If you are overwhelmed by medical expenses, credit card bills and mortgage payments, you are not alone. Hundreds of thousands of Americans struggle to keep their head above water when it comes to their finances. Part of this may involve consistent contact from creditors and collection agencies regarding late or missed payments. The calls can become intrusive and annoying and in some cases, may involve harassing threats. There is a way that you can stop creditor and collection agency harassment and start over with a clean financial slate.
Once you submit your paperwork for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, an automatic stay is put in place. Automatic stays alert creditors that you have filed for bankruptcy and informs them that they are no longer able to contact you regarding missed or skipped payments. While the stay is effective, creditors are no longer able to garnish your wages or initiate phone calls asking for payments on the account. Creditors are also unable to pursue or initiate lawsuits seeking retribution for unpaid accounts as well.
It is critical that you include all of your creditors on your Chapter 7 bankruptcy paperwork, as these are the entities that will receive an automatic stay. If you fail to list a credit card company or financial institution on your bankruptcy application, they may continue to contact you. It is important to report any creditors that continue to contact or harass you once the automatic stay is in place. Chapter 7 bankruptcy can help to unbury you from your financial burdens and restrict harassing calls while you start to rebuild your financial health.
This information is intended to educate and should not be taken as legal advice.
