Bankruptcy notice handling
How do we handle a bankruptcy notice by stopping collection, splitting the account into pre- and post-petition balances, and deciding any adequate assurance deposit on the Code's clock?
Treat the notice as an event that changes the account's state the day it arrives. When a bankruptcy notice arrives from the court, the customer or their attorney, Callvu captures and reads it (the chapter, the court and case number, the filing date, the debtor and the account match), stops all collection and any disconnection for the pre-petition balance at once, splits the account at the filing date into the pre-petition balance (filed as a claim where the case allows) and the post-petition service (billed and collectible on its own terms), classifies the adequate assurance the Code allows the utility to request and the deadline, chases the customer or the trustee for the assurance deposit or the equivalent on the Code's clock, routes the assurance decision and any motion to the credit and legal desks in the Decision Desk, and writes the case, the split, the assurance and the flags to the billing system and the CIS.
In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, classify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The customer filed on the third, the shutoff happened on the ninth, and the trustee's letter about the automatic stay arrived on the twelfth.
A bankruptcy notice reaches a utility by mail from the court, by a call from the customer, or by a fax from an attorney, and it is keyed into the billing system when someone gets to it. In between, the collections calendar runs: a notice, a shutoff, a placement, each a violation of the automatic stay with sanctions. The utility's own right, to ask for adequate assurance within the Code's window, is missed in the same confusion.
The Code stays collection of the pre-petition debt from the filing, prohibits a utility from altering, refusing or discontinuing service because of the filing or the unpaid pre-petition debt, and gives the utility the right to adequate assurance of payment (a deposit or its equivalent) within twenty days, after which it may discontinue service if none is furnished; the post-petition service is a new obligation the debtor must pay. Each is a rule on the account's dates, and the split at the filing date is the key computation.
The notice is the trigger; the stay is the state; the split and the assurance are the utility's obligations and rights, on a clock.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A bankruptcy notice arrives from the court, the customer or their attorney, or a scrub against the court records finds a filing. Callvu captures it and opens the case on the account.
- Customer or their attorney
- Provides the case details and furnishes the adequate assurance where requested.
- Trustee
- Receives the assurance request and the claim where the case requires.
- Credit and legal desks
- Decide the assurance, the claim and any motion in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Captures, matches, stops collection, splits the account, classifies the assurance, chases on the clock, routes and writes.
Chase and verify the notice, and stop
The notice is read (the chapter, the district and the case number, the filing date, the debtor's name and address, the attorney and the trustee) and matched to the account holder and the premise; a notice that cannot be matched or is incomplete is chased from the source with the specifics; on the match, all collection activity, the disconnection sequence and any agency placement for the pre-petition balance are stopped in the billing system, the CIS and the collections schedule the same day, with the flags every process reads.
Classify and split
The account is split at the filing date: the pre-petition balance (the billed and the unbilled usage to the filing date, computed from the reads or a proration) becomes the claim, and the post-petition service continues on a new billing basis; the case is classified for the adequate assurance the Code allows (a deposit, a prepayment or the equivalent, sized under the utility's policy and the court's local practice), the twenty-day window from the filing, and the claim filing where the case is an asset case with a bar date.
Decide the assurance and the claim
The adequate assurance request with its amount and deadline goes to the credit desk in the Decision Desk with the account and the case, with only the allowed outcomes (request the policy amount, request a reduced amount, waive for a current customer with a deposit on file, or refer to legal for a motion); the request is sent to the debtor and the trustee within the window; the proof of claim for the pre-petition balance is prepared and filed by the bar date where the case allows; a debtor who does not furnish the assurance within the window goes back to the desk for the discontinuance decision under the Code.
Write back and monitor
The case details, the split balances, the assurance request and its outcome, the claim and the flags are written to the billing system and the CIS, the post-petition account is billed and collected on its own terms with the stay respected for the pre-petition debt, and the discharge or the dismissal event ends the case and resets the account (the pre-petition balance written off on discharge, or restored on dismissal) through the same process.
Where it ends: The stay was honored from the day the notice arrived, the account was split correctly at the filing date, the utility asserted its adequate assurance right inside the Code's window, and the billing system holds the case, the balances and the flags. The Decision Trace shows the match, the split and the decisions; the Audit Trace shows the notice, the stop, the request and the filings with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
The notice from any source; the customer and the attorney meet the process in the assurance request.
The back office
Collections reads the flags; the credit desk decides the assurance; legal handles motions from the record.
The Decision Desk
- The adequate assurance request, a debtor who does not furnish it, the claim and any motion go to the credit and legal desks in the Decision Desk with the case and only the allowed outcomes.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
What stops when a bankruptcy notice arrives?
All collection, the disconnection sequence and any agency placement for the pre-petition balance, the same day, with flags every process reads.
Can the utility ask for a deposit?
Yes. The Code allows a request for adequate assurance of payment within twenty days of the filing (thirty in Chapter 11), and service may be discontinued if none is furnished; the credit desk decides the amount.
How is the account split?
At the filing date from the reads: the pre-petition balance becomes the claim, and the post-petition service is billed and collectible on its own terms.
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