Do I Need to Include a Creditor on My Bankruptcy If There Is No Balance on the Account?

If you have a credit card or a loan with a zero balance, it is a personal decision whether you include them on your bankruptcy.  If there no balance, it may not be necessary to include them on your bankruptcy filing; however, it may be in your best interest to include them should there be any fees or interest charges that were placed on your account during the most recent billing cycle.

Regardless of whether you include the creditor on your bankruptcy, the creditor will most likely find out about your bankruptcy filing and terminate your privileges with them.  For example, if you have a line of credit with no balance, you will most likely be unable to take any future draws on the line of credit.  The same would apply with a credit card.  Although you did not include the credit card company on your bankruptcy, they will most likely terminate your card.  As a result, attempting to make charges on the credit card after filing bankruptcy could lead to an embarrassing event.

If you have a credit card you would like to retain and use after filing bankruptcy, you will need to contact the credit card company in advance of filing bankruptcy and determine if their policy would allow you to keep the card.  A few companies have been willing to allow you to continue to use the credit card after filing bankruptcy; however, that is the exception.  Do not wait until after your bankruptcy has been filed to contact the creditor, since they will most likely not be willing to speak with you.  In addition, if you fail to include them in your bankruptcy filing and determine there was a balance on the account, you may be charged fees to add them to your bankruptcy.  As a result, it is always the safest approach to include the creditor on your bankruptcy filing regardless of whether there is a current balance.