It is the debtor's responsibility to submit a complete creditor matrix immediately upon filing the petition in all Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases, and those Chapter 11 cases with 200 or fewer creditors. The debtor should not upload a creditor matrix in Chapter 11 cases with more than 200 creditors (refer to L.R. 2002-1(f) for procedures for motioning the court for a claims agent).
A creditor matrix contains each creditor’s name and mailing address. This matrix is used for noticing the meeting of creditors and also for other noticing and claims information when applicable. It is necessary for the Clerk to have this matrix in order for the case to proceed expeditiously and efficiently. If an incomplete matrix submitted, it is the debtor's responsibility to send notice of the meeting of creditors to the creditors who were not served by the Court and a file a Certificate of Service with the Court.
The creditor matrix must be in ASCII file format with an appropriate text extension such as .txt before it can be successfully uploaded into the CM/ECF system. All other file types within CM/ECF will be portable document format (PDF) files.
The following instructions will guide you to correctly format a creditor matrix, save it as a .txt file, and upload the file into CM/ECF. These instructions assume you have already accessed and logged into CM/ECF (see How to Access CM/ECF).
Creditor Matrix Formatting Specifications
The name and address of each creditor must be six (6) lines or less.
Line one should be the name of the creditor.
Line two should be either the company name or the first line of the address. Account numbers or "attention" lines should be placed in line two.
Additional lines should be used to complete the address, with the city, state, and ZIP code on the last line. There must be a comma placed immediately after the city name.
Each creditor must be separated by at least one blank line.
Each line may contain no more than 40 characters including spaces.
Names and addresses must be in a single, left justified column (flush against the left margin, with no spaces in the first position of a line).
Multiple columns of names and addresses will not be accepted
Special characters such as ~, ½, or ^ will cause problems. The #, C/O and & characters have not been reported to cause errors.
Nine digit ZIP codes must be typed with a hyphen separating the two groups of digits.
All states must be two-letter abbreviations.
Do NOT include the case name, case number, page numbers, headers, footers, etc.
All entries should conform to the CM/ECF style conventions for names and addresses.
DO NOT PUT ANY OTHER INFORMATION ON THE MATRIX - IT IS FOR CREDITORS ONLY.
The matrix must be in ASCII file format with an appropriate text extension such as .txt (see instructions below).
How to Save/Convert the Creditor Matrix File with a .txt Extension
After creating the creditor list in WordPerfect or Microsoft Word, open the file.
Once the file is displayed on the screen, click [File] on the WordPerfect or Microsoft Word menu bar to display the drop down menu.
Select [Save As] from the menu
Select the file type If in WordPerfect:
Click the drop down menu arrow in the [File Type] box, and select the file type [ASCII DOS Text].
If in Microsoft Word:
Click on the drop down box arrow in the [Save As Type] box, and select the file type of [Text Files(*.txt)] or [Text Only (*.txt)].
Enter the file name in the [File Name:] box. (The system will provide a file name with the name you type with a .txt extension)
Note: the preferred practice is to use the debtor name as the file name. This will allow you to prepare and save the creditor matrix before you open the case and obtain a case number. Example names are:
gary_grant_matrix.txt
acme_enterprises_matrix.txt
gary_mary_grant_matrix.txt
Click the [Save] button.
How to upload a Creditor Matrix into CM/ECF
Access the CM/ECF system
Click [Bankruptcy]
Click [Creditor Maintenance]
Click [Upload a creditor matrix file]
Enter the case # in yy-nnnnn format, including the hyphen. Click [Next].
NOTE: If the system prompts that you have entered an invalid case number, click the browser’s [Back] button and enter the correct number.
The Load Creditor Information screen will display. Use the Browse feature to navigate to the appropriate directory and file of the creditor matrix file. To do this:
Click on the [Browse] button to display the File Upload screen
Click in the Look In box and select the appropriate drive name.
Change the Files of types: to Text (.*txt) or All Files.
Highlight the appropriate text file with a click of the mouse.
For quality assurance, right-click with the mouse and select [Open] from the pick-list that is displayed.
Verify that this is the correct matrix file for this case. Close or minimize the Adobe Acrobat reader by clicking on "X" in the upper right-hand corner.
If correct, double-click the PDF file to select it or click the [Open] button to attach the matrix file to the bankruptcy case.
Click [Next].
The Total Creditors Entered screen appears.
If the total number of creditors entered is not the same as the total number of creditors on the submitted matrix, click the browser [Back] button to return to the screen you need to correct. Then process the screens again with the respective [Next] or [Submit] buttons.
If the total number of creditors displayed is correct, click the [Submit] button.
The Creditor Receipt screen displays. The information displayed confirms the number of creditors added to the case.
If you have additional creditor matrices to enter for different cases, click [Return to Creditor Maintenance] and repeat the process for each creditor matrix.
If you have no other matrices to add, select [Logout] or select another option on the Main Menu Bar.
NOTE:
The Creditor Mailing Matrix is available to view via [Utilities > Mailings]
You will have the opportunity to upload the creditor matrix one time
RELATED FILINGS:
Updated: November 28, 2003