Being harassed by creditors and having collection agencies constantly on your back is often what drives people to consider filing for bankruptcy. Once you file for bankruptcy, you get an automatic stay which means your creditors are meant to leave you alone. On occasion it happens that someone may still be harassed by a persistent creditor who either ignores the bankruptcy notice or was not informed of your bankruptcy and keeps phoning you or sending demand letters in the
mail. Often if you tell the collection agent that you have filled for bankruptcy and are protected by an automatic stay they will stop. Many people don't realize that it is illegal for collection agencies to continue to try and collect from you once you've filed for bankruptcy, so it's important to take action and stand up for your rights.
If you find yourself in this situation you can keep a record of all their attempts to contact you. Keep on file the letters of demand they send to you and the time and dates of their phone calls. These become evidence of breaking the law that you can use against them. The next thing to do is present all this evidence to your bankruptcy attorney. Your attorney will know what to do and how to bring this matter up to the attention of the bankruptcy court. You can initiate legal proceedings against your creditor(s) and sue them for breaking automatic stay and causing emotional harassment. In most cases, you will be successful as long
as you can provide evidence.
Although automatic stay applies the moment you file for bankruptcy, there are certain exceptions. These exceptions come in the case of co-debtors. Some of your debts may be in two names such as a housing loan that is in joint names between you and your spouse. You and your spouse are co-debtors in such a
case. All consumer debts (like housing loans) can have co-debtors. When you file for bankruptcy protection, your co-debtor may or may not be protected under automatic stay as well. Any co-debtors usually aren't protected by the automatic stay when you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Plus there are exceptions to non-consumer debt like taxes. Your attorney will be able to answer any questions you have and help guide you through the process.