First Community Credit Union v. Cullen (In Re Cullen)

63 B.R. 33, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6121
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedMay 5, 1986
Docket15-46879
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 63 B.R. 33 (First Community Credit Union v. Cullen (In Re Cullen)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Community Credit Union v. Cullen (In Re Cullen), 63 B.R. 33, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6121 (Mo. 1986).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAVID P. McDONALD, Bankruptcy Judge.

INTRODUCTION

On June 21, 1985, the Court ordered relief on the Debtor’s voluntary Chapter 7 petition. On August 30, 1985, the Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., (“Chase”) and First Community Credit Union (“First Community”) timely filed separate complaints to determine the dischargeability of debts. Each Plaintiff also prays for a money judgment against the Debtor for whatever amount is determined to be nondischargeable. On October 9, 1985, Debtor filed her Answer to Chase’s Complaint in which she denied that Chase was entitled to relief. On November 14, 1985, Debtor filed a similar Answer to First Community’s Complaint. Since the two complaints involve common issues of law and fact, the separate adversary proceedings were consolidated for purposes of trial and heard together on January 23,1986. At the conclusion of the trial, the Court reserved ruling pending the submission of briefs. Upon the evidence adduced, the briefs submitted by counsel, and all matters of record, the Court will this date enter separate orders finding the respective debts to be nondis-chargeable and granting judgments for Chase and First Community against the Debtor.

FINDINGS OF FACT

a. The Chase Complaint

On October 1, 1984, slightly less than nine months before her bankruptcy petition *34 herein, Debtor applied to Chase for a Visa card. Although at the time of her application Debtor was employed at an annual salary of approximately $18,000.00, her liabilities even then exceeded her assets by at least $30,000.00. Nonetheless, her credit application was accepted and a credit line of $1,000 extended.

On November 7, 1984, Debtor received a cash advance of $1,000.00. On November 17, 1984, Chase notified Debtor that she had exceeded her credit line by $168.46 and directed her to “refrain from furthér use of your account until the balance of $1,168.46 has been reduced below the assigned credit line.” On the reverse side of this notification was an application to increase her credit line. On December 3, 1984, Debtor applied to increase her credit line by completing the form and returning it to Chase. It is interesting to note that although representatives of Chase testified that as the Debtor continued to use the credit card, they mailed her numerous notices to stop using the account. The Debtor admitted she received the notice which she had returned seeking additional credit, but denied receiving any other notices. The application to increase credit also indicated an annual salary of $28,500 when she knew her income was only $18,000.

Notwithstanding the absence of additional credit, and in the face of Chase’s notification directing Debtor not to use her account until the balance dropped below $1,000.00, Debtor continued to charge for approximately six months until her debt reached $16,235.23, of which $805.29 was finance charges. During this period the Debtor paid Chase $20.00 on November 23, 1984 and $10.00 on January 3, 1985; and First Community $972.00.

In incurring this debt, Debtor made over 500 charges of $50.00 or less and only five charges of more than $50.00. Even those in excess of $50.00, however, were only slightly more than that amount. This pattern of debt incurrence is significant because merchants seldom, if ever, verify that charges of less than $50.00 are authorized by the credit card issuer. While Debtor denied that she deliberately kept her charges under $50.00 to avoid detection by the credit card issuer and further maintained that her credit worthiness was verified when she presented her credit card for payment, the Court does not find her testimony in this regard credible.

b. The First Community Complaint

Debtor opened her Visa account with First Community in August, 1984. Again, notwithstanding the fact that Debtor’s liabilities exceeded her assets by at least $30,-000.00, and that her annual income was only approximately $18,000.00, First Community extended Debtor a $2,000.00 line of credit. As in the case of her Chase account, Debtor quickly exhausted her credit line through cash advances. On August 17, 1984, she made three cash advances totaling $1,930.00. By the end of August, 1984, (the first month) Debtor had exceeded her credit line. In the ensuing months Debtor made more than 150 charges, again almost always in amounts of less than $50.00, until her debt reached $7,351.65, of which $317.85 was finance charges. On June 12,1985, Visa notified Debtor that her account was cancelled, and no charges were made by Debtor after that date.

c. Other Credit Cards

Although only Chase and First Community filed adversary complaints to deny discharge of their debts, the Debtor’s Schedule A-3 reveals extensive use of other credit cards. The following is a partial list:

American Express $ 3,136.80
Bank of America (Visa) Pasadena, CA 1,958.78
Bank of America Premium Card (Visa) Pasadena, CA . 5,442.37
Bank of America (Mastercard)
Pasadena, CA 1,628.03
Bank of St. Ann (Visa) St. Ann, MO 3,865.89
Bank of St. Ann (Mastercard) St. Ann, MO 3,269.36
CitiBank (Mastercard) Sioux Falls, SD 1,117.31
Diner’s Club, Denver, CO 3,300.00
TOTAL ' $23,718.54

The schedules also include credit cards with department stores, gasoline companies, and car rentals.

*35 CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

a. Jurisdiction

This Court has jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter of these proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334, 151, and 157 and Local Rule 29 of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. These are “core proceedings” pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(I), which the Court may hear and determine.

b. Dischargeability

The creditors assert that Debtor’s charges, to the extent they exceed the respective credit limits, are nondischargeable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A). That section provides that a debt procured by false pretenses, false representation, or actual fraud, other than a statement representing the debtor’s or insider’s financial condition is not dischargeable. While courts have not been uniform in construing this section in credit card cases, see, In re Carpenter, 53 B.R. 724, 13 C.B.C.2d 1158 (Bkrtcy. N.D.Ga.1985) (division of authorities reviewed), this Court is bound by the decision of Judge Filippine rendered in In re Schmidt, 36 B.R. 459 (E.D.Mo. 1983).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Household Finance Corp. v. Kahler (In Re Kahler)
187 B.R. 508 (E.D. Virginia, 1995)
FCC National Bank v. Dobbins
151 B.R. 509 (W.D. Missouri, 1992)
Citicorp Credit Services, Inc. v. Hinman (In Re Hinman)
120 B.R. 1018 (D. North Dakota, 1990)
Schwalbe v. Gans (In Re Gans)
75 B.R. 474 (S.D. New York, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 B.R. 33, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-community-credit-union-v-cullen-in-re-cullen-moeb-1986.