Letter from creditors attorney after filing...need advice please!!!

[Ann]

All, we filed bankruptcy May 18. This past Saturday I received a letter from our district court that is titled: Order For Administrative Closing Due To Bankruptcy Stay... I called the court this morning and was told that one of my creditors filed suit in my district on April 30 but it was stated that they had yet to serve a summons. On this letter it states this... IT IS ORDERED:
1. This case is closed for administrative purposes without prejudice.
2. This closing does not constitute a dismissal or a decision on the merits.
3. When the bankruptcy stay has been removed this case may be reopened on motion of any party.
This letter is signed by a judge and has my husband listed as the plaintiff and our attorney's name and number as well as the creditors attorney. Now, when I called our attorney's office I was told we need to make an appointment to discuss that they are probably going to reopen the case when the stay is removed. I'm really lost here... I thought once you file bankruptcy they cannot contact you...could they really try to sue even if we filed bankruptcy??? Please forgive my ignorance here. I honestly thought we "escaped" being sued! Can anyone give me some advice or input here? By the way, the creditor is GE Money Bank! Thanks to all who take the time to reply!

[HHM]

It is very unlikely anything more will come of this lawsuit.

However, you mentioned the creditor is GE Money Bank, what is the underlying account; is it an unsecured or secured account?

Is yours a joint bankruptcy, or did only one of you file.

[ladyjenn]

So sorry to hear you going through this. This process is hard enough emotionally to begin with.
IF I can ask, how long had you gone without paying them? Were you on the verge of being sued before you filed do you know? I have a few accounts with GEMB, and we stopped paying some last month, and will not pay any this month. We wil file next month. I am hoping to avoid all this type of stuff myself.
Best of luck to you, and sorry I can't answer your question.

[Ann]

It is very unlikely anything more will come of this lawsuit.

However, you mentioned the creditor is GE Money Bank, what is the underlying account; is it an unsecured or secured account?

Is yours a joint bankruptcy, or did only one of you file.

Thanks HHM for replying...the underlying account is Discover (Sams Club) and it is an unsecured debt in the amount of $3400.00. We filed jointly.

ladyjenn, I have not paid on that account since July of 09. I have 2 other accounts that are owned by GE Money that I also have not paid on for almost a year. We had tried to file with another attorney in March of this year and that was a disaster since the first lawyer we hired gave us so much bad advice and we had to hire another attorney. I suspected that we would get hit with a lawsuit sooner or later but I really thought we dodged a bullet. I guess not though. Yes, this is so stressful I just want it to be over with!!!!

[Detroit]

I just received one, too - what does it mean?

Today was my 341 and I came home to find this in the mail from my local court. Does it mean the creditor intends to pursue the case or is the court just cleaning out its records? I didn't receive one from the court for any other suit I was in before I filed. I'll send it to my atty tomorrow, but maybe someone can answer so I can sleep tonight? Thanks! It's from HSBC for a bed I purchased in 2005 from a local furniture store.

[tcreegan]

Hi Detroit,

The other folks on the post may not respond, they posted back in June

As for HSBC, they are just trying to put the squeeze on you to see if you will cough up some cash.
There is no way they are going to go through the cost of a lawsuit to get back a used bed. Ignore them and they will go away. Whatever you do, do NOT reaffirm or settle with them, it will be a waste of money.

Tom in Colo

[LaurieM]

When a person files bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court imposes what is called an "automatic stay of collection". Not unlike when someone is ordered put to death in a criminal matter and the governor jumps in and imposes a "stay of execution"... stay meaning a temporary freeze of an action. Your creditors are temporarily not permitted performing any activity of collection (calling you to collect, debiting your bank accounts, garnishing your wages, sending you monthly statements/bills). Once the local court is made aware of the bankruptcy filing, it, too, will temporarily suspend the pending court action (in our firm we notify the local court directly and send over an order for the local court judge to sign "staying" the local court action". We do this because the bankruptcy court will send the local court notice of the filing (if you or your attorney has included them to be noticed in the bankruptcy petition) but when that notice gets to the court someone has to figure out what case is actually belongs to. I liken that to sending a letter to heaven to one of the angels - when the letter gets there someone has to figure out "which" angel the letter belongs to. Remember.... the notice of your 341 meeting does not give creditors your account number, nor the amount owed. You may want to drop by the local court with a copy of the document you received from the court AND a copy of your notice from the court of the bankruptcy filing. The "stay" imposed by the court is also why (in most cases) even if you are keeping a home or vehicle, those lenders will not send you monthly statements while the bankruptcy is pending. For that reason, once you file, you might want to call those particular creditors to find out if they want payment in the same means by which they wanted it pre-filing. Some (not all) creditors want accounts of people who have filed bankruptcy monitored a little more closely than they were before and therefore want payments sent directly to their bankruptcy or some other department. Most, if not all, creditors no longer permit automatic debit as an option for payment as well.

[Detroit]

Thanks, both! Turns out it was sent because that was the one suit I wasn't served (filed prior) so the court was just doing some housekeeping by letting all parties know I'd filed. I appreciate the extra comments, Laurie - a letter from heaven, indeed! Tom, I appreciate the firm tone!