This is a question I hear a lot.
Even though our goal is to get you completely debt-free, people genuinely wonder whether there is any way for them to keep a credit card. “Can’t we just leave one of the credit cards out of the case so I can keep using it after the case is over?”
The first part of the answer is this: you and I will be required to tell the bankruptcy court everyone in the world that you think you owe money to. So, it would be wrong for us to purposely leave one of your credit cards off the list.
But what if the card has a zero balance? Can you leave it out then, since you don’t actually owe them any money? And, if we leave it out will they not know that you filed and you can still use the card?
I guess that’s possible but I think it’s a bad idea. Here’s why.
Even when you think it has a zero balance, there could be $25 or some other small amount on there that you don’t remember. Or maybe it’s a small administrative fee that the credit card company only put on there recently and it hasn’t shown up on your credit report yet. If your bankruptcy ends up being an “asset” case, then failing to list that card is the difference in getting all your debts discharged or only a portion of them discharged. If it’s a “no-asset” case, all your debts will be discharged anyway but then you get to have a fight with and/or educate some debt collector a year or two down the road when they start calling you night and day to collect the debt because they see it wasn’t listed in your case.
The way your credit card company will know about your bankruptcy case even if you leave them out is through their subscription to an automatic monitoring service such as AACER or one of AACER’s competitors.
My experience doing these cases tells me that the chance it will be canceled is at least 99%. And since it’s going to get canceled whether you list it or not, I say the safest route is to list it.
If I thought they would leave your credit card account open, or if I had ever seen any case where any credit card was left open, I would consider doing it differently. But I’ve never seen it, not once.
I’m sure this is not what you wanted to hear, but hey– I know you don’t want to hire me to just lie to you!
When you’re ready to get out from under the crushing debt load and begin a new debt-free life, contact Dallas bankruptcy lawyer Rustin Polk by clicking here. Tell our Appointments Coordinator, Kimberly, that you are a website reader and she will set you up with a free, no obligation appointment to learn how we can help you get out of debt.