try to get more info out of me, but that's all I said (for a whole year!). They actually have the right to call you until you have an actual case #, I would get a few collection calls everytime my account(s) were transferred to new CA.

[sadbutinneed]

I wouldn't worry about the client number, just give name/phone number and hang up. don't let them talk you into more info.

Good luck!

[DebtHater]

You can also give them the case number (if you have it).

Even though you retained an attorney doesn't mean the phone will stop ringing. The turning point is when the petition is filed and you have a case number. That is when you can begin your fresh start.

[blessed]

I only talked two of the um, 6 or so CC companies that were calling me. All I said was that we were going to file for bk, Chapter 7, and I have a phone number for them. Both were nice and I didn't even need to be rude or hang up, they asked the attorney name and that was it. When they asked the case number I said I didn't have one yet. One guy even said I hope things look better for you, that must be a difficult time. Thanks man. lol They must have told their friends because we haven't received a call since.

[LookingAhead]

Thanks. I took care of about 10 of our creditors today (we have about 30). All of them were nice. Some tried to get more info, but I just told them to contact our attorney for further information. We had the same thing from a few saying they hoped things looked up. I know it won't stop them from calling until we officially file, but I feel better telling them this ratehr than lying to them telling them we are working on making arrangements to take care of things and then hanging up real fast before they can ask what kind of arrangements. We almost always have the ringer off on the phone and a couple of them were starting to call my mom's house (she knows all about it and it was fine, but who would they call next?...)