A person phones claiming to be from your bank and tells you that an employee of your bank is under investigation and asks that you help him in the investigation. He or she will ask you to verify your bank account. They might also ask you to verify your legal name, date of birth, social insurance number. Etc.
As soon as you give this person the information that they request they will thank you and say they will phone you if they need any more help.
They will never phone you. What they will do is use the information you gave them to clean out your bank account.
There is no bank in Canada that will phone you to request this kind of information over the phone. If you ever get this phone call, be polite, and say that you have to look up the information and ask for their name and phone number so you can phone them back – then phone the police fraud squad. This is identity theft and it is illegal.
Please – be careful – not everyone is honest.
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.
Almost all unsecured debts, like, credit cards and lines of credit, are included in a bankruptcy, although you may need to change banks. If you are self-employed, HST, WSIB, and money owed to suppliers are generally covered, although this may impact your future business and should be discussed with your Trustee. Old phone, utility, and rental agreements are covered as well, as long as you are no longer at that address or using those services.
Which debts are not included in a bankruptcy?
Most of the debts that are not eliminated by bankruptcy are still included in a bankruptcy while it is ongoing. Section 178 in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act lists the debts that survive bankruptcy, or come back when your bankruptcy is over. Most of these debts are stayed, meaning the creditor cannot collect or pursue you without court approval, but once your Trustee is discharged from the file, they can resume pursuit of their debt, with interest. For example:
• Child and spousal support and maintenance;
• Fines and penalties that have been imposed by a Court;
• Damages for bodily harm, sexual assault or wrongful death;
• Debts proven to be a result of fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation or theft while in fiduciary capacity;
• Debts proven to be a result of obtaining property by false pretences of fraudulent misrepresentation;
• Student loans less than seven years old;
If any of your debts are for situations noted above, make sure to discuss your options with your Trustee.
Are there debts that I have to keep paying when I am in bankruptcy?
Some debts have to be paid, even during a bankruptcy:
Debts related to open accounts, such as cellphones you intend to continue using, generally must be paid;
Debts relating to utilities (such as electricity or heat) can be included in a bankruptcy, but you may be required to pay a significant deposit to keep the service active;
Payments for leased, financed, or rented items which you want to keep, such as a car or a computer, or the mortgage on your home.
As difficult as the conversation may be, discuss these issues with your Trustee. Your best choice for a financially healthy future may be to let go of your smartphone, sports car or dream house.
What if I forgot an account that should have been included in my bankruptcy?
This issue is especially important in consumer proposals, as the voting is by majority, based on the amounts owed to the creditors who vote.
If the debt is small relative to your others, call the Trustee and ask them to send the documents to the new creditor. If the forgotten debt is large, the amount the others receive would go down quite a bit, so their acceptance of the original amount would not be valid any more. Your Trustee may feel it is appropriate to update your documents and notify all the creditors of the change. A new vote would be required as well.
In a bankruptcy, creditors receive their share of funds collected by the Trustee from asset realization or monthly payments. If the amount is large compared to the other debts, the Trustee may find it appropriate to notify creditors, so your documents would then have to be amended and signed again. If the amount is small, the Trustee would just add the new creditor to the list.
In general, if the file is complete, and you had intentionally excluded a debt, you would have to ask the Trustee if the creditor would have been entitled to a payout from your estate. If so, you are personally liable to that creditor for the amount they would have received had you disclosed the debt. If there was or would have been no payout, the debt is discharged when the bankruptcy is discharged.
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.
Question:
I filed for a proposal in June 2009 and lost my job a year later. After 13 months my proposal was deemed annulled because I missed three paymentsI now have a full-time job and I am wondering, can I re-open my file and reinstate my proposal?
Answer:
The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act states that you cannot make a second proposal to the same creditors where a previously filed proposal was deemed annulled, unless you have a court order granting permission.. For this, you will need to hire a lawyer, preferably an experienced insolvency lawyer.
Make sure you have your original documents, so the lawyer will have all the required materials. Lawyers do cost money, but in most cases the costs is small compared to the money saved once your proposal is complete and the remainder of your debt is discharged. We generally recommend that debtors save the equivalent of their proposal payments for several months, until they have enough to pay legal fees. This helps them to get into the habit of making monthly payments even before their new proposal is (hopefully) approved.
1. I am a new immigrant to Canada. If I file for bankruptcy in Ontario, will this affect my ability to sponsor my spouse or my parents in the future?
You cannot sponsor anybody immigrating to Ontario while you are an undischarged bankrupt. This is the main reason why many people choose a Consumer Proposal instead of a Bankruptcy. The immigration restrictions do not apply to anyone filing a proposal.
2. I am not yet a Canadian citizen, can I file for Bankruptcy in Ontario?
Yes. Your Canadian debts must exceed $1,000. and you must be resident in Canada. You would also put in any debts from other countries but those other countries may not recognize the Canadian bankruptcy. Filing a bankruptcy in Ontario has no affect on your application to become a citizen of Canada.
Contact Rumanek & Company Ltd. for more information on bankruptcy in Ontario and debt solutions. Please fill out the bankruptcy evaluation form. Rumanek & Company have been helping individuals and families overcome bankruptcy in Ontario and debt for more than 25 years.To learn more please visit our YouTube Channel.
Which debts can be included in a bankruptcy?
