Find a good trustee if you plan on filing

[Hunter]

I just wanted to say that if you are thinking about filing for bk, research the trustee. For me, I filed for bk several years ago. My trustee was helpful at first, but at the same time was forcing me to sign the papers at the initial consultation. She told me that she would not be available for one month after I left, and since I was being threatened with guarnishees I signed the papers. I was told that I would get mandatory credit counselling and I was really looking forward to their information. But all that I had to do was sign a paper that I had been there. Great, so much for the credit counselling. Their income tax preparer totally did my pre and post bk taxes all wrong. They had me owing about $ 2500, but when CCRA did it, I had a credit of $ 500.
I was told that I could call my trustee anytime I had questions. Fine, but after I was discharged, she sounded less than enthusiastic to talk to me and you could tell by the way that she was sighing and yawing on the phone. Not very professional in my book. So, do much research before you file. My trustee told me that there were no other options available to me. She also told me that she has never heard of student loans being discharged after being out of school for 10 years, it is in the BK act and she should know this. I had to point it out to her and she had never heard of it. More like, she did not want to acknowledge it. She also told me that 10 years after I have been out of school that I can come back to her and pay her $ 1500 to file again and have the loans discharged. I have since found out that this is not the case.
Personally, my trustee has a lot to learn. If I had known then what I know now, I would not have filed.

[chester]

Hi
I filed a consumer proposal as well and was told by my trustees that the government had no choice but accept them. I started my proposal in one province and they moved it to another so I had to change trustees. For the proposal I used Deloitte Touche. I asked the trustees how many consumer proposals were rejected and how many accepted and they had numbers in the 90% for acceptance. They were also supposed to take care of contacting the legal representatives of the crown to halt a court action but they didn’t bother with that. Of course the consumer proposal was rejected and the agent said that if it moved to bankruptcy they would fight that. I called HRDC and they said they never accept consumer proposals for student loans. The trustees will not tell you this though. It was not a good idea to have offered the proposal but the trustee said that this was the way to go. Big mistake on my part.

[Hunter]

Chester
Yup good ole Deloitte and Touche, it brings back memories and not good ones either. I really don't think that they know the ins and outs of bk.
My trustee did not even know the BK Act rules until I told her of several. What a waste. I almost did file a consumer proposal, but I was told that they keep the money for several months, take their fee and then send a small payment to each debtor. They would not tell me what their fee was, and I had to report each and every penny that I earned and spent to them. And they did not contact my debtors I had to contact them and tell them that I had filed bk. And the sad thing is that I paid them $ 1500.
I really wish there was some agency that you could report them to.

[chester]

Hi Hunter
Each province has a law society I believe and there are rules of conduct for law firms. Here is the one for Manitoba and there is a section on the menu for professional conduct and a link to the Legal Professions Act. Negligence and incompetence are disciplined by the society itself. Before I got preoccupied with other screw-ups in my case I called them to determine responsibility. They didn’t answer any of my questions but they were definitely negligent. I found the whole experience extremely distasteful as my trustee just sat there and let the agent for the crown attack my character. I’ll have to get back to my issues with Deloitte Touche.

http://www.lawsociety.mb.ca/index.htm

[Hunter]

Yeah, fancy that.
The crown on behalf of the trustee attacks your character.
So typical.
It is no wonder somedays why I feel I am up against the world and the walls are closing in.

[Johnny]

Welcome to the forum.

Bankruptcy should never be a first option.

[kelly001]

Hi...I just wanted to ask you if you were actually cleared from your SL debt. I went bankrupt in 2003 on consumer debt and other debts accumulated during university, not on SL of course. RBC holds my loans and and were planning legal action against me, until I came to CFW of course-now I think I am actually getting somewhere...but anyhow, if your loans go into collections and you can't pay and they take you to court and you become liable for 20 some odd years...what is the point of the 10 year rule??? Has anyone actually been able to get the "clean slate" that bankruptcy promises, either before or after the 10 years of financial stress???

[Hunter]

No my student loan survived the bankruptcy.
And from what I am told, I doubt very much that they will ever be erased.
If you have no means of ever paying them maybe yes.
But even if there is some glimmer of hope that you can pay them back in the future, then you will have to pay them back.
That is what I was informed.

[jpprov]

Stupid question..

I graduated in 2003 with no SL's after 1999...I registered for one course in Jan 2009 but have since dropped it...is this considered a clock reset??

Thanks...