Wife screwed up my 13 plans..HELP!

[magyar123]

good question.. more than i know of it was spent on school and summer clothes for our kids.

birthday gifts and car parts..

no she was not an authorized user, but i am not going to put her in jail. she has offered to pay it back. I just need to know how this will affect my chapter 13? can i just exclude this card and move forward or will i be denied due to the charges on card after i retained an attorney.

I am going to divorce, but i just cant imagine putting my kids' mom in jail and put them through a divorce at same time.

If she was NOT an authorized user how did she manage to use a card that was not even a joint card?
While you may not want to go after her, you should go after the merchants and the processing banks for allowing the charges.

[woeisme]

Good point magyar123. If the credit companies object to discharge because charges were made so close to filing, brokeNconfused could argue that he did not make said charges, and the credit card companies would have to prove that the charges were his, which they would not be able to do since his signature would not be on the charge slips. I like it!

[brokeNconfused]

problem with that is, then the company will go after wife for criminal charges and im back in the same boat

[wooisme]

No, the answer is not locking the woman up, that's nuts. I have this feeling that she was trying to carry the burden and weight on her shoulders so that you would not worry about things and she made a terrible mistake and before she could do anything about it , it got out of hand. I'm not saying it's right...but people do make mistakes!

Your best just to wait as long as you can before you actually "file" if it's credit cards, etc. gee, it takes them a year to come after you. It was the case with me. I stopped paying them and it was a good 6 months to a year before they actually went for a judgement. You will be hounded to death. I changed my phone number and it did bide me time.

All you can do is take your chances....every case is different

[Flamingo]

problem with that is, then the company will go after wife for criminal charges and im back in the same boat

BrokeNConfused....have you talked to your attorney at all yet about all this? You have already filed - you should have been on the phone with him/her ASAP after this occurred. Please let us know what he/she has to say.

[brokeNconfused]

no i have not talked to attorney yet about it. i have been soooo busy at work and felt it was her responsiblity to explain it to the attorney. MONDAY is the planned day. I have not filed yet, but retained an attorney to keep the calls at bay. I will keep you posted on what is said. I can handle paying it back i guess but obviously not while in a 13 and cant afford the intrest if i have to wait until its time. So many questions and unknowns... i just dont want to lose a confirmation becasue of her.

crappy thing is she does not work so she is not even included in this 13.

[brokeNconfused]

one question. can they not allow you to file just because you are bad with money? the last evet aside. since most of my other debt was within last 2 years.. can they just say........NO YOU ARE BAD WITH MONEY ITS OBVIOUS GET OUT?

[Flamingo]

one question. can they not allow you to file just because you are bad with money? the last evet aside. since most of my other debt was within last 2 years.. can they just say........NO YOU ARE BAD WITH MONEY ITS OBVIOUS GET OUT?

A bankruptcy can be a fresh start for someone where things are so screwed up it's unbelievable as it appears what has happened to you as to your wife's spending spree. If you file and cannot change your financial ways, note that you cannot file Chapter 13 for 6 or 7 years and 8 years for a Chapter 7 (this changed over the past few years so I may be off a year or two - forgive me) so you can't rely on filing bankruptcy to take care of your budgeting woes. To all who file, while most of us don't think it could ever have happened to us - it did and it is really a warning shot that you need to change some things in your life so it doesn't happen again. You file bankruptcy because your debts exceed your assets - in plain words, you are insolvent, broke, however you want to put it and however you got there. You certainly don't want to spend your life in that mode. If you do file and get this all behind you, your wife needs to control her spending urges and learn you will not bail her out and if you do stay married, stay on a cash only basis and avoid the credit cards.

[brokeNconfused]

well the mariage is still up in the air. at this point i just want to put ALL my debts behind me. we have been on cash only, well me i just learned, and still have some$$$ in the bank since not paying the cards. I see a nice place at the end of this tunnel, but your right about the wife. She wont have a choice after i file since my credit will be shot for a long long long long time. Its not really my spending that got us here and there is a bit of truthfulness she needs to learn. Things will change on my part and if she does not want to comply ill find someone else who will. thanks for all the

FLAMINGO: i see you bought out early.. how did you do that?

[rrockinggramma]

I recommend that you and your wife get on the same page with this chapter 13. Even after you file she could continue to sabotage because she isn't really vested in the plan. Make sure all of your cards are closed and then if she gets credit it will have to be in her name only, so you are not responsible. But I bet unless she really is vested in this, this won't be the last incident.

[Flamingo]

well the mariage is still up in the air. at this point i just want to put ALL my debts behind me. we have been on cash only, well me i just learned, and still have some$$$ in the bank since not paying the cards. I see a nice place at the end of this tunnel, but your right about the wife. She wont have a choice after i file since my credit will be shot for a long long long long time. Its not really my spending that got us here and there is a bit of truthfulness she needs to learn. Things will change on my part and if she does not want to comply ill find someone else who will. thanks for all the

FLAMINGO: i see you bought out early.. how did you do that?

Unfortunately, you have enabled your wife to continue as she did and your wife took advantage of you and that. Both of you have a few things to clean/clear up. Anyway, not everyone can buy out of a Chapter 13. Under the old law, one could buy out of a Chapter 13 after 36 months of paying into the Plan. We had a five year Plan and a 25 year old roof on it's last legs and no amount of patching or prayers was preventing leaks and a major leak developed coming down the center of the attic through the wall. We needed a new roof and guttering badly and did not have $10,000 plus in our pocket but did have a large amount of equity in our house. We were able to refinance after investigating with our attorney and trustee, got a 30 year FHA fixed mortgage at 6.5% (great rate in 4/06) to pay off the balance of the plan, get a new roof and guttering/downspouts, and replace our front bay window which was as old as the roof and cracking. Our situation is not like many folks who just do or did not have the equity or reasoning to buy out of a Plan. I do not recommend it unless one truly needs the money for major house repairs and has enough equity for that and to buy out.

Note - under the new law, no one knows if the 36 month rule will apply as to plan buy outs. No one yet who has filed under the new law has hit that 36 month mark (new law went into effect October 2005).