Law Office of James Keenan
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Personal service since 1995
An “automatic stay” is legalese for the barrier between you and your creditors when you file for bankruptcy. It is the protective shield that prevents your creditors from collecting from you after you file for bankruptcy. Phone calls, letters, lawsuits, garnishments, levies and foreclosures are all barred once the automatic stay goes into effect upon the filing of a bankruptcy. Powerful legal tool!
Don’t worry! Bankruptcy covers all debt accumulated before a bankruptcy is filed. Though you must list all the creditors you know, debts or creditors you aren’t aware of when you file bankruptcy are still considered part of your bankruptcy and discharge as long as the debt arose before you filed bankruptcy. Often creditors sell their debt to collection companies and they, in turn, sell it to other collection companies, and so on, and so on . . . Soon you don’t know who’s out there trying to come after you. Just know that XYZ Collecton Co., who bought your debt from ABC Collection Co., can’t try to collect from you because you failed to list them as a creditor in your bankruptcy case since you never knew they even existed.
Did you know bankruptcy can improve your credit? It can. Credit scores certainly consider a bankruptcy filing but, even more so, your credit is evaluated by your existing debt. By eliminating your debt through bankruptcy, your credit score can actually improve!