When it comes to declaring bankruptcy it’s important to find out who you owe money to, even if they live out of state.
For starters, if you don’t know whom you owe money to, go into a quiet room, sit down with a piece of paper and pencil, take out a calendar, and let your mind ponder of each month; and think about all the people or businesses that you could possibly own money to. In time, you’re mind will begin to recall all your creditors.
All you have to do is ask yourself to “remember all my debts”
If you let your mind free-associate, I have found that all my clients have been able to do an excellent job in remembering whom they own money to.
Pull your 3 major credit reports
My office will give you a handout called “Free Credit Report”. The best method for obtaining all your credit reports is to use the toll-free number we provide in our pamphlet; and that number is 1-877-322-8228. You can call that number and the entire script of what you will hear in the voice system will be laid out for you in the pamphlet. After talking with them and giving them your information, they’ll begin the process of sending you your credit reports.
The credit reports you receive in the mail are probably the best reports you can get. You can also obtain your three credit reports via the internet and print them out, but they aren’t as good as the ones you receive in the mail and usually obtaining your credit report isn’t an urgent situation when it comes to bankruptcy so waiting a few extra days for them to come in is well worth it because the ones that come through the mail are much more detailed, there’s no risk of being trapped into some internet website monthly fee, and it’s completely free to get them by mail.
Watch my video below for more details on finding your creditors
There is only one official website for obtaining your credit report
There’s only one official website that is approved for providing credit reports, by the Federal Trade Commission and that website is ANNUALCREDITREPORT.COM (source). All the other websites which promise you a free credit report are most probably rip-off companies because even though they say they are a free service, you still end up paying for your reports.
Under the law you are entitled to a free credit report at least once a year and the credit bureaus had to establish a special website to comply with the law. Keep in mind that although AnnualCreditReport.com is free, they still provide other services for which they charge for but you don’t need to sign up for any of them in order to obtain your report.
I can tell you from years of experience, that you don’t want to admit to any creditor that you’re filing a bankruptcy petition. Even if you think you can possibly owe on a debt, you should list it on the petition at the section which indicates if the debt can be contingent or disputed by yourself. If there’s any possibility that you may own a debt. You should list it on your petition. Don’t wait until after you file bankruptcy to improve your credit report!
Find your creditors before you declare bankruptcy
Most credit reports are loaded with errors and finding out about any of the errors after you file bankruptcy is something you want to completely avoid. Finding out who your creditors are after you file is a typical problem. As an example. say you go to get a car loan and the credit manager says you can’t obtain the loan because your credit report shows that you still owe on a debt. This happens when the creditor of whom you’ve paid your debt off to doesn’t file the payment with the credit bureau and so it appears that you still owe the debt. Creditors have no incentive to report payments or a discharge of a debt and so you have to deal with these errors on your credit report before you can move on.
I’ve developed a program named “The Fast Track To Credit” for clients who have either filed bankruptcy or have bad credit but desire to buy a home or car or simply want to improve their credit score in general. We give all my clients my booklets and 2 DVDs on this subject and I give them instructions on how to use the booklet.
If you use my videos and booklets and if you follow my recommendations you can easily have a passing 625 passing FICO score within 12 to 24 months after you file bankruptcy and indeed, many of my clients far exceed the FICO score of 625 within that same time period.
We will help you find your creditors
We have a tremendous library of names and special phone books to discover the names of almost any creditor and we will help you with the process of finding your creditors. So far as long as you give us the name of the creditor, state or states the creditor can be located, we can discover the address. No matter how remote the creditor has been, our office has found it. Please note, that we need to address and zip code of the creditor so we can properly fulfill our obligations under the law to give proper notice to the creditor that you’re filing for bankruptcy. Without notice under the law in compromises the integrity of the discharge.
Remember, it is very important that you list all creditors on your bankruptcy petition, the credit can actually sue you post-bankruptcy.
The take home
Follow all the advice and tips in this article and if you live in the CT area, don’t hesitate to call my office directly and speak with me directly. I would be more than delighted to help you with your petition and most importantly with the first step in discovering your creditors.