Currently the maximum debt limits for Chapter 13 are $1,010,650 in secured debt, and $336,900 in unsecured debt. On April 1, 2010, those debt limits will likely increase to $1,081,500 for secured debt, and $360,525 in secured debt. While these increases are not exactly exponential, these days every little bit helps.
Debtors across both Oregon and Washington often wonder how they will possibly discover all their creditors prior to filing bankruptcy. Luckily, Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year.
While it is possible to access your credit report online, many credit reporting companies require you to give up many of your rights prior to giving you access to your credit report through their websites. Even after they give you access to your report, you have to make your way through a maze of offers to purchase services that you do not necessarily need. This being the case, the reality is that the best way to get your report is to request it by mail.
Steps to Take Before Filing A Bankruptcy In Oregon or Washington
Clients often worry about whether they will be able to open or even keep bank accounts while their bankruptcy is pending, or even after their bankruptcy is closed. In both Washington and Oregon, there are no bankruptcy laws that would prevent you from opening or keeping a bank account. There may, however, be some issues to resolve
If you are in the process of getting your case ready for filing and have a bank account with a bank or credit union that has also loaned you money, you may want to open an account at an institution to which you are not in debt. This is so because banks and credit unions generally have the right to set off the money you are holding in your account against the debt that you owe them. Even if you are current, the money in your account may be used as collateral for the debt. Granted not all institutions follow this practice, but it is often impossible to determine which ones will. In Both Washington and Oregon, credit unions are the lenders most likely seize funds held in accounts. Credit unions will often seize funds deposited after filing so watch out.
In both Oregon and Washington, clients are always at least a little bit nervous regarding the one hearing that they have to attend while their bankruptcy case is pending. That hearing, commonly known as the 341 hearing or meeting of the creditors, generally takes place a month after the case is filed. Often clients lose sleep as the hearing approaches for no good reason.
In both Oregon and Washington, creditors rarely appear at 341 creditors hearings at least that is the case here in Salem, Vancouver and Portland. Why? There is little that creditors can do at these hearings. In Portland, 341 hearing are scheduled at a rate of roughly ten per hour. This means that the trustee will rarely devote more than six minutes to any one case. Creditors who are familiar with the process rarely bother to appear: They know that there is not time to ask any significant questions, and creditors who are not familiar with the bankruptcy process will often find themselves cut off by the trustee after just a few questions.
In both Oregon and Washington, a bankruptcy filing discharges any homeowner’s fees that accrued before the bankruptcy case is filed. The discharge does not release the homeowner for fees for months after the case is filed, for so long as the debtor owns or occupies the condo. Because the homeowner is liable for post-file fees, it may make sense to file a given bankruptcy case close to an actual foreclosure sale date in order to discharge as much of the potential HOA fees as possible.portland, tigard, gresham, bankruptcy, hillsboro, vancouver, longview, chehalis, beaverton
What happens when you cannot make your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy payments to the Portland or Vancouver Trustee due to one time only expense or unanticipated bill? What do you do when, say, a car breaks down, your heating goes out, or when you or your spouse miss work due to a temporary illness or injury?
The fact is that you have multiple options. None of them involve keeping the unexpected loss or income or secret from your Vancouver or Portland Bankruptcy Attorney.
People are often nervous about the Vancouver, Washington Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Meeting of the Creditors. The real source of this anxiety is that they have no idea what to expect.
If you file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Petition in Washington and your hearing is set for Vancouver, Washington will want you to complete and submit a Trustee Information Sheet to your Bankruptcy attorney.
Failure to complete the Washington Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee Information Sheet may result in your hearing being continued to a later date.
If you file a chapter 13 bankruptcy petition in Washington or Oregon, your plan payment will be made through wage garnishment instead of a direct payment. Both the Portland and Vancouver Chapter 13 Trustees will insist on it. As much as you might be uncomfortable with this intrusion, having your Chapter 13 payment f come directly out of your check will greatly increase your success rate. Direct payment will force you to budget in order to make it through your chapter 13 bankruptcy.
People often truly believe that they can successfully budget and make the monthly payment to the chapter 13 trustee. More often than not life gets in the way and a debtor will pay everything else first. When something really important comes up, the Chapter 13 plan payment does not get made because there is no money left at the end of the month. At some point the Portland or Vancouver Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee will file a Motion to Dismiss for Failure to Pay.
