And the final tallies are... $$$$$$

[imtryingtho]

$250,000 in credit cards and personal loans
$102,000 in student loans
$40,000 auto loan
$350,000 remaining on our mortgage

I just had to tell SOMEONE these outrageous numbers. I told my husband that as stupid as I feel for going this much into debt, what kind of morons thought we deserved more and more credit with higher and higher limits?

Obviously only the top line will go into Chapter 13. I'm confident we will budget better going forward to NEVER let this happen again. My husband makes $133k before taxes, but I don't work. We have a financial advisor who I'm hoping will help us stay on track once we have a repayment plan!

[justbroke]

I know you don't want to read this, but you're getting dangerously close to the Chapter 13 limits. A Chapter 13 can only be used by those that have less than $419,275 (2020) of unsecured debt.

I think. you're insolvent. The $133K in income, with $392K in unsecured debt plus $350K in secured debt, means that you're likely shelling out $7K/month in debt payments with less than $2K/month for other living expenses. I know the feeling well.

Now, I did have over $1.5M in debt when I first filed, but I held two investment properties at the time. I almost exceeded the Chapter 13 unsecured debt limits since I was just under the line (which in 2008 was about $325K for the unsecured limit).

[imtryingtho]

Hopefully we are filing just in time then. Not that we had any plans to make this situation worse. We haven’t used credit since December or January.

So unsecured debts like student loans are included in that max limit even if they aren’t technically part of the bankruptcy?

Side note: one of my student loans is technically in my dad’s name so that amount is probably $35k less. I included it since I am the one expected to pay it and would never do anything that would hurt my parents financially. When I started college I was considered a dependent and couldn’t get loans without my parents signing for them.

[justbroke]

Student loans are part of bankruptcy. They are classified as general unsecured debt. The only thing special about student loans are that you can't (easily) discharge them and they automatically go into deferment when you file.

Maybe you're not as close to the debt limits as I thought... especially with that $35K debt that isn't yours.

I should have mentioned that it's that you can't file bankruptcy, it's only that you can't use a Chapter 13 if the debt limits are too high. It forces those with exceptionally high debts into a Chapter 11 which is a Chapter 13 on steroids.