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Want Copies of Your Bankruptcy Documents?

By Susanne Robicsek, North Carolina Bankruptcy Attorn

If you filed for bankruptcy, you can get a copy of all your documents for a few dollars, or even free.   I saw an online ad today that said something like this: 

Get the official bankruptcy documents you need instantly ……….for the low low price of $14.99 for your bankruptcy discharge, $29.99 for a few portions, or a full report for only $39.99*   *best value!

You don’t need to pay a company $40 to get the documents for you.  You can go to the Public Access to Electronic Court Records site www.PACER.gov and you can register an account and get them yourself.  As a registered user of PACER, I am charged $.08 per page (maximum $2.40 per document), but for someone who incurs less than $10.00 of PACER charges you might not have to pay at all.  The “full report” that is claimed to be such a good value for $39.99, will cost you between $0.00 and $3.00 for most debtors if you get it yourself.

You might also want to contact your attorney who might send you a copy for free, or they may charge you a small fee for the staff time to get your documents and cover their PACER charges.  But your attorney might also be able to take a quick glance at your case and offer some advice on your situation which an online document service can’t do.  I like to hear from my former clients to see how they are doing.  I talk to the clients to see what is going on and to make sure they are not having any problems, and I often send them a copy of the documents for no charge or for a nominal fee.

Clients typically request a copy of their bankruptcy petition,  discharge and/or final decree when they are applying for a new loan or refinancing.  Lenders want to see the petition to see what was included in the bankruptcy.  They want to see the discharge to make sure that the borrowers finished their bankruptcy case and they don’t owe the debts anymore.  This can happen after either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 cases are filed.

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Full post as published by Bankruptcy Law Network on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).