Automatic Stay
As soon as a bankruptcy case is filed, whether it is a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, an automatic stay is put into affect. What does this mean to you as a debtor? What this means is that any creditor who is attempting to collect a debt from you must stop their collections. Once they have been made aware of the bankruptcy case being filed, they must direct any correspondence to your attorney’s office. If they continue to call, you as a debtor must take action by making notes of when and what time they called. This will allow for your attorney to take further action against the creditor and could allow for some money in your pockets. If the attorney has enough information about the creditor and pursues action against them, the creditor will have to pay your attorney fees and punitive damages could be awarded, which could be sent directly to you when the case is final. If the automatic stay was not in place when you filed for bankruptcy, then the creditors would be able to continue their calling and sending correspondence and then you will start to ask your self, why did I file for bankruptcy if I still have to put up with all of these harassing creditors. If you have a creditor that continues to call you then contact your attorney’s office to find out what steps they have in place to help you with getting the calls to stop.
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