If you have debt collectors calling you and harassing you, it can be very stressful. When you have debt collectors and debt collection agencies from the past come back and start trying to collect against you, it can be very hard to remember who you owe money to. If you are thinking about filing bankruptcy, it is important to try and get all of your creditors that you owe so that you can list them on your bankruptcy petition. Below are some resources that you can use to try and locate all of the creditors that you owe money to.
Pull a Credit Report
The first step when locating all of your debts is to try and pull a credit report. A credit report should have the majority of your debt on there. The credit report will list information about the debt collector, the account information, and the amount you owe. This will be helpful if you choose to file bankruptcy so that you can give to your bankruptcy lawyer to help you organize your debt.
If you pull your credit report and see creditors that you have never heard of it is likely because they are debt collection agencies. Many times, your creditors will sell a debt off to a debt collection agency who will be listed on the credit report.
Bankruptcy lawyers can try and run a credit report and judgment search for you. A judgment search will allow you to see if there have been cases filed in court against you. Many times, people have old judgments that they didn’t know about. This happens when a debt collector sues you and you don’t answer the lawsuit.
Further, a bankruptcy lawyer can go through the courts to try and see if any older judgments are showing up on the court website.
It is important to understand that not all debts show up on credit reports. Generally, medical bills, e-z pass debt and tax debt won’t show up on a credit report.
Outstanding Medical debt
If you have outstanding medical debt, it can be included in bankruptcy. To find out who you owe, you may need to contact the doctor’s office, hospital, or medical office that you attended to see if you can get any information about any outstanding medical debt. If you don’t know how much you owe in medical bills, you can try and give an estimate.
Money Borrowed from Friends and Family
If you borrowed money from friends and family, for bankruptcy purposes they are a creditor. This means that you must list them on your bankruptcy petition. You must include them even if they told you that you can pay them back whenever you have the money. If you are embarrassed about asking them for their address, you can look them up in Yellow pages to see if you can get their address.
What Happens If I Still Can’t Locate the Creditors I Owed?
If you still can’t locate the creditors that you owe, then it should be okay. As long as you made a good faith effort in trying to locate them, then you shouldn’t have a problem.
A bankruptcy lawyer can help you find all of your creditors to show that you made a good faith effort to find them. If you leave one off, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
If you are thinking about filing bankruptcy and are looking for a lawyer to help you, Karra L. Kingston Esq. has helped many people get out of debt and start over. Give us a call today for a free consultation.