When a client retains us, they are permitted to send their collection calls to us. We will tell collectors that we have been retained for bankruptcy purposes, we will take their information, and in most cases, we will even send them a letter telling them of our representation, and telling them not to call our clients any more. But today, we received an interesting phone call wherein the collector admitted that it had no clue about the law.

This collector was “in house” – meaning it was a call from the creditor directly. In this case, a major retailer. The collector asked us why we were representing our client. We told them. The collector then asked, “well, we were wondering why if they are filing bankruptcy, why have we not received a payment in the past six months.” Huh?

Then, they continued. “Well, they have to go through the six month mandatory credit counseling before they file bankruptcy, and we should have gotten a payment during that time. Our supervisors told us that credit counseling is a prerequisite to filing bankruptcy.”

There are a number of articles on this site about the credit counseling requirement. The collector (and the supervisor) is wrong. Flat out, sorry-there-are-lovely-parting-gifts-for-you- back-stage, wrong.

But something occurred to us.

Is this lie something that collectors are telling distressed debtors in an effort to get paid? Based on the sheer surprise of the collector when we told her what the pre-filing requirements really were – we tend to think “yes.”