I filed Ch 7 on 8/26/14...no asset...discharged 11/19/14. The discharge was a very short-lived relief from the bulk of my financial woes.
The morning of 11/20 the Bank notice to repo my car (collateral on a discharged loan), IRS, MVA Collections, and Comptroller letters were all sitting there. All!
I wish I had a better story to tell about how much of a relief the discharge has given me, but I don't. I have always lived well within my means. I've only bought one new car in my life, a 93 Honda Civic that I still have with over 350k on it! I bought a used car as a daily driver in 2009 and will lose it in this BK. I've never owned a house until last year and lived for free in my childhood home for 35 years until a family dispute and a divorce forced some life changes on me. With the move and divorce came credit card debt, which I never had before. Then came the illness and surgery that my health insurance didn't cover. BUT I had a good job and was still making ends meet and even bought a modestly priced home and got a great mortgage rate with my USDA loan. I got a better job making great money and got re-married recently too. Then the wheels fell off the cart.
The Bankruptcy came about after a business that I was an investor in went belly-up leaving the loan balance unpaid, IRS and State Tax debt. I was personal guarantor on some of the accounts like the lease and a loan. The landlord filed a lawsuit against me for $19k in back rent and he won judgement for $11k or it. He then proceeded to file the swiftest garnishment and levy proceedings that any lawyer I encountered has ever seen. From lawsuit to garnishment took 7 days. I had no time to make a decision or re-pay! My only move was to file BK.
The tax debts and MVA mess were due to factors out of my control. My ex-husband created an MVA insurance flag ($6,400 !) from an insurance lapse on a vehicle he never retitled to remove my name after our divorce. And the tax debts and loan debt were due to mis-management by the business operator. But, legally it settles on me since I was the investor that helped finance startup and am a member of the LLC that it operated under. So I am doing the best I can to own this mess rather than explain it away. It happened and it happened because I wasn't diligent in following up on the business I invested in.
I'm slowly working through each issue but have no idea how I can keep all three balls in the air until I come up with a plan. Even after bankruptcy there is still not enough $$ in my tight budget to pay these debts. The government agencies don't care. They just want their money and will follow their procedures to get it. It's a full time job just dealing with this right now and I am trying to fit it into my already busy work schedule (year-end at the bank...yeah).
At least I was blessed with the generosity of my grandmother who just gave me my grandfather's old truck and her car to sell or drive since mine will disappear any day. Problem is, with the MVA flag I cannot register any vehicle until the MVA debt is satisfied. At least she is willing to leave them titled as they are until I get this straight.
So I have the looming threats from the IRS , Comptroller, and MVA to garnish my wages and levy my bank accounts. All of which is extra special since I actually work at the bank where I do my banking. Everyone at work knows my business from the prior garnishment and levy (both were short-lived and released after filing BK) and I have had to be open and honest about what I am going through. It's been tough telling the stories and feeling the shame.
So there is some shame, some crow to eat, and more financial distress to battle through for me. Hoping that 6 month or a year from now I can revisit this post and it will all seem like a bad dream.
The morning of 11/20 the Bank notice to repo my car (collateral on a discharged loan), IRS, MVA Collections, and Comptroller letters were all sitting there. All!
I wish I had a better story to tell about how much of a relief the discharge has given me, but I don't. I have always lived well within my means. I've only bought one new car in my life, a 93 Honda Civic that I still have with over 350k on it! I bought a used car as a daily driver in 2009 and will lose it in this BK. I've never owned a house until last year and lived for free in my childhood home for 35 years until a family dispute and a divorce forced some life changes on me. With the move and divorce came credit card debt, which I never had before. Then came the illness and surgery that my health insurance didn't cover. BUT I had a good job and was still making ends meet and even bought a modestly priced home and got a great mortgage rate with my USDA loan. I got a better job making great money and got re-married recently too. Then the wheels fell off the cart.
The Bankruptcy came about after a business that I was an investor in went belly-up leaving the loan balance unpaid, IRS and State Tax debt. I was personal guarantor on some of the accounts like the lease and a loan. The landlord filed a lawsuit against me for $19k in back rent and he won judgement for $11k or it. He then proceeded to file the swiftest garnishment and levy proceedings that any lawyer I encountered has ever seen. From lawsuit to garnishment took 7 days. I had no time to make a decision or re-pay! My only move was to file BK.
The tax debts and MVA mess were due to factors out of my control. My ex-husband created an MVA insurance flag ($6,400 !) from an insurance lapse on a vehicle he never retitled to remove my name after our divorce. And the tax debts and loan debt were due to mis-management by the business operator. But, legally it settles on me since I was the investor that helped finance startup and am a member of the LLC that it operated under. So I am doing the best I can to own this mess rather than explain it away. It happened and it happened because I wasn't diligent in following up on the business I invested in.
I'm slowly working through each issue but have no idea how I can keep all three balls in the air until I come up with a plan. Even after bankruptcy there is still not enough $$ in my tight budget to pay these debts. The government agencies don't care. They just want their money and will follow their procedures to get it. It's a full time job just dealing with this right now and I am trying to fit it into my already busy work schedule (year-end at the bank...yeah).
At least I was blessed with the generosity of my grandmother who just gave me my grandfather's old truck and her car to sell or drive since mine will disappear any day. Problem is, with the MVA flag I cannot register any vehicle until the MVA debt is satisfied. At least she is willing to leave them titled as they are until I get this straight.
So I have the looming threats from the IRS , Comptroller, and MVA to garnish my wages and levy my bank accounts. All of which is extra special since I actually work at the bank where I do my banking. Everyone at work knows my business from the prior garnishment and levy (both were short-lived and released after filing BK) and I have had to be open and honest about what I am going through. It's been tough telling the stories and feeling the shame.
So there is some shame, some crow to eat, and more financial distress to battle through for me. Hoping that 6 month or a year from now I can revisit this post and it will all seem like a bad dream.
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