Can I remove a creditor after I have filed for chapter 7?

[jbjints]

My 341 meeting is on December 11th.

I wanted to pay my Paypal monthly minimum due and I wasn't able to because my account was closed.

I am also unable to pay my school loans because of the filing. I know I have to pay for my school loans and I plan on repaying them even if it is going to take me about 20 years, when will I be able to start repaying my school loans?

Can I remove Paypal from the bankruptcy? I used the account within the last 6 months and now it will look bad to the trustee but I had every intention of paying them back because the balance is low.

Can I call some of my creditors and have them reopen my account or close it but allow me to pay it back?

I am still reading through the stickies but it is getting close to crunch time so I was hoping for a quick answer.

Thanks,

Joe

[AngelinaCat]

Hi jbjints:

Welcome to the Forum. I broke your post up into paragraphs so that others will be able to read, and hopefully respond.

Now, having said that, once you have filed, you will not be able to remove a creditor from your mailing matrix or files. You still owe money to them. PayPal has closed your account, and written it off their books, but that does NOT mean that you still don't owe them.

[Pjmax]

You can't pick and choose which creditors to include or not include in a Chapter 7. You have to list all your debts. Even if you neglected to list Paypal, chances are, they would know of your filing and close the account anyway. Once you have filed, creditors won't talk to you because they do not want to violate the automatic stay.

I don't have student loan experience, but others here do, so someone will be along to comment. Meanwhile, do a search here for student loans and read up on others' experience.

[justbroke]

Exactly. You must list all creditors (as per the definition). I had a 20-year old AMEX claim filed in my bankruptcy and I motioned to have it expunged (completely removed). The judge asked me why I would want to do that and then I thought... you're right! I left it there and it was discharged along with the other items. I just wanted to be sure they received no payments during my Chapter 13.

If you are using some centralized payment system, such as NelNet, you should just keep making payments! They will, of course, stop taking automatic payments, but you can make them manually.

[bcohen]

Repaying Paypal or any other unsecured non-student loan creditor will not result in them re-opening your account, or restoring your account to good standing. It is best to save your money, and once the debt is discharged, you will be able to open new accounts without having to repay the discharged balance. I know people who owed money to Ebay and Paypal, and after discharging the debt in bankruptcy, they were able to open new accounts without any problem--they only had to use a different email address and provide a different credit card/bank account for payment. The discharge injunction prevents Ebay or Paypal from attempting to charge your new account for a discharged balance.

You should, however continue paying your student loans if at all possible, to prevent the balance from rising due to compounding interest. While your Chapter 7 is open, the automatic stay prevents the student loan company or guarantor agency from taking any action to collect--including garnishing wages or bank accounts--even if they already have a judgment against you. Once the case is closed, the student loans will be there in full force, so you will need to deal with them to work out acceptable payment arrangements.