Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

[Anonymous]

My DH is going to file Ch 7 individually. Is he allowed to keep one cc?

[granny031350]

If it has a zero balance on the card then it does not need to be listed on his creditor matrix.  Now generally, the minute the card companies get wind of a bk filing they automatically shut down any accounts.  However some have been known to survive.  Hopefully this cc company doesn't check public records listings.  GL with it.

[MaraBlue]

My attorney told me even zero balance accounts need to be included.

[Anonymous]

My ex and I had to file Ch. 7 in 2004.  We included everything and then Sears showed up at the hearing and offerred us to keep the card open and cut the balance in 1/2.  So we owed like $1,000 on it and they then cut it to $500 and then allowed us to keep the card.

I've heard Sears does this because they woudl rather get *something* vs. nothing during a bankruptcy and it was 100% OUR choice to agree or not.  If we did not agree, it would have just been included in the bankruptcy.  And it did end up helping re-establishing credit again to some small degree.

[Anonymous]

Mara Blue - Your attorney is giving you bad info.  That is not true.  What is required is that you list ALL debts, even those to family and friends (if any).  If a credit card has a zero balance, that is NOT debt.

The other thing to remember is NOT to use any credit  cards from at least 90 days prior to your filing date until you are discharged.  That will get you in trouble if you do....

[Anonymous]

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Boscoe wrote:

Mara Blue - Your attorney is giving you bad info.  That is not true.  What is required is that you list ALL debts, even those to family and friends (if any).  If a credit card has a zero balance, that is NOT debt.

The other thing to remember is NOT to use any credit  cards from at least 90 days prior to your filing date until you are discharged.  That will get you in trouble if you do....

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My ex and I filed BK (reorganization) years and years ago. At the time, we had two secured cards. We were told that since the cards were secured, they were not really "debts" and we could omit them from the filing. We did; they survived; a couple years after BK was discharged, I dumped him and took him off the cards. ;-)  Some time later, the cards reverted to unsecured, I remarried, my scores are finally "good" to "excellent" and we are living happily ever after. heh

[MaraBlue]

It's still an open line of credit, and therefore needs to be included in the filing.

[ScoreBooster]

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@MaraBlue wrote:
It's still an open line of credit, and therefore needs to be included in the filing.

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Sorry, but that is SIMPLY WRONG!

[pazuzu]

You may be able to maintain a "store" charge account that doesn't have a balance on it.

I held on to two retail cards during my BK mess.

[Anonymous]

That may have been true when you filed years and years ago, but the BK laws changed in OCT of 2005.