WOW! Amex can be real JERKS!!!

[shortee]

ugh I feel for you. We just got something like that in the mail for one of our CC. It says it only should take up to 2 hours to fill out. BULL it took us over 4 hours to.

[car67]

Dang Mike you get curve ball after curve ball I feel for ya brother........

[bkdone]

In my humble opinion, all you can do is answer back. Give them what you can and provide a written answer for the questions that you dont have any documentation for. The trustee is familiar with this situation, and if you can reasonably present an answer, often times that will suffice. I agree with many posters that are tellling you that this laundry list was intended to freak you out! They thrive on panic, and they are hopeful that they can get you to somehow pay this money to them. Stay strong, level headed, and start with #1, and work your way down. Like I said, give them what you have...give an explanation for what you dont. And, let your lawyer do his job...that's what they get paid for.

[MajorMike]

Thanks for all your feedback guys. I'm waiting on my attorney to tell me what happened at the pre-trial conference on the 10th as this was sent on the 9th and he hasn't even called yet. Maybe he knows how to handle it best ( or at least I hope! )
If they want all those records, from all my creditors, etc, then they can pay for them. I'm not spending my time with it. I know I owe the money. That is NOT the point. I want to pay them, but I do hope they settle for a smaller amount and I do NOT want to have to go to court. I'll keep you posted......

[epiphany]

Well it sounds like you are past the panic point, MM, and that's good. Crossing fingers for you here.

ep

[bkdone]

So MM, any new news? What's the lawyer saying?

[MajorMike]

See post below!

[MajorMike]

Ok, you are NOT going to believe this! I just got an email from my attorney's paralegal.

Mike, >insert attorney name here< wanted me to see if you are interested in a settlement agreement of .50 cents on the dollar to settle this case? If so, he will make it so you do not have to start paying this until your bankruptcy is closed and he figures that you will then pay $400.00 a month until it is paid off. Are you in agreement?


That would be about $3500! YIPPEE!! DEFINITELY!
I wonder if they would acrue interest and fees during the 13? If so, I'd rather start paying it RIGHT NOW!
this is such stress off my back!!!

[holding on]

First off MM, great for you! Must be a huge relief after all the previous stress.

But how does this get around that bankruptcy idea of special priveleges to certain creditors? I'm reading some documents from a trustee's faq that says paying a creditor "on the side" is illegal. Or is this ok because it was all within the creditor making a legal objection?

[krielly]

His payment wouldn't be legally due until after the BK was closed, so this is a non-issue. No different than voluntarily re-affirming something after BK. Once your case is closed, you can re-pay anyone you want.

[holding on]

I see! he is reaffirming and thus the creditor says ok, we'll drop the objection. Learning something new all the time

[MajorMike]

YUP! I'm going to pay them now though and chistle it away as to wait 4 years and then have a payment due when I just finished my 13 will kill me! We want to be completely OUT of this mess by then. If we do $100/mo or pay them any extra while we're in BK, that'll be better. They are already going to get 20% from the BK claim so that'll be cool too!

[bkdone]

That sounds like a big relief. But... as for paying them now, I think is a great idea in theory, but you might need that extra $100 each month for an emergency. Instead of actually giving them the $100 each month, perhaps you could put it into an account or in a firebox in your house. You'll still be putting that money away for your AMEX bill, but then if something unexpected happens, you have money to cover it.

Ch. 13 payment plan is for a long time. Although you want to think about life after the plan, its important to stay focused on the near future (3 to 6 months from now...). As the saying goes, "Anything that can go wrong, will."

Cars have a funny way of needing new transmissions just when there is no money to fix them. Suddenly you need new tires, and a root canal. Or, your twin brother is getting married in 6 months in Hawaii, and you have been asked to be there as the best man... Things will arise.

If you can manage to pay AMEX $100 while still stashing away emergency money, then by all means go for it.

[HHM]

That is a fairly standard settlement for an objection.

[MajorMike]

Actually, I have a lot of wiggle room. I can put aside $500 and still be fine. Our income fluctuates so I can definitely pay them. When my attorney proposed payment, it looked as though I didnt have enough to fund the plan but that is because our income was only looked at 2 paychecks back and not 6 months back. I was actually thinking the payment would be about $1500/mo but it was only $825. Our car alone was over $600 when we went into this so it was easily affordable. We were paying over $2,000 before.