When you’re considering filing for bankruptcy, there is a good chance that you are tired of your phone ringing off the hook with endless calls from creditors. It’s likely that you’re anxious to make the calls stop, and so you will want to tell them about your impending bankruptcy in hopes of getting them to leave you alone. However, timing when you tell your creditors about your filing is important. In every case, get your bankruptcy attorney’s advice before you tell anything to your creditors. This information will also help you make up your mind.
The only thing that will stop creditor calls is your actual filing.
When you file for bankruptcy, you will receive an automatic stay on your debts. This will stop your creditors from calling you immediately. It is the only way to make them do so. Although some creditors may stop calling if you tell them you will be filing to bankruptcy, most will not. In fact, they may step up their efforts to collection from you before you file, so that the money that you owe them is not cancelled or reduced by the courts. For this reason, you shouldn’t notify them without at least discussing it with your lawyer first.
Some people use the threat of filing for bankruptcy as a negotiation tool.
In some cases, people tell creditors that they are planning to file for bankruptcy in hopes of using that as a bargaining chip to get some of their debt cancelled. This can work for some people, but it is a risky strategy. If you negotiate with some creditors but not all, then you could end up having to file for bankruptcy anyway and simply be out the money that you paid to creditors who did reduce your debt.
Before you file bankruptcy or make any decisions about notifying creditors, talk to a lawyer at Cutler & Associates, Ltd. first. For a bankruptcy attorney in Aurora and around Chicagoland, call (630) 343-0324.