Category: Financial Stories

Do People Know if I Filed Bankruptcy

Who will know that I have filed an Assignment in Bankruptcy? We have all seen the notices in the legal section of newspapers notifying creditors about a bankruptcy and notifying everyone about an upcoming meeting of the creditors. The reality is that this only happens in corporate bankruptcies or very large personal bankruptcies usually which have a business background to the bankruptcy. A bankruptcy of an individual is known as a summary administration. The creditors are notified by regular mail. Assets under a summary administration are minimal and notices in a newspaper and meetings with creditors are rare. A bankruptcy is, of course, filed in court but nobody spends their time searching court files and public records to find out information about you. The exception, of course, is the credit bureau (Equifax or Trans Union of Canada) which keep a record of the bankruptcy on their system for a period of six years. Friends and family are unlikely to find out that you filed bankruptcy – unless they need to know. Your employer is only informed if a creditor attempts to garnishee your payroll. Your trustee can usually stop the garnishee but that involves sending a letter to the creditor, the court and someone in the payroll department of your employer. You can keep the notice to your employer confidential by providing your trustee with the private email of someone in authority in the payroll department or by delivering the trustee’s notice by yourself.

Contact Rumanek & Company Ltd. for more information on bankruptcy and debt solutions. Or please fill out the free bankruptcy evaluation form. To learn more please visit our YouTube Channel. Rumanek & Company have been helping individuals and families overcome debt for more than 25 years.