Who are my creditors?

[ParadiseLost]

What is the name of your state? Hawaii

As stated elsewhere, I'm being forced to declare bankruptcy after becoming homeless and having a nervous breakdown, thanks to a shyster realtor.
I have bills that I haven't paid a cent on since it first happened, 2 1/2 years ago. Because of my emotional state, when I got a home and a new address I did NOT file a forwarding address because, frankly, I couldn't deal with all the bills, late notices etc. I'm on disability, and because I could no longer work P/T to supplement it, there was simply no money with with to pay them anything.

A friend of mine is a paralegal and is preparing my bankruptcy papers at no charge; I just have to come up with the filing fee. He's done bankruptices for people before, but not in a couple of years, so I want to make sure we do this right. He told me to give him a list of my debts, and I have three questions:

1. I assume that by now some (if not most) of these debts have been sold to collection agencies. Should I simply list the original creditor, or do I have to find out if a collection agency has taken over? If the latter, how do I do that?

2. Should I list the last balance I had on each bill, or should I "guesstimate" what it would be with the accrued additional interest? I guess with 2 1/2 years and those high interest rates, the original amounts would have almost doubled.

3. I took the realtor to Small Claims Court in the hopes of at least recovering for the furniture she destroyed and some medical expenses (Although every lawyer I spoke to said I had a great case, none would take it on contingency), and she didn't show up - so I got a judgement by default. Collecting from her will be something else again, and we're looking at only about $4K. (Which would pay my moving expenses back to the Mainland.) That would fall within the amound of the federal exemption. Do I have to list that judgement on my assets? Other than whatever equity I have in my car, I don't have any other assets to speak of - just my clothes and my furniture.

Thanks for your help - you guys are great and I'm glad I found you!

[Ladynred]

1. I assume that by now some (if not most) of these debts have been sold to collection agencies. Should I simply list the original creditor, or do I have to find out if a collection agency has taken over? If the latter, how do I do that?

** What you need to do ASAP is pull ALL 3 credit reports, do NOT pull a tri-merge or 3-in-1 report, they lack critical details. It costs $9 each and you CAN pull them on-line. You may qualify for a FREE credit report in 3 ways - you've been denied credit, you've become unemployed, or you believe you're a victim of fraud/identity theft. Once you have your reports, you will be able to see ALL of your creditors, inlcuding collection agencies. On your paperwork you list the original creditor AND ALL of the CA's that may appear for that same debt.

. Should I list the last balance I had on each bill, or should I "guesstimate" what it would be with the accrued additional interest? I guess with 2 1/2 years and those high interest rates, the original amounts would have almost doubled.

*** DO NOT GUESS !! You could end up owing after your discharge ! The balances you need will be on your credit report. Pad them a bit to make up for added charges that will accrue up until the time you file your papers.

3 - Judgment - I don't know that you can claim this as an 'asset' since w/o any collection on it you get nothing. I believe there's a place on the papers to list this sort of thing. The Trustee will likely ask what your expectations are of collecting it any time soon.
If you want your money, you're going to have to get a writ of execution of one sort or another be it a levy on bank accounts, property or garnishment of wages. That'll take time.. and money.