Pre-filing counsiling requirement

[TX Bluebonnet]

I'm in the process of picking out an online site to do the pre-filing course. I'm looking at the approved list for Texas and everyone I've looked at so far mentions that they call you (or you need to call them) to go over stuff at the end before you get your certificate. Do they all do that and if so for what purpose? Or, does anyone know of one that doesnt?

[Dirk Squarejaw]

I just did mine for Indiana yesterday and tried and tried to find one that was completely online. However, I couldn't find one that didn't require a phone call so I'm just going to suck it up and do it today. I have online portion is done, but I hate talking to people on the phone and its supposed to be about 30 minutes long so I'm hoping to have enough time at lunch time to do it.

[mysterie91]

We did ours through consumer credit counseling. Had to call in, they asked all our finance numbers - mortgage/rent, car payments and the like, to get a sense of all the money coming and going.

They analyzed it and said basically "yep, chapter 7 is your only option". Please send us the fee and we will issue the pre-filing cert.

I was super nervous for the phone call but realized I got all worked up for no reason. You will be fine.

Good Luck!

[TX Bluebonnet]

Thanks for the information, even if it's not what I was hoping for. Okay, I guess I'll just have to "suck it up", get through it, and hopefully, "be fine".

[DebtorDan]

we're in tx, too, and used hummingbird. it was very easy. we did have to call in at the end, but it didn't take five minutes. we're ready to do the post-filing requirement now, but last night they were having some web issues, and it looks like they're ongoing today as well. guess, i'll have to give them a call and see what's going on.

UPDATE: Called them, and apparently their site does not play nice with Firefox; you have to use Internet Explorer.

[woeisme]

I was also real nervous about the phone call part, I would rather either do all on-line or as a sit down face-to-face class, but not over the phone, so I understand exactly where you are coming from.

That said, we ended up doing it by filing forms on-line then the follow-up phone call. I was worried they were going to try to give me the "debt management program" hard sell, but no such thing. They just asked if the #'s we put in were right, asked us a few things about budgeting, gave us some good advice abuot things to add to our budget to give us "wiggle room" in our CH 13, and said thanks and hung up. Whole thing took 10-15 minutes, and only because we asked a lot of questions to them, not the other way around. We got our certificates e-mailed to us by the next day. So I was worried for nothing, the guy was really nice and was a lot faster than I thought. Also only cost $35.

[laurannm]

Woeisme, who did you use for your pre-filing counseling?

[lrprn]

... everyone I've looked at so far mentions that they call you (or you need to call them) to go over stuff at the end before you get your certificate. Do they all do that and if so for what purpose?

The purpose of the call is to make it hard for a friend or family member to take the course online pretending they are you. Ah, the wisdom of the 2005 Congress....guess they forgot that the same friend or family member could make the call and still say they are you....duh!

We used Hummingbird http://www.hummingbirdcreditcounseling.org/ccfe.php for both our pre-filing and post-filing required courses. Both times the hoop-jumping was ok. They certainly made everything as easy as possible, and the call was only 10 minutes long.

Think of the pre-course and the post-course as just boxes to check so you can file bankruptcy and be discharged, because essentially that's all they are.

[TX Bluebonnet]

I started doing the hummingbird one based on the recommendation here, including the prework of filling out their 8 or 9 page credit counseling worksheet, up until I got to the part where it said I would have to mail my payment in.

So instead I went to cccsbankruptcy.org per my attorney's recommendation. They use the live chat feature which at first was annoying to me but then I actually ended up asking questions through their live chat as I was filling out the information. They also use the live chat feature to give you a canned message about the next step and to give you a unique code to you need to enter to continue. That happens 3 different times. One thing that caught me by surprise was that pulling my credit report was part of the process so they could use that to prefill in some of the credit information. At the end I was advised to allow up to 24 hours for a professional counselor to either email or call me with a final assessment / action plan, or something along those lines. I hope they go the email route.

As far as a review of cccsatl.org goes, I'd say on the plus side was the live chat which came in handy for me, and on the negative side was the course content which I thought was pretty lame. The course was 95% or more of entering in expenses and income figures with just one page of reading about alternatives to bankruptcy at the end. Oh, and what did I "learn"? That our expenses exceed our income.

I should have just finished up with hummingbird.org. p.s. Anyone can download that credit counseling worksheet (mentioned in the 1st paragraph) off of the hummingbird.org websit. Just go there and start clicking on the pre-filing links up until the point where it recommends you fill out the worksheet stuff. It's really well laid out to help you get all your financial amounts & information neatly organized in one packet.

[TX Bluebonnet]

Ok, back with a final report on cccsatl.org...

I took the course late in the day on Thursday. Did not receive any calls or emails within the 24 hours they said I would. I finally received my packet/summary (32 pages worth) on Saturday morning, along with the certificate on the last page. So, in response to my original question, this site was one that never contacted me via telephone. Just via their live chat and through email to receive the end of course packet.

[cirnrab]

Here in VA, when I did my pre-filing, I went through money management, I paid online and went through the course, and I did have to call to get my certificate e-mailed to me. The only thing they asked me was like survey questions, and saying things like "Do you understand if you file for bankruptcy and can jepordize your credit, job opportunites..etc." It really isn't like they hound you. It'll be fine Hope it helps

[Crainial Access]

I did my pre filing counseling and pre discharge course all online through a CCC service here in upstate NY. All communication was done via e-mail......received hard copy certificates in the mail to send to my lawyer. Cost me about $80.00 for both. Painless and quick.

[Cali]

We had ours included in the attorney fees.