341 meeting

What is the name of your state? NC

Our 341 meeting is on Monday. I talked with the paralegal at our attorney's office today and she said that none of our creditors have sent them notification that they would be attending.

1) Question: Do they HAVE to notify our attorney that they will attend, or can't they simply show up?

2) A little confusion here: Why does a creditor bother showing up at the meeting when they still have 60 days to object / redeem / reaffirm?

3) Is it the norm NOT to receive a copy of your bankruptcy filing? It didn't occur to me until today (fine time, meeting on Monday) that we didn't have a copy of what was actually filed. I requested a copy today and found that there were several minor discrepancies. Should we bother pointing this out now, wait until the meeting, or what?

For instance: my husband listed as living in a different county as me, even though our address is the same. They listed our 2002 minivan (that we already surrendered) as valued at $1250.00 I'm sure they meant $21,250.00. Things like that.

4) She also stated that if a creditor doesn't contact them at the meeting or during the 60 day period, that they forfeit whatever item you might owe. Is this correct? Sounds strange to me.??

5) Dell was listed as a "purchase money security" by our attorney. This DOES mean that it is a secured debt, right?

6) I found online where our court date ischeduled. It seems that there will be about 80 other people being heard at 9:00 that day as well. Another 80 or so at 1:30. Is this usually done alphabetically? How long a wait is usual?

Thanks All, I'm just getting butterflies as the day approaches. I appreciate any feedback


Taffy

[MidnightSwinga]

Hi Taffy,

Sorry I don't have any answers to your questions since I'm just starting this BK journey, but please post the results/experience of your meeting on Monday. I'll be curious to see how it goes.

MidnightSwinga

Anyone can show up at the meeting. They dont have to tell you ahead of time. But if they do show up. They have to at least treat you professionally. The trustee will not let them abuse you. Unless you are trying to hide a large amount of money somewhere you need not worry about the questions. They cant recover what you do not have.

You probably do not need to worry about the small mistakes. But I would point them out when you get questioned by the Trustee. If he understands the situation he will just ask corrections to be made and nothing will be held up.


We had the same sort of situation.

The Address of the apt we are currently living at has 3 formal addresses. A rural route, The address of the APT office and apt number. The street address and the apt number. We memorized one and the filing had another. That was fun to explain to the trustee why we didnt catch it. Since we understood the mistake. He didnt hassle us once he understood the situation.

One of our cars does not have a title in the state. The title is out of state and being held by an out of state bank. He understood but didnt like it too much. I heard grunts and groans when I explained it to him.

We were so scared that we spoke rather softly when answering question. He had to tell us to speak up a few times during the questions. They record it you know.

There were typos on the addresses of some creditors. He didnt seem to care about that.

What he did seem to care about was that my laywer did not fax all the pages of my petition to him. He was missing a few schedules. I had to sit through listening to him chastize my lawyer on not getting him the proper documents. I got my copy from the courthouse website. couldnt he do the same? I was surprised to find out the first time he saw my complete petition was at the 341 meeting.

It was a no asset - no income case. There was nothing to distribute nothing to gain by any creditors. Therefore we got the discharge 60 days later.

We showed up for a 10:00 meeting time. There were about 20 others already there. We dressed business casual. The only other people dressed like us was the lawyers. Some people looked like they havent washed in years.

Each one went about 5 to 15 minutes. Ours was about 7. Very stessfull, but pretty easy. You will be very relieved when it is over.

It all seems a lot worse than it really is. Good luck.

Thanks, srhng,

Thanks for sharing your experience with me. I am just so nervous about tomorrow, and meanwhile, my husband is somewhat depressed. He feels like he really failed.

One of my worries is that the attorney didn't ask us to bring anything with us except a driver's license, etc. I've read posts where others had to bring in tax records and such. What if we get there & the trustee asks for all kinds of paperwork that we don't have with us?!?! (butterflies, butterflies!)

It's just that the paralegal did most of the work and we saw the attorney briefly when we went back to sign the papers.

Do you think I should bring certain documents with me just in case?

And what about redeeming property versus reaffirming? Is this done at the meeting, or sometime later during the final 60 days? Oh my goodness, I'm going to "what if" it to death!

I'll let everyone know how it goes. Afterward, I'll either be sleeping from relief or doing a celebration dance, LOL

Thanks again,
Taffy

Only bring what they told you to bring. If he wanted any of that stuff like old bank records. He would have asked. Some do. Some dont. It all depends on if they think you have assets to distribute or if they think you are hiding something. Some just ask for the stuff and never look at it.

There is a list of standard questions they ask. Like name, address social sec number.

Then they ask if you know what is on your schedules.

Then they ask if you understand what bankruptcy means and what the reprecussions are.

The trustee seemed more interested in knowing that we understand what we are doing. He knew we had nothing at the time and didnt hassle us about that. Just wanted to make sure we were able mind and made the decision to do this ourselves and understood our schedules and what we were re-affirming and such.

Tell your husband not to worry. Lots of people are going through what we went through. I felt like a failure also. I was way underwater before my job loss and my job loss just finalized the deal.

Do I feel like a failure? sure I do. Am I gonna let it bother me for the rest of my life? Hell no. I need to get on with things. I have 2 small children that need me to be positive and supportive. Letting debt eat me alive was just a waste. I may have ruined my life over this. I am not gonna let it affect my kids. It wasnt thier fault

With major companies going under every day. It almost seems laughable. It is harder to go into personal bankrupty than it is for a company to go into bankruptcy. In the tech world it seems like a rite of passage. Stuff just rolls downhill. When the companies go under, their employees, suppliers go under also. What a mess.

[MidnightSwinga]

Shrng -

I'm going to be filing in a couple of weeks, and am having the same feelings as Taffycat & you. Feel like I'm a failure, that I'm taking the easy way out, etc. I'm just curious about a couple of things. How long ago did you file? What has been the reprecussions since you've filed? Have you had trouble finding employement because of the BK? Have you had a hard time establishing any new credit because of it?

Thanks

I just got my discharge last month. Too new to know how it will affect me. I am going to lay low for a while. Work with cash only.

I may try to get a secured card to travel with. But other than that I am not trying anything.

Thank you so much for being so encouraging! Whew, I didn't realize just how stressed out I was until "the final hour".

We made it through our meeting!! Yay!! All went well, just like you said.

There appeared to be about 100 or so people having their meeting as well. We were on page 6 of 9 (9-11 cases per page). We waited almost 2 hours for our case to come up. Since we sat on the second row we were able to hear most of the other cases. That helped a little with the butterflies and prepared us for the questions ahead.

After showing the proper ID's and swearing on the Bible, we were asked to state our names and address. The trustee only asked a couple of questions: "On what date did we surrender our vehicle", and "How did we arrive at the value of our home". That was it!! Then he said that October 11th would be the final date for any objections.

Not a single creditor was there for us!! In fact, the ONLY creditor that we saw in the whole meeting was American General, and thank God, we didn't owe them. In the cases that DID owe AG, they were polite and only stated to the trustee, "Please make a note that we attended the meeting, no questions". Wow, that was certainly easier than I expected. I just knew that we would be the only ones with about 10 big, scary creditors waiting to drill us with questions, LOL.

Afterward, my husband and I had lunch and long nap. He said that he hadn't slept so soundly in months!! Hopefully, this will be a great new start for us.

Now to wait out 60 days!!

Thanks again for your support I really appreciate it!

Taffy

[Ladynred]

Excellent !!! I'm happy for you and your husband that the big stress-out has passed. Its also encouraging to hear

So, you're saying you heard NOTHING whatsoever from DELL ??? Kewl... then there's hope and info for others dealing with them as well.

Now you just get thru the next 60 days and you're free!

Aawwww, thanks Ladynred!

Thanks for the kind words and for remembering me! I haven't forgotten how much you put up with me and my anguish over our computers!

No, Dell wasn't there at all.

The last time they contacted us, during our filing, my husband let them know that we had been to their website to value the 'puters. He also let them know that after 2 years, surely we had paid off at least 1 or 2 of the 3. He added that should they decide they wanted them back, they would be minus a hard drive.

The lady was very polite and said she would relay the info to her supervisor and that the super would contact us back. Not a word as yet! Still hoping!

This board has been a real crutch for me during the past couple of months. Thank you all!

Taffy

[nailtech]

Taffy, congrats on your ability to function again.. Mentally that is, I know exactly how you feel, it’s the sickest feeling... but I wouldn’t hold my breath on Dell calling you back cause they can’t and most likely wont because of the court order... you should receive one piece of paper between now and the discharge date, if the "trustee abandons all property". But don’t fret, it’s a good letter if it states that..... most likely in about 30 days from now.. and when our discharge date came it was another 3 weeks before we received our final papers, I can only guess the backlog got us... good luck.....

[bigun]

Hey, you guys quit feeling like a failure. In a free enterprise economy, you're allowed to fail and then, given the opportunity to rebuild. Many people have been in an untenable postion and sought protection under bk and then made the most of the second chance. I always believe that the human condition just has to get better. You folks are going to be just fine. Just take life a day at a time and take care of your families and eventually, you'll be back on top.

Oh my goodness, {{sniff}} Straight from the heart, I feel like I have just been hugged by a group of dear friends! I am so teary eyed!

You guys are something else .... thank you for being there.

You have certainly made the road less lonely and the baggage a lot lighter!

What was truly heart breaking, was seeing an elderly couple at the meeting. The husband was a frail gentleman pushing his wife in a wheel chair. They surrendered their home and their vehicle. Very humbling. I can't seem to get them out of my head. I keep wondering if they have family to take care of them. Certainly causes one to appreciate even more.

Taffy

[nailtech]

quote* What was truly heart breaking, was seeing an elderly couple at the meeting. The husband was a frail gentleman pushing his wife in a wheel chair. They surrendered their home and their vehicle. Very humbling. I can't seem to get them out of my head. I keep wondering if they have family to take care of them. Certainly causes one to appreciate even more. * unquote


now thats a tear jerker... and just about the saddest thing...

[MidnightSwinga]

Taffycat,

Thanks SO much for posting your experiences. I am filing individually in in September and I'm very much nervous about the experience, reading your post has helped me know what to expect.

So what's your next step? On to rebuilding your credit?