Can You Keep Credit Cards Out Of Your Bankruptcy?

by Susanne Robicsek, North Carolina Bankruptcy Attorney

All your debts must be listed in your bankruptcy petition. You can’t pick or chose what to list or not. When you sign your bankruptcy documents, you are swearing that everyone you owe money to is listed in those documents.

If you have a credit card without a balance on it, your don’t have to list it since there isn’t a debt owed. If it isn’t listed, you will still have it after you file bankruptcy but your ability to keep it is based upon the credit card issuer. Creditors don’t’ have to loan you money, and if they find out about your bankruptcy filing, they might revoke your credit privileges.

Of course, any use of credit cards after you file for bankruptcy are debts which you must pay back. A word of caution: never transfer balances from one card to another before filing bankruptcy in order to zero out a card. You can face charges of fraudulent use of a card if you pay off one card by using another that you know you won’t pay back.