As you can imagine, the light at the end of the New York bankruptcy tunnel is a discharge order from a bankruptcy judge. A discharge means that creditors cannot attempt to extract payments on these debts and must write them off themselves. It also means that you now have an opportunity to start over and rebuild your credit, leaving your bankruptcy experience behind you.
For some people, problems continue when they shouldn’t. For example, creditors and collectors may be contacting you about paying them for discharged debts, and sometimes these debts appear on your credit score. If you think creditors shouldn’t be allowed to do this, you’re right. They shouldn’t. Creditors don’t enjoy writing off debts, and some of them are willing to break the law to get money you no longer legally owe them because they believe the costs of a few potential lawsuits is outweighed by the money they can collect.
One nasty tactic they try is keeping one of your debts “live” on your credit report, along with its remaining balance. They hope that you will be unable to secure new credit because of the old debt, and as a result, you will start paying them for a discharged debt. In these circumstances, they hope you will relent and not ask questions or file a lawsuit.
Instead of acquiescing, contact your New York bankruptcy lawyer and bring the credit report with you. Your attorney can file a lawsuit against the creditor on your behalf arguing that leaving the debt on the credit report is a discharge violation. Beware, though, that creditors will often play dumb and say that they don’t have any records of your discharge or that they never received the order from the court. That alone is not sufficient reason to hold back from suing them.
The other way they may try to collect on your pre-bankruptcy debt is to contact you directly. If they send you letters, the advantage is yours, for the creditor’s business information and demand for payment is direct evidence of a discharge violation. As with the credit report, bring it to your New York bankruptcy attorney and you may be able to file a lawsuit against the creditor.
Alternatively, creditors may use phone calls to intimidate you into paying them money that isn’t theirs. Phone calls are trickier because you’ll want to get the caller’s business name, address, and phone number, and the name of the original creditor if it’s a collection agency. Things are easier if the creditor leaves a “smoking gun” message on your voice mail or answering machine.
Nevertheless, collecting on discharged debts is illegal, and you should feel free to vigorously defend your rights.
For answers to more bankruptcy questions, please feel free to contact experienced fair debt collection practices act attorney Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.
