Can the creditors still contact me during bankruptcy? 32 Answers as of May 29, 2013

Generally, no, not unless they are filing a formal motion with the court, or they are writing to tell you that they will bother you no longer, or it's a redemption letter for a car or something with a security interest or ongoing contract that you said in your schedules you wanted to keep. Any attempt to actually collect a debt during bankruptcy without advance permission of the bankruptcy court is usually considered a violation of the court's order called an "automatic stay." They can be sanctioned for damages. Redemption's are treated differently so those should be reviewed by an attorney.

When you file bankruptcy you are immediately under a protection from creditor collections. You should provide any creditors who contact you with your bankruptcy case number and in addition refer them to contact your attorney. I would also recommend keeping a log of the phone numbers, name of the companies, times of the calls as well as any other correspondence you receive. Provide this information to your attorney as the creditor may be in violation of the Federal Bankruptcy Laws and possibly FDCPA laws. Your attorney can file for a motion for sanctions with the court if he deems it's needed.

Creditors are not permitted to continue to contact you after you have filed for bankruptcy. The court enters an order, called a "stay" that instructs creditors that you have filed for bankruptcy and tells them to cease all contact. This information usually takes several weeks to filter down to all collection people. When you receive a phone call simply tell the caller you have filed bk and give caller the case no. That should be the end of it. If the calls continue then you need to file a motion for sanctions against the caller in the bk court.

Once you have filed your bankruptcy petition, your creditors are prohibited from continuing any actions to collect the debt you owe them. Doing so is a violation of the automatic stay and is punishable under the federal bankruptcy code.

Creditors need court permission to contact you after you file bankruptcy. However, I always advise my clients to allow time for the creditors to receive notification and update their system before getting too upset about the creditors contacting them after the case is filed. However, if the creditor is aware of the bankruptcy and chooses to ignore the restriction on contacting the debtor, then the debtor can file an adversary proceeding against the creditor.