“Dear Steve,
Our bankruptcy has came to an end but in going over the details, I found MANY unethical things.
1 – it seems my attorney and the trustee were in each others pockets.
2 – the credit union put a $65 a month insurance on the vehicle that was through them but I have always carried full coverage insurance and that isn’t right. can I make them give me back that money?
3 – I had 4 accounts at the credit union and discovered one day that three of them were paid off. I contacted my attorney and the credit union had to return $900 and instead of returning it to me, they spread it among creditors.
4 – they made me pay 100% plus 10% on several accounts.
5 – they Arkansas law says bankruptcy is 60 months. not 64 months that they continued to take. we live paycheck to paycheck, all my bills are past due, I am very frugal and wouldn’t spend the extra money if I had it. I would put it into an account in case of an emergency.
How do I get another attorney to help me get some money back that they took that wasn’t due to them.
Teresa”
Dear Teresa,
So sorry to hear of your troubles over this. But I think what we need more than assumptions right now, are some facts.
It appears you filed a chapter 13 bankruptcy. The amount you had to repay and the length of the plan is determined by your income and expenses.
Typically a chapter 13 bankruptcy will range from 36 to 60 months. Why your ran over by a few months is a bit of a mystery without a closer look.
If you have proof the bankruptcy trustee acted improperly you can file a complaint about the trustee. You will be asked to make a written complaint.
For Arkansas the office to contact would be:
CHARLES W. TUCKER, ASSISTANT U.S. TRUSTEE
200 W. CAPITOL AVE., SUITE 1200
LITTLE ROCK, AR 72201
Phone: 501-324-7357 Fax: 501-324-7388
You can also email questions you might have about your case to USTP.Region13@usdoj.gov.
To get some more specific answers to your situation the logical thing to do is contact a local bankruptcy attorney and setup an appointment to get a second opinion about your situation.
They will certainly be able to shed some light on this situation and that clarity will either help identify problems or give you some peace of mind.
The payment to the credit union clearly seems like an overpayment situation and once discovered the funds would have been used to fund your chapter 13 bankruptcy. That seems correct but why the overpayment happened to begin with, I don’t know.
The forced insurance by the credit union is an oddity as well. Certainly with proof of insurance a refund seems possible since it would have been in error. But we won’t know exactly why this happened until you approach the credit union and ask them for assistance in figuring out exactly what happened and why.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
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