Q: I have considerable credit card debt, if I seek charterer 7 will the c.c. company write off those debts?
If one uses chapter 7 to eliminate credit card debt, will the c.c. company go back to the original retailer to dispute charges or will the c.c. co. simply write off the charges?
A:
There is nothing to dispute with the retailer.
Charge cards are a business. They make money off of lending money.
Writing off bad debt is just a cost of doing business.
A: The result of filing chapter 7 and receiving a discharge, is that you will no longer be responsible for paying the credit card debt and the creditors cannot seek payment from you. There are no negotiations that take place; the entirety of the debt is discharged. It is critical to make sure that all of your creditors are listed in the bankruptcy schedules that are filed with the court, including the original creditor and any collection agencies that you have received notices from. The notice from the court to creditors that your bankruptcy was filed and the subsequent notice that the order of discharge has been entered, relies on the information in your bankruptcy schedules.
A: Generally all of your unsecured credit card debt will be discharged, but there are exceptions. If you went out and charged up the card or cards and then filed bankruptcy, the filing could be challenged by one or all of the cards you charged up. Or if you used a card for anything but household necessities, like a flight to Hawaii or a vacation somewhere and then filed, that could be seen as a bad faith filing. There are time limits to a charge being bad faith "on its face", but to be safe, if you have used your cards within the last 90 days, or you ran up the cards, you should see a bankruptcy attorney. There are other reasons that you might not want to file a Chapter 7 and a bankruptcy attorney can help you with that.
A:
You are asking a really good question.
Here is what happens when you buy items in a store and pay with a bank credit card. The bank pays the store for you, and the bank assumes all the risk. You then become the absolute owner of the merchandise.
If you discharge the bank credit card in bankruptcy, the bank takes the loss. They have no rights in the merchandise.
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