To much money left?

[Mark80]

With all my cards and lines making the minimums have become near impossible. And of course paying on so many accounts at 29% interest gets you no where. I have done some quick figuring, if I take all my debts and I payback 100% over 60 months I will end up with about 600 bucks extra then I do now. That includes my local trustee fees and an estimate for the attorney. I am not including what I owe my parents, which is 300 a month since I will have them paid off in the next year. So to the court it will look like I have an extra 900 dollars in cash.

Can you still file chapter 13 if you end up doing "ok" after wards? Or are we all meant to suffer as much as possible and they will just "take" the extra left over money and disburse it each month. Just like your tax refunds!

This is whats holding me back as I cannot get ahead making the 29% interest minimums.

Thanks

[rrockinggramma]

the point is to end up ok. If you pay back 100 percent of the claims filed then I think that your plan will be done much sooner and I am not sure if ALL of your disposable would go into the plan but I think it would. A while ago, (couple of years) one poster filed a chapter 13, and NO claims were filed by her creditors. She was 100 percent payback. She paid her fees and attorney and voila, was discharged.

[kornellred]

The purpose of bankruptcy is debt relief. It has nothing to do with whether or not you suffer. The numbers get crunched, the trustee recommends confirmation (eventually), and that's all. You either make it, or you don't. It's totally bereft of rightness, wrongness, or emotion. Continuing to pay 29% APR on unsecured debt is a veritable definition of suffering. You will suffer less you go Chapter 13. And the creditors will not suffer at all behind your decision.

[busby]

Mark80 - your situation sounds generally like mine. I was current on my credit card payments and mortgage (no car payment).

I was spending more each month in payments than I was making. It wasn't until I put it all on paper that I figured that out. I was putting as many of my monthly expenses on a credit card so most of my money just went to the credit card companies. But the end results was that, even though I often payed more than the minimum payment - my balances went down very little.

In my situation, filing bankruptcy really didn't make things worse or more difficult for me - to the contrary - things are much less stressful not worrying about how or if I can make all my payments this month.

Instead, the payment to the trustee is based upon your actual income and expenses so it will most likely be much more manageable.

This was just my experience - your mileage may vary. But I hope not... it's not been a bad experience for me.

[CindyLou]

my brother filed a chapter 13. He is a 100% payback. He had 60,000+ in unsecured. Only 30,000 filed claims. They took that 30,000 and spread it over the 5 years instead of making it a shorter time.

He came out MUCH better by filing. And even if they would have all filed claims then he would have been paying 6% interest instead of 33%! His disposal was $1450 and due to the lack of claims he pays in $800. He was very lucky.

[Humonese]

Are most people that lucky? I'm worried that if I file Ch13, they I will have no money at all. There's a lot more to my situation of course....I'll post an intro after I've had time to read more, so I don't ask any dumb/obvious questions.

[itneverends]

I don't think you can make a satement about "most people" either way, each case is different. My schedule reflected $108K in unsecured debt and I had $104K in filed claims.

[Humonese]

With $98k in debt, that's my biggest fear.

[AtWitsEnd]

Even if they do all file, that doesn't mean they'll all get paid. If your disposable income shows you can pay $700/month ths $42000 over 5 years. Your attorney and trustee fees will come off of that right off the top. Any secured creditors will be paid next and then IF there is any left, your non-secured creditors that filed a claim will be paid.


My disposable income shows $385, so I will pay $23,100 into the plan over 5 years. My attorney will get $1000 toward his fee that he rolled into BK, the trustee will get his fee, my back property taxes will get $2500.00 and the remaining $22000 (or whatever it is) will go to all the creditors who file a claim to be paid. If they all file claimes it will come to $74,000 for 21 creditors, they in turn will get my $23,000 divided between them all. If they don't get paid 100%, it doesn't matter, the debt will be discharged at the end of my plan.

[AtWitsEnd]

With all my cards and lines making the minimums have become near impossible. And of course paying on so many accounts at 29% interest gets you no where. I have done some quick figuring, if I take all my debts and I payback 100% over 60 months I will end up with about 600 bucks extra then I do now. That includes my local trustee fees and an estimate for the attorney. I am not including what I owe my parents, which is 300 a month since I will have them paid off in the next year. So to the court it will look like I have an extra 900 dollars in cash.

Can you still file chapter 13 if you end up doing "ok" after wards? Or are we all meant to suffer as much as possible and they will just "take" the extra left over money and disburse it each month. Just like your tax refunds!

This is whats holding me back as I cannot get ahead making the 29% interest minimums.

Thanks

There is no way to tell if you will pay back 100% or not, it doesn't matter at this point. You are figuring it all out kinda backwards. Do the online means test and an income and expense schedule. This will give you your disposable income figure. A chapter 13 has nothing at all to do with how much debt you have, its totally irrelevant. Its not necessary to be in a chapter 13 and pay back 100% of your debts. Your disposable income figure will dictate the amount you pay back. Good luck!

[CindyLou]

There is no way to tell if you will pay back 100% or not, it doesn't matter at this point. You are figuring it all out kinda backwards. Do the online means test and an income and expense schedule. This will give you your disposable income figure. A chapter 13 has nothing at all to do with how much debt you have, its totally irrelevant. Its not necessary to be in a chapter 13 and pay back 100% of your debts. Your disposable income figure will dictate the amount you pay back. Good luck!

Good point, Witsend. I had misread that the OP new he was a 100% payback. The way I look at it if you are better off even in a 100% payback then BK seems like a no brainer.

[MajorMike]

You're a BIT incorrect. After the trustee fees, attorney fees and secured debt, you won't have 23,100 left but what's left after that....the unsecureds get which may be about $15K.

Even if they do all file, that doesn't mean they'll all get paid. If your disposable income shows you can pay $700/month ths $42000 over 5 years. Your attorney and trustee fees will come off of that right off the top. Any secured creditors will be paid next and then IF there is any left, your non-secured creditors that filed a claim will be paid.


My disposable income shows $385, so I will pay $23,100 into the plan over 5 years. My attorney will get $1000 toward his fee that he rolled into BK, the trustee will get his fee, my back property taxes will get $2500.00 and the remaining $22000 (or whatever it is) will go to all the creditors who file a claim to be paid. If they all file claimes it will come to $74,000 for 21 creditors, they in turn will get my $23,000 divided between them all. If they don't get paid 100%, it doesn't matter, the debt will be discharged at the end of my plan.

[CindyLou]

You're a BIT incorrect. After the trustee fees, attorney fees and secured debt, you won't have 23,100 left but what's left after that....the unsecureds get which may be about $15K.

Without actually knowing the details of the OP posters situation there is no way to even guess what the unsecureds might get. They could get anywhere from 0% to 100% depending on the income and expenses of the debtor.

I think the most important thing to focus on is how much the debtor's disposable income is. The percentage to unsecureds really doesn't even matter in the scheme of things unless its 100% then it changes things just a little.

Otherwise the OP will have to wait til he/she sees an attorney to find out an amt of payment.

[MajorMike]

What I meant was, he has to SUBTRACT what he pays to the attorney, trustee and secureds first.

[Mark80]

Thanks for all the information guys!

I took the online means test and failed for Chapter 7. I can kind of tell that I will have 100% payback as long as all the creditors claim. After doing some calculations it seems that 100% payback over 5 years would infact net me more disposable income then I have now making the minimums. Actually its about a 600 dollar a month gain. And the creditors will be paid off, as of right now I am making no headway with them.

The only concern I have left is my stupid 3 year interest only ARM that comes due in 14 months. However I believe it only can jump a certain amount over the first so many years. Obviously I need to suck it up and meet with some attorneys and see where I really stand. But I am trying to hold on until after our baby is born in September so I know for sure all my kids will be calculated into the plan!

I really appreciate everyones help, you guys are great!