If the debtor made any payments within one year of the bankruptcy filing,the bankruptcy trustee can examine these payments as preferential payments.

Because a major purpose of the Bankruptcy Code is to prevent debtors from making payments to one creditor and thus treating that creditor preferentially,the trustee has the power to recover preferential payments,or payments made by an insolvent debtor that give preferential treatment to one creditor over another.If the debtor made any payments within ninety days of the bankruptcy filing,the trustee can examine these payments as preferential payments.For a payment to be preferential,the trustee must show that the transfer gave the creditor more money than the creditor would have received through bankruptcy proceedings.Thus,other creditors are disadvantaged by the debtor's preferential payment.