topic Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card? in Bankruptcy

Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:31:41 GMT

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

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

granny031350 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:27:30 GMT

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.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

MaraBlue — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:11:21 GMT

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

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:30:57 GMT

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.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:59:58 GMT

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....

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:20:09 GMT

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....

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

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

MaraBlue — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:48:50 GMT

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

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ScoreBooster — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:24:50 GMT

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

Sorry, but that is SIMPLY WRONG!

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

pazuzu — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:51:04 GMT

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.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:29:51 GMT

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

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:33:33 GMT

The United States Bankruptcy Code states that you must include all debt. If the card has a zero balance it does not have to be included, there is no debt. Any debt owed, even if it is your great great granny has to be listed in the BK. As for keeping cards open, you can not in a chapter 13, a chapter 7 you might be able to work something out after the BK but most of the time the card issuer closes the accounts.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 15:07:07 GMT

when i filled for chapter 7 my attorney actually charged me 10 bucks to pull my credit report and that is when he got all the creditors list to include in chapter 7 filling notification. Now, i got discharged in june 3 and some of my card got survived and i like to use them (for building my creditc back purpose). so some says okay to use as long as creditor doesnt pull your report, other says it would/may consider fraud.... well i guess i gotta ask this to a lawyer now.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ezdriver — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 16:07:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
when i filled for chapter 7 my attorney actually charged me 10 bucks to pull my credit report and that is when he got all the creditors list to include in chapter 7 filling notification. Now, i got discharged in june 3 and some of my card got survived and i like to use them (for building my creditc back purpose). so some says okay to use as long as creditor doesnt pull your report, other says it would/may consider fraud.... well i guess i gotta ask this to a lawyer now.

That is exactly what my attorney did.

Incidently, for those holding a zero-balance card that survived a bankruptcy discharge and they believe they have a right to use, how about calling the creditor and verifying that you can legally use them? If you don't want to do that, I'm suggesting that you know how legally questionable the action would be. Go for it. Give it a try. Remember that getting away with doing something does not make that action legal.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 19:26:05 GMT

Okay this is really weird. ..i just called Amex and spoke with a representative. I asked him if my account needs to be closed, reaffirmed or good to use due to my recent bankruptcy? He said let me check. ..few minutes later he said my card is OK to use. I repeat it again that I had a bankruptcy doesn't that affects my accounts he said your account shows good to use you have bee with us 13 yrs...blah blah...
I am going to call them again. .this sounds to good to be true. ..

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ezdriver — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 20:06:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Okay this is really weird. ..i just called Amex and spoke with a representative. I asked him if my account needs to be closed, reaffirmed or good to use due to my recent bankruptcy? He said let me check. ..few minutes later he said my card is OK to use. I repeat it again that I had a bankruptcy doesn't that affects my accounts he said your account shows good to use you have bee with us 13 yrs...blah blah...
I am going to call them again. .this sounds to good to be true. ..

Great. Now at least you have the creditor telling you that you can use it. Go buy yourself a nice steak dinner!

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 04:54:11 GMT

i am a vegetarian , i wont eat steak. its amazin how there are some many rulles and always some exceptions.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ezdriver — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 15:13:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i am a vegetarian , i wont eat steak. its amazin how there are some many rulles and always some exceptions.

Know that I just gave myself a dozen lashes with a hadful of wet noodles for my assumption that you love steak like I do. Now go buy yourself a nice meal of noodles! lol

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ScoreBooster — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 23:06:08 GMT

@ezdriver wrote:

That is exactly what my attorney did.
Incidently, for those holding a zero-balance card that survived a bankruptcy discharge and they believe they have a right to use, how about calling the creditor and verifying that you can legally use them? If you don't want to do that, I'm suggesting that you know how legally questionable the action would be. Go for it. Give it a try. Remember that getting away with doing something does not make that action legal.

I assume we are talking about surviving accounts that had a $0-balance the day of filing. If so, there is absolutely nothing questionable about using these cards after BK.

When no debt existed the day of filing, the accounts weren't involved in the BK in the first place. The debtor is responsible for all charges made to these accounts AFTER filing. I also don't understand why I should consider myself lucky in "getting away" with using AND paying a credit-card.

In addition to that, it would probably take me the rest of the day to list all the inaccurate information I obtained over the years by so-called "customer service representatives" over the phone - so I would certainly not take anything they tell me for granted. In a legal dispute, I couldn't prove it in the first place.

So in 9 out of 10 times, calling a creditor about such an account will very likely result in account-closure - and that's about it.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ScoreBooster — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 23:10:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
other says it would/may consider fraud.... well i guess i gotta ask this to a lawyer now.

Don't worry - you're good to go. It would be fraud if you would try to get rid if debt occured after filing and claiming that it was part of your BK-debt. THAT is fraud.

Wilfully not listing debt? A no-go. Not listing accounts with $0-Balances? That's actually the law because it is impossible to file an accurate BK-petition that contains $0-accounts.

Obtaining debt after filing and paying it - perfectly legal.

Re: Chapter 7: Can you keep a credit card?

ezdriver — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 00:11:06 GMT

@ScoreBooster wrote:
@ezdriver wrote:

That is exactly what my attorney did.
Incidently, for those holding a zero-balance card that survived a bankruptcy discharge and they believe they have a right to use, how about calling the creditor and verifying that you can legally use them? If you don't want to do that, I'm suggesting that you know how legally questionable the action would be. Go for it. Give it a try. Remember that getting away with doing something does not make that action legal.

I assume we are talking about surviving accounts that had a $0-balance the day of filing. If so, there is absolutely nothing questionable about using these cards after BK.

When no debt existed the day of filing, the accounts weren't involved in the BK in the first place. The debtor is responsible for all charges made to these accounts AFTER filing. I also don't understand why I should consider myself lucky in "getting away" with using AND paying a credit-card.

In addition to that, it would probably take me the rest of the day to list all the inaccurate information I obtained over the years by so-called "customer service representatives" over the phone - so I would certainly not take anything they tell me for granted. In a legal dispute, I couldn't prove it in the first place.

So in 9 out of 10 times, calling a creditor about such an account will very likely result in account-closure - and that's about it.

My assumption is that you actually filed a bankruptcy petition right? I did.

One way or the other, the creditors will know about the bankruptcy filing. Bottom line is that it is up to the creditor to decide whether ot cancel or leave active any zero-balance credit card subsequent to a bankruptcy discharge. Thank the creditor if the TL remains active and useable. The "fine print" in some credit card agreements state that the account becomes inactive if the account holder files for bankruptcy. After my ch7 disharge, I tried to use two of my zero-balance cards [Wells Fargo and Cap1] and found that they were cancelled automatically when I filed. Like others here, I too assumed that they were available for my use so I did not call the creditors until my charges were declined. YMMV.