Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Does it pay for you to file a claim based on the labor and repayment length?

Kenlyn T. Gretz CEO of Americollect Since 1964

Not Legal Advice If you aren’t an attorney, get one if you need one.

Chapter 13 A payment plan or rehabilitation-style case for individuals with a regular source of income Chapter 7: A liquidation-style case for individuals or businesses. Consumer pays nothing 90% of the time.

Chapter 13 Basics  Consumer Education is completed – 180 Days  Filing Fee of $274  List of Assets & Liabilities are presented to Trustee  Means Testing is done & determination if debt will be pro-rated  All assets are kept, but Trustee determines repayment terms of 3 to 5 years.  Notice & Automatic Stay to creditors  Meeting of Creditors  Payments are made to creditors who file a claim  Debt is discharged

Converting a 13 to a 7  The consumer can convert a Chapter 13 to a 7 as long as they have not filed a 7 within the last 8 years.  Files Chapter 13 on  Converts to 7 on  All debts incurred between that time can be included in the new filing of  Must not have filed Chapter 7 in last 8 years.

Cannot File Bankruptcy Again Chapter 13 to Chapter 13. If your debts were discharged in a prior Chapter 13 case, you cannot receive a discharge in a subsequent Chapter 13 unless it is filed at least two years after the date the first case was filed. Because it usually takes three to five years to complete a Chapter 13 repayment plan and receive a discharge, you can typically file for another Chapter 13 bankruptcy and be eligible for a discharge immediately after your first case is closed.

Cannot File Bankruptcy Again Chapter 7 to Chapter 13. If your first discharge was under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can file for a subsequent Chapter 13 and be eligible for a discharge if the case is filed at least four years after the filing date of the initial Chapter 7.

Cannot File Bankruptcy Again Chapter 13 to Chapter 7. Finally, if you received a discharge in a previous Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you must wait six years from the date the Chapter 13 was filed before you can file for and receive a discharge in a subsequent Chapter 7 case. But there is an exception to this rule. The six-year rule does not apply if, in the previous Chapter 13, you paid back: a)all of your unsecured debts, or b)at least 70% of your unsecured debts and your plan was proposed in good faith and your best effort.

More Debts After Filing It is possible for a consumer to add on more claims to a Chapter 13 case already filed if the debt was incurred after the original filing date, but it does not happen often. The debt would need to be a debt created outside of their control (credit card debt would not qualify in most cases).  This is not automatic.  The trustee would need to approve.  This does not happen too often; most convert to a Chapter 7.

Notifications of Bankruptcy PDF notification of bankruptcy documents.

Notifications of Bankruptcy  Data Files V PDF  Warning: the mapping guide is 62 pages long!  Strong programmers  Cost justification

PACER $0.10 per page clicked on, but not to search. Cap of $3.00 per document.

Bankruptcy Court Websites From Some uniformity, but not 100%

CMECF Case Management/ Electronic Claims Filing

Redaction REDACTION link

Redaction 1.Audit Proofs of Claim 2. a) the last four digits of the social-security number and taxpayer-identification number; b) the year of the individual's birth; c) the minor's initials; and d) the last four digits of the financial-account number. 3.The name of an individual, other than the debtor, known to be and identified as a minor 4.Financial account #? Healthcare account #?

Chapter 13 Stats! File Chapter 13 – Three Outcomes: 1.Complete the plan - you get paid a % on the $ 2.Consumer stops making payments - you don’t get paid and it gets dismissed. 3.Consumer converts to Chapter 7 - you don’t get paid.

Chapter 13 Stats!  2014: 900,000 filed - all Chapters down 12% from 2013  Chapter 13’s increased from 32% to 34%  87 Billion in Assets compared to 140 Billion in debts

Chapter 13 Stats! 51% are completed 49% are dismissed

Chapter 13 Stats! 51% are completed A total of 344,873 Chapter 13 consumer cases filed on or after October 17, 2006, were terminated during The mean time interval from filing to disposition was 1,133 days (up from 1,036 days in 2013), and the median time interval was 1,229 days (up from 1,092 days in 2013).

Chapter 13 Stats!  51% are completed  45%  37%

Chapter 13 Stats! In 36 percent of the 301,103 cases (107,602) in which debtors sought protection under Chapter 13 in 2014, the debtors stated that they had filed a bankruptcy petition during the previous 8 years.

How Much Will You Get Paid? Make sure your team knows how to find this. 99.9% of our listeners are unsecure.

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Labor Time To File Proof  Redaction (print, black out, scan back in)  Multiple DOS. Combined Form.  Multiple Patients - spouse.  HIPAA Risk (uploading the wrong patients proof of claim)  Time to upload and go on line and enter claim.  7 minutes to 15 minutes per proof.

Labor Time To Apply Payments The cost of applying the Chapter 13 repayment $$ that trickle in is a hard one to figure out.  1 payment or 100?  Remembering to adjust the balance at the end.  Juggling payment application on many different dates of service.

Labor Time To Apply Payments  Trustees are starting to Automate ACH payment and sending electronic file.  Sample File

Dismissed Not Filed  If you choose not to file a proof of claim, you must cancel the account balance immediately.  If the case is later dismissed, you can re-open the account and continue collecting.

Things to Consider  Are you secured or unsecured?  What % on the dollar are they paying?  What is your cost to file the proof of claim?  How long will you keep the account open on your system?  What is the possibility of violating the automatic stay?  Will they have new accounts and will this bankruptcy pending account get mixed in?  When was the last time they filed a Chapter 7?  Are they doing a 13 to buy some time?

Join Us For Our Next Webinar: ITEMIZED STATEMENT REQUEST Learn how to streamline the process, reduce time spent with them, and learn why validation of debt request is needed Host: Kenlyn T. Gretz Tuesday, Dec. 8th, :00 PM - 1:45 PM CST If you would like to register today, visit our website at OR send an to If you’re UNABLE to attend but would like to receive the recorded webinar and handouts, fill in this form at:

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