I hope you all digested Part 1: http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=43255. Part 1 was designed to help you organize your documents for your attorney.
I anticipate the trustee may ask me for back up documentation. So, rather than make him wait for me, I will have the docs available to give to him at his request. I also dont want to look like a gypsy walking in with a large pile of papers. So, I was inspired to put everything in a binder. I think that the binder also presents the image that you know your finances.
Here is Part 2--Preparing your 3-ring binder for your 341 meeting:
--You will eventually need to take trip to an office supply store like Staples or Office Max to buy some supplies. Your volume of documents will dictate what types/sizes of supplies you will buy. You will purchase:
a. 3-ring binder
b. Top loading sheet protectors
c. Avery ready-index table of contents dividers/tabs
--I am assuming most of you have online, or paperless statements. If you receive paper statements then you obviously need to make copies of those.
--Before you file, make sure you d/l all your online statements. I just went through this drill and found each creditor is different but most creditors only go back a year. If you have debt with PayPal cc or WFNNB (such as Fortunoff, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and some retail clothing stores), you do not have the ability to d/l your statements. You can print a printable form, though.
--If you use bill pay, your bank may let you view and print your payment history. If you have that ability, print it. You will add this with your bank statements, at the end.
--Print at least 1-year worth of bank statements. I use 1 year as a benchmark since the bk schedule asks you to list any financial accounts closed in the past year. You are also asked about preferential transfers over the past 90 days, so its possible that the trustee will go back at a mimimum of 3 months but as far back as 1 year. Staple each month and organize them with the most current statement on top.
--Print at least your recent credit card statements and make copies of all collection notices. You can save all your cc statements going back a year but dont kill a tree printing all of them. If you have credit cards in collections, staple all collections notices to the back of each applicable cc, especially if the original creditor still retains the account. If the original creditor has sold your account, then you only have the collection letter and all related correspondence to staple together.
--You will organize your documents in piles that make logical sense and can be easily referenced when organized in a 3-ring binder. For example, dont co-mingle your insurance documents with the mortgage statements.
--Each pile will eventually go into a 3-ring binder, whose size depends on the thickness of your documents. Eyeball the thickness of your pile of docs (or measure it) and that is the size of 3-ring binder you will need.
--The Avery ready-index number (ie 8-tab, 10-tab, 12-tab) that you will need depends on how many piles of papers you have. Dont buy the tabs until you thought through this and wrote it down on paper. Dont get color tabs, either. This is not time to impress. The b/w tabs are fine.
--The last two items in your book will be Credit Card Statements and Expenses Receipts. Those are last because you will also integrate sheet protectors as part of those sections. The sheet protectors are over-sized, and they cover up your tab numbers. Therefore, those items are inserted in the end so you are able to thumb through your dividers easily until you get to the last two.
--Here is a sample of a logical organization of docs, in the order it should appear in your book.
1. Income Taxes w/copies of return receipt/certified mail if you have it
2. Pay Stubs
3. Checking Account Statements (each month stapled together)
4. Insurance Documents (life, auto, home)
5. Mortgage Statements
6. Secure debt documents/statements (auto loans; if this is voluminous, add a tab for each secure loan)
7. Closed checking/financial accounts from 1-year ago (if you have them)
8. Transferred property information (if applicable--I transferred 2 autos but have included in this section kbb values, carfax info and other docs to demonstrate that the cars are worthless)
9. Other (such as your counseling statement, appraisals)
10. Credit Card Statements
11. Expenses Receipts
(you will need to buy the avery ready-index with 12-tabs for this example)
--Credit Card Statements: Insert each creditor statement in a page protector. You should have one page protector for each unsecure creditor. Include all correspondence with that creditor (ie, notice letter that they transferred your account to collections). If you have attempted in e-mail or in writing to negotiate terms with your creditor, print out those messages and include them. I have extensive correspondence with Amex' incompetent outsourced customer service that monitors their e-mail. I saved those e-mail messages from their online secure server and have them in the event they claim fraud or whatever. They demonstrated their unwillingness to work with me when I had the courtesy to notify them the I would fall behind in payments
--Expenses Receipts: If you have reasonable and allowable expenses that have carried over on the means test (outside of the IRS allowable amounts), gather up the receipts for this section. You will use one page protector for each expense. You can even write on each page protector with permanent marker to indicate what is in it.
I have one page protector stuffed with daycare receipts and the other page protector contains medical receipts since I have medical expenses outside of the IRS standard deductions.
I also have one page protector that contains all my expense vouchers I submitted to my company for blackberry reimbursement expense. My company cuts me a check for the expense, which I deposit to my checking account. If the trustee asks about those deposits, I at least have the audit trail to show where they came from so he doesn't think its additional income.
You may want to consider including in this expense section any checking account deposit documentation that is not payroll related just like I did with my company's expense vouchers
Hope this helps. If you have any questions or if anything is unclear please let me know. Its so much easier just to show the finished product
I anticipate the trustee may ask me for back up documentation. So, rather than make him wait for me, I will have the docs available to give to him at his request. I also dont want to look like a gypsy walking in with a large pile of papers. So, I was inspired to put everything in a binder. I think that the binder also presents the image that you know your finances.
Here is Part 2--Preparing your 3-ring binder for your 341 meeting:
--You will eventually need to take trip to an office supply store like Staples or Office Max to buy some supplies. Your volume of documents will dictate what types/sizes of supplies you will buy. You will purchase:
a. 3-ring binder
b. Top loading sheet protectors
c. Avery ready-index table of contents dividers/tabs
--I am assuming most of you have online, or paperless statements. If you receive paper statements then you obviously need to make copies of those.
--Before you file, make sure you d/l all your online statements. I just went through this drill and found each creditor is different but most creditors only go back a year. If you have debt with PayPal cc or WFNNB (such as Fortunoff, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and some retail clothing stores), you do not have the ability to d/l your statements. You can print a printable form, though.
--If you use bill pay, your bank may let you view and print your payment history. If you have that ability, print it. You will add this with your bank statements, at the end.
--Print at least 1-year worth of bank statements. I use 1 year as a benchmark since the bk schedule asks you to list any financial accounts closed in the past year. You are also asked about preferential transfers over the past 90 days, so its possible that the trustee will go back at a mimimum of 3 months but as far back as 1 year. Staple each month and organize them with the most current statement on top.
--Print at least your recent credit card statements and make copies of all collection notices. You can save all your cc statements going back a year but dont kill a tree printing all of them. If you have credit cards in collections, staple all collections notices to the back of each applicable cc, especially if the original creditor still retains the account. If the original creditor has sold your account, then you only have the collection letter and all related correspondence to staple together.
--You will organize your documents in piles that make logical sense and can be easily referenced when organized in a 3-ring binder. For example, dont co-mingle your insurance documents with the mortgage statements.
--Each pile will eventually go into a 3-ring binder, whose size depends on the thickness of your documents. Eyeball the thickness of your pile of docs (or measure it) and that is the size of 3-ring binder you will need.
--The Avery ready-index number (ie 8-tab, 10-tab, 12-tab) that you will need depends on how many piles of papers you have. Dont buy the tabs until you thought through this and wrote it down on paper. Dont get color tabs, either. This is not time to impress. The b/w tabs are fine.
--The last two items in your book will be Credit Card Statements and Expenses Receipts. Those are last because you will also integrate sheet protectors as part of those sections. The sheet protectors are over-sized, and they cover up your tab numbers. Therefore, those items are inserted in the end so you are able to thumb through your dividers easily until you get to the last two.
--Here is a sample of a logical organization of docs, in the order it should appear in your book.
1. Income Taxes w/copies of return receipt/certified mail if you have it
2. Pay Stubs
3. Checking Account Statements (each month stapled together)
4. Insurance Documents (life, auto, home)
5. Mortgage Statements
6. Secure debt documents/statements (auto loans; if this is voluminous, add a tab for each secure loan)
7. Closed checking/financial accounts from 1-year ago (if you have them)
8. Transferred property information (if applicable--I transferred 2 autos but have included in this section kbb values, carfax info and other docs to demonstrate that the cars are worthless)
9. Other (such as your counseling statement, appraisals)
10. Credit Card Statements
11. Expenses Receipts
(you will need to buy the avery ready-index with 12-tabs for this example)
--Credit Card Statements: Insert each creditor statement in a page protector. You should have one page protector for each unsecure creditor. Include all correspondence with that creditor (ie, notice letter that they transferred your account to collections). If you have attempted in e-mail or in writing to negotiate terms with your creditor, print out those messages and include them. I have extensive correspondence with Amex' incompetent outsourced customer service that monitors their e-mail. I saved those e-mail messages from their online secure server and have them in the event they claim fraud or whatever. They demonstrated their unwillingness to work with me when I had the courtesy to notify them the I would fall behind in payments
--Expenses Receipts: If you have reasonable and allowable expenses that have carried over on the means test (outside of the IRS allowable amounts), gather up the receipts for this section. You will use one page protector for each expense. You can even write on each page protector with permanent marker to indicate what is in it.
I have one page protector stuffed with daycare receipts and the other page protector contains medical receipts since I have medical expenses outside of the IRS standard deductions.
I also have one page protector that contains all my expense vouchers I submitted to my company for blackberry reimbursement expense. My company cuts me a check for the expense, which I deposit to my checking account. If the trustee asks about those deposits, I at least have the audit trail to show where they came from so he doesn't think its additional income.
You may want to consider including in this expense section any checking account deposit documentation that is not payroll related just like I did with my company's expense vouchers
Hope this helps. If you have any questions or if anything is unclear please let me know. Its so much easier just to show the finished product
filed c7 august 2011...341 september 2011... Unsecured debt over $100k.....bk attorney $1200.......bkforum.com Priceless!!!!!
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