From the time you file a bankruptcy case, no one can contact you for any reason regarding your debts, and it is a violation of the bankruptcy law for them to do so.

Upon assignment of your creditor claims, through a Power of Attorney, American Finasco will contact each creditor or their representative and advise them of our involvement. The creditors then understand they must work through American Finasco for resolution of the debt.

Yes. 11 U.S.C. 362 requires creditors to immediately stop harassing you upon your filing of a bankruptcy petition. This same code section also generally stops garnishments, writs of attachments, sheriff sales of homes, foreclosure, lawsuits, and repossessions of vehicles. There are some instances where bankruptcy will only temporarily stop collection efforts, or will not stop them at all, if prior bankruptcies were filed too recently (see your attorney for details).

When you file bankruptcy, something called an "automatic stay" goes into effect. After you file, the court notifies all creditors listed in your schedules. This stops virtually all creditors from taking action to collect the debts you owe them unless the bankruptcy court lifts the stay and lets the creditor proceed with collections. Avoid bankruptcy by reducing your debt. Apply for a free debt counseling consultation from a Personal Debt Consultant.

Your creditors will be happy to deal with our staff, and will stop all collection calls as long as you stick with your Debt Management Program.

Yes, they will! By law, all actions against a debtor must cease once the documents are filed. Creditors cannot initiate or continue any lawsuits, wage garnishees, or even telephone calls demanding payments. Secured creditors such as banks holding, for example, a lien on a car, will get the stay lifted if you cannot make payments.

Once you have established a normal payment schedule and your creditors are receiving your payments on-time each month, the phone calls should stop. It does take time before all the creditors realize you are enrolled with Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. If you continue to receive harassing phones calls from your creditors, contact Consolidated's customer service division and we will inform them of your enrollment and make them stop.

Should it be determined that you are a candidate for bankruptcy, a bankruptcy can be filed and your creditors will be notified and by law, they cannot contact you during the pendency of your bankruptcy.

Practically, since collectors are paid commissions on what they collect and since they have no power to collect after you file bankruptcy, most collectors will stop calling you. If you do get a call, it is important that you make sure that the Trustee has been advised of that creditor. Remember you have nine months to list your creditors and if you forget a creditor that creditor will be entitled to receive the same distribution that your other creditors receive.

YES! One of the major and most immediate benefits of filing bankruptcy is the protection of the automatic stay that goes into effect once a bankruptcy is filed to protect the debtor and his or her property. The automatic stay, stays or stops all creditor actions to collect a debt, including phone calls and foreclosures.

The telecommunications office recommends that you contact the Campus Police Dept. and arrange to order a "Trap & Trace" on your line. The Campus Police will issue a request to our department to apply the trace. The cost of the trace, $18.85, will be added to your next bill. After the trace is implemented and harassing calls are received, you should contact the Campus Police and they will handle the investigation.

Immediately after receiving an annoyance call, hang up. Pick up the phone to get dial tone, then press *57. A recording will tell you if the call trace was successful. This information is kept on file at VTel for 20 days. Note the date and time of the call you traced. This information will be necessary for VTel to identify the call detail captured. You must sign a release form and deliver to local law enforcement personnel.

Yes. As someone goes delinquent with their accounts, especially in the beginning, they will get creditor calls. However, we have developed steps that our clients can use that are effective in reducing and often eliminating phone calls from creditors

Once a bankruptcy is filed, creditors are generally stopped from pursuing collection activities, including telephone calls and filing or continuing law suits to collect their debt. Garnishments and foreclosures can be stopped.