Communication with Employer during bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

Hi, I had a consult for bankruptcy and am paying all the fees in the next 30 days. My issue is, Barclays bank sent me a letter saying to send in a statement to the court within 28 days and that they were going to file a judgement against me. This was at the beginning of March. I immediately called and set up a payment plan to start this friday. My bankruptcy lawyer advised me to stop paying them immediately, but i haven’t
made a payment yet. I’m worried that within the next 30 days when I’m paying the attorney before filing, they will take me to court and garnish my wages. I’m a nanny but my pay is on the books. My employer is always very kind to me and I feel like it will negatively impact our relationship if my wages get garnished. Should I tell him its possible or should I wait? Does the entire process of taking me to court start over since I haven’t paid or do they just send me my court date next? I need help!

[MyDataMyChoice]

if your filing bankruptcy.... tell Barclays you are filing bankruptcy... they wont waste their time

[Anonymous]

Tell them before or after the judgment?

[rbentley]

I am assuming they haven't even filed suit yet, right?  Or have they filed and served you and things were on hold due to settlement?  If they haven't even filed yet you will have much more than 30 days before they could get a judgment.  They have to file with the Court, get you served and then in most jurisdictions you have 20 days to file an Answer.  You can file a "General Denial" and that would likely resut in a minum of an additional 45 days before a judgment could be entered.

You should be fine, especially if you do file within the next 30 days.

[Anonymous]

Great, thank you so much!

[Shooting-For-800]

Make one payment if you want to delay.

Garnishments come after judgements though.

I would imagine you are 90 days+ away from a garnishment.

Barclays has to file a suit, get a date, you can delay, get another date, get a judgement, then file for garnishment.

During this entire process, the minute you file BK, EVERYTHING STOPS.

People have literally saved their homes from being auctioned off by filing BK the day before the auction.

I am pretty sure on this but I am not a lawyer and each state may vary.

[Anonymous]

My advice from going through this personally is to show up to your first court date, and do not answer the judge when they plainly ask you "Do you owe this debt?".  You say nothing but that you need a continuance to find legal representation.  Thats it.  You will be granted another 30 days.  Then if you need more time, you do the same thing at the next court date.  The judges understand.  But DO NOT admit to owing that debt in court to the judge.  Your case will be closed at that point, and you will have a judgement that they will collect on quickly.  You should be able to get a few extensions by going to court and asking.  And if you dont show up to court, they usually will give you an extension and another court date by default.  But push them along as long as the judge will allow.  Then file.  But dont let them get that judgement.  That will haunt your credit for years.  There is no need to let that happen, when you can do what I said.  

[Anonymous]

And only do what I said if you are unable to file before they can get you in court.  If you have the ability to file, then by all means do it as soon as possible.  As others said, it will stop any court cases in their tracks, and those cases will be dismissed at their next hearing date.  There is no need to go to court at all if you can get filed.  Then the second you are filed, get on the phones with every single creditor and make sure they know.  They will ask for the lawyer's phone number, your case number and date of filing.  Hand all that over, and enjoy the silence that comes with it.  No more harassing phone calls or letters.  And if they do call after you gave them that notice, threaten them you will sue their a$$es.

[Fx6cowboy]

The real answer comes from if you’ve actually been served. Anyone can threaten to sue any one, creditor scare tactics only work if we act on impulse.

I would follow the advice of your attorney, do not do anything but file for Bk as you were planing to do so. If you HAVE been served, a bankruptcy filing stops any court proceedings over debts in their tracks.

[Shooting-For-800]

FTR - you can send all your creditors “mail or email only” communication letters and they have to stop calling by law.

This can be done without BK.