National Grid, you suck

[Dreamstalker]

LillFilly's Met-Ed thread reminded me of this.

My mom was forced to declare bankruptcy over the summer. When this happened, all creditors listed on the filing are supposed to close the old accounts upon receipt of the legal paperwork and open new ones with a zero balance.

The gas company failed to do this. Our typical gas bill is around $10/month. Even after getting the bankruptcy paperwork and calls from the lawyer that they were obligated to close the delinquent account, it remains open with a balance of $100-something. Mom has repeatedly called and sent them letters with the info that they should have.

What she's been doing is only paying the amount we legitimately used during that month; I don't think that's going to work in the long term (we haven't received shutoff notices, but it's probably not doing anything good for her credit report). I've told her to contact the attorney general about this...a utility company which is already in hot water with the state ignoring a legal bankruptcy filing could get interesting.

[Andara Bledin]

a utility company which is already in hot water...

The idea of your gas company being in hot water amuses me.

^-.-^

[Aethian]

The idea of your gas company being in hot water amuses me.

^-.-^

I'm glad I wasn't the only one with this thought.

[TheSHAD0W]

Don't contact the Attorney General, or at least, not at first; try the Public Utility Commission first. Also get a credit report done, you may be able to get a free one at http://www.annualcreditreport.com . If they're screwing up your credit on top of the bankruptcy you may be able to sue.

[MrSunshineState]

The gas company failed to do this. Our typical gas bill is around $10/month. Even after getting the bankruptcy paperwork and calls from the lawyer that they were obligated to close the delinquent account, it remains open with a balance of $100-something. Mom has repeatedly called and sent them letters with the info that they should have.

Has her attorney done this, too? Speaking as somebody who has been on both sides (worked in banking dealing with debtors filing bankruptcy and having filed bankruptcy myself in 2009), I can say that sometimes, things don't get reported to the right places in a timely manner.

Now each state is different, and we are in separate states so I can't say with absolute certainty what the procedure for you should be, but there is usually an address to the Clerk of the Court that handled the bankruptcy included in the discharge paperwork. Also, the discharge paperwork should include all account numbers discharged in the bankruptcy, so I'd recommend she make sure they match.

As for her calls and letters going unanswered, I can say that most places have a policy to cease speaking with or communicating with the debtor once the bankruptcy is filed and instead go through the debtor's attorney. I am not sure if that is a law here in Florida, but the main reason companies do it, is once the bankruptcy is filed, they aren't allowed to attempt to collect the debt (even before the bankruptcy is discharged) and they do not speak with the debtor in order to not put themselves in a position of being accused of contact and/or attempted collection after the bankruptcy has been filed.

[Dreamstalker]

She tells me the lawyer has been after them also (like you said, they can't speak with her about the account but are supposed to go through the law office, so their ignoring her attempts to discuss it were probably legit). She does have a credit-monitoring service and they have been trying to get in touch with her about another (different) unrelated old debt that should have fallen off years ago (I picked up the phone once, they wouldn't/couldn't talk to me about it because it wasn't my accounts)...have to get on her back about actually picking up next time they call.

Good call about the utility commission; we'll try that first.