Discharged BK7, creditor still taking money?

[Anonymous]

Ok, any help would be awesome. I filed pro se in WA state in late January, and was discharged in May. It was a no asset case. Friday I realized that that this company called Snap Finance was still taking money from a bank account that I don't use anymore. It was good main account prior to the BK but now it's basically just an account I auto deposit money as passive savings so I never really check it. They have taken $82 every other week since mid- February with the most recent one being Friday 9/18/2020.

I checked my papers and realized that I inadvertently left the company off my list of debts. The finance company was used to pay for an auto repair in early December,  and it was something like 60 days no payments. They set up auto billing when I took the loan and haven't ever sent statements or billing emails, and there are no statements online

in my account so I think the lack

of communication from them made me forget it. It isn't on my credit report either, so I didn't have the chance to see it there and report it on my list of creditors. 

So here is where I'm at now. The court clerk said I don't need to reopen the case, I would just need to inform the creditor I had a discharged bankruptcy. She said something about in WA we follow the 9th Circuit and that if it was a no asset case the debt was included even if I didn't list it so to call the company. I did that Friday via online chat (screen shotted proof) and sent them a copy of the discharge order. The guy said they would process it and be in contact. 

Today, for the first time ever, they charged me 12 days early and took a double payment ($165 instead of $82). I'm not sure what to do as they are most certainly aware of the CH 7

now and this payment was not on the list of payments scheduled on their website (every two weeks for the duration of the term) so I can't help but feel like they charged me as a retaliation for filing or something. Any idea on how to proceed? I don't expect them to refund me months of payments, although I would love if they did! However, they charged me wrongly today and that was after they found out about my discharge so surely they would owe me that back, right?

[Caliboy97]

I would reach out to your attorney on how to go about it. They will have the best answers knowing Washington law with it

[Anonymous]

I filed pro se. 

[jmw1]

Did you close the account that they're using to pull the monthly payments? If not, you need to do that today unless you are planning to just forget about it and pay the debt in full. Considering you saved on legal fees by going pro se, maybe that is an option. Your hypothetical BK lawyer would have charged you an extra $200 on top of the original BK retainer fees to deal with this informally without reopening the case. 

You need to send notice of the BK by certified mail since we know that this is a hostile creditor. Don't rely on the online chat but save the screenshots of the chat. I would do this no matter what you decide to do. Maybe they will give up after getting a mailed notice. Make sure you send it to the address they use for service of process and not just the address on the bill.

The automatic stay seems like a great shield, but it's actually hard to enforce it against a hostile creditor even with a lawyer. Hostile creditors don't respond to your threats except to actual lawsuits filed in court which forces them to file an answer. They probably realized you are pro se so it will be even better for the creditor to abuse you and get away with it. If you go down the automatic stay violation route, you need to raise the money for a retainer because these cases are not slam dunk since you need to prove actual damages, not just general annoyance and stress at the hostile creditor.

I'm sorry I don't have good news for you. This is one of the risks of going pro se but the same thing may happen anyway even if you had hired a lawyer.

[DebtStinks]

Again, just like others, this isn't legal advice since I'm not an attorney. 

I'd personally send certified (signature required) mail of Bankruptcy filing.

Request ALL funds be returned within 30 days of receipt and all collection efforts (ACH, etc) cease upon receipt of such notice.

An automatic stay is just that, and creditors break the law each and every day for reasons like this...they get away with it more often than not. They "throw the dice" and even when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar they don't care much because they collect 10x more on the accounts/times they don't get "caught."

Best of luck! Do NOT give up on this! You got this!

[Anonymous]

I did not close the account. It's sort of out of sight, out of mind. I actually forgot about this issue until today when they took more money from my account. I'll be closing it today!!

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I'll do what you guys suggested and send a letter and proof of the filing by certified mail today!!