Niles Bankruptcy Attorney Explains The Creditor Notification Process

According to Niles bankruptcy attorney, after your bankruptcy cases filed, the clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court will issue a notice.  This notice is known as a 341 Meeting of Creditors notice pursuant to Section 342 of the Bankruptcy Code.  The notice will go out electronically to those creditors who have an electronic address on file with the court and to all other creditors by regular US mail.  In addition, your attorney can fax or e-mail proof of your bankruptcy filing by way of an Automatic Stay notice.  The Automatic Stay notice is something that I would send to a creditor if that creditor is pursuing my client in some type of legal action or to the employer of my client if there is a current garnishment pending. 

Notice is something that goes out approximately 5 to 10 days after the case is filed in the ordinary case.  However, if you want notice to go out quicker, you can send prove yourself by faxing or e-mailing the notice of Automatic Stay to any or all creditors.  Additionally, your debtor can call any particular creditor and give bankruptcy information to that creditor to get them to stop with harassing phone calls.  It’s very easy for clients to call a particular creditor and give them their case number, the date of filing and of course, their attorneys name and number. 

If a creditor continues to collect after they received notice or after the case is filed, it could be considered a violation of the Automatic Stay and it could subject that creditor too expensive sanctions.  In my experience as a bankruptcy attorney, when creditors receive the bankruptcy notice, they abide by the Automatic Stay and they cease collection efforts.  It is only in rare circumstances where someone would receive the notice and still continue the debtor.  In those cases, I do have to bring a motion before the Bankruptcy Court trying to sanction that particular creditor for violation of the Automatic Stay.