Bankruptcy and the Holidays – If you are planning your gifts and purchases for the holidays and are contemplating a bankruptcy filing, there are a few things to remember:
- Do not use credit cards or any other open end credit arrangement to:
- purchase luxury goods (goods not reasonably necessary for your support or for the support of your family) costing more than $725.00 from a single creditor within 90 days before your file, or take cash advances aggregating more than $1000 from a single creditor within 70 days before you file.
If you do, the creditor can object to the discharge of these uses of credit as well as all sums due on the accounts that you used, even if a portion of the balance on these accounts was created long before these recent credit uses.
Under these facts the creditor does not have to prove that you did not intend to pay for the goods or did not intend to repay the cash advances. The objecting creditor is entitled to a presumption that you did not intend to pay for the goods or repay the advances.
If you do purchase goods costing more than $725 or draw cash of more than $1000, charge these on accounts with different lenders or wait until these time periods expire before filing your bankruptcy.
More importantly do not use credit that you will be unable to repay. Even if a presumption does not arise, a creditor can file an objection with the court and present evidence to prove that you have used credit without the intention of repaying the creditor.
Be smart, spend less, charge less but if you run into trouble call an experienced bankruptcy lawyer. You can and will get through this. We can help.
Attorney C. Stephen Gurdin Jr. Bankruptcy and the Holidays
67 – 69 Public Square, Suite 501
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
570.826.0481 | Telephone
800.221.0618 | Toll Free
570.822.7780 | Fax
stephen@gurdinlaw.com | email
