Ok finally met with an Attorney, does this sound right?

[Mark80]

I was instructed to "stop" paying on all my credit cards now, as long as I was 100% certain I was going to file. The Attorney told me that it would take them months to finally file a suit and that by then we would be filed anyhow and there was no reason to pay them anymore money. I mentioned I wanted to use that cash to pay off some things on my wifes name so we are in the clear as much as possible after filing.

Has anyone else been told this? He says all that will happen is the phone will start ringing and I should just ignore it. Once things are on there way I can answer and give them his name and number to confirm?

One other question since I dont want to spam the forums, I am suppose to provide 6 months of paystubs for income verification. But we wont be actually filing until my wife has our new baby. (she is due in september) He plans to submit the papers the next day after the birth. So we can take advantage of the extra child being included.

Anyhow I work a ton of hours, way more then I should be. I kind of take advantage of my situation here and stretch my hours to 55-60 a week. Fact is I dont know how much longer I can keep it up. Do you think I could cut back even just an hour a day to say 50 a week instead of 55 and it would squeeze down my income level. We are very close to the Chapter 7 line with a family of 5.

Thanks for all the help!

[rrockinggramma]

the lookback rule is 6 months but I would definitely do what I could to make my payment to the trustee as low as possible

[BK2008]

Yes, stop paying on all of the debt you are going to put through BK.
When you get your case number, you can give them that and your attorneys phone number, all calls should cease by then

Have you talked to your attorney about your income as it is now??
Do you qualify for the BK7?? If you're burned out, I would cut back my hours. If it becomes a question, you tell them the truth, you reduced your overtime hours. You were burned out.

[AngelinaCat]

Yes, we were told to stop paying the credit cards--we already had by that time anyway. There were only two of them. We also had to provide 6 months of paystubs and bank statements. However, if you are working lots of overtime now, and don't see how much longer you can keep it up, I would cut back NOW, and then wait as long as you can to file--say the end of December, so that the six month lookback on the paystubs reflects the lower pay for the most part. Good luck to you and your wife and the new baby on the way.

[AngelinaCat]

Since it took about 16 months before we filed (very slow attorney) we taped her card to the handsets and when a call came, we explained that we were in the process of filing and gave the attorney contact info to the person. Generally they were very nice and accepted what we said.

[Mark80]

How long do you guys think you can get by before the creditors will sue you and do something like wage garnishment ect? I just don't want to drag it out to long and end up in court over it before the BK filing?

Thank you!

[BK2008]

It will take months (if they even go the lawsuit route). It's very expensive for them to pursue you in court.

You don't say if you have any assets to attach, and depending on your state, if they won a judgement, they could garnish wages. But it takes a long time to get to that point.

When were you planning on filing BK?

[Mark80]

The day after my wife has our baby. She is due mid September, so thats about 2 months away!

I have a 100% home loan that I owe 10k more then market value atm. And I have a auto loan that is at 17,500 of 21,000, but the car is worth only 16,500according to BB prices today. After those two things I have nothing besides my furniture and household items!

[justplaintired]

We stopped paying back in Jan. We got the calls, but once we gave our attorneys name and number they took that info. We are still not filed. We were told to stop paying and stop using, we had already stopped using, but not paying was weird. We did it. We are still getting statements with ridiculous min payments due. If the attorney is paid as ours is find out if you can give his name and number to all creditors. I assumed all attorneys handled these calls since ours said to forward all calls to him, but other threads on this forum have stated different. If he handles them, forward them to him as soon as the calls start, this will avoid calls at work. It will also make life much less stressful. We avoided calls for about 2 months until they started calling work, then we answered and gave them attorneys name and number.

I am sure you will be fine waiting until Sept. I would highly recommend getting your income below and keeping it below median if you're trying for a C7, especially if you're unsure if the O/T could drop off anytime. That's basically what pushed us into BK, O/T stopped suddenly and none to be had for almost 2 yrs. Ask your attorney about the O/T. If you have the option at work of cutting back and not having it effect future possibilities of O/T, slow down a bit. We worried about that. Now DH is getting a little O/T and we are glad. But not knowing when and if that could end is why we are going threw BK.

Good luck and congrats on new baby! A new baby and a fresh start debt free what a great new beginning for all of you!

[BK2008]

The day after my wife has our baby. She is due mid September, so thats about 2 months away!

I have a 100% home loan that I owe 10k more then market value atm. And I have a auto loan that is at 17,500 of 21,000, but the car is worth only 16,500according to BB prices today. After those two things I have nothing besides my furniture and household items!

You're not that upside down on either of these things.
Just curious, why are you filing BK?
Do you have other debts (cc's, medical bills, etc)??

[woeisme]

It will take 6 months or more typically before creditors go after lawsuits. You get plenty of notice of the lawsuits, so you could get everything ready for your BK and then drag it out as long as possible until you actually get threatened with a wage garnishment or something like that, and then file. You should be able to wait 6 months if you think that will allow you to qualify for a CH 7 if you stop doing overtime, and that sure beats a CH 13 by a longshot!

[Mark80]

You're not that upside down on either of these things.
Just curious, why are you filing BK?
Do you have other debts (cc's, medical bills, etc)??

Yes I have about 40K in CC debts. And my wife has a ton of medical that I am paying on, that with the new baby on the way we just aren't squeezing by anymore. And paying the minimums is getting us nowhere fast.

Thanks for the info on creditors, isn't there a way to stop them from calling your work if you tell them you cannot recieve those calls there? It feels very weird not paying this stuff, but after all the interest hikes, late fees ect I am somewhat already at ease.

[berrymom31]

Yes, if you contact all of your creditors and tell them to not call you at work, legally they cannot call you. They will try home first, so when they call give them your atty's name and number and that you don't have a chapter number yet but you are in the process of doing the paperwork and please do not call home or work anymore. None of my creditors have been calling and we have not paid since April...probably won't file till the first of the year.

[gymbo]

You're not that upside down on either of these things.
Just curious, why are you filing BK?
Do you have other debts (cc's, medical bills, etc)??

If they own 10k more on the home then it's worth and $1k more on the car then it's worth, doesn't it make them uspide down in both?

Sorry, I'm confused.

[Mark80]

Yes, if you contact all of your creditors and tell them to not call you at work, legally they cannot call you. They will try home first, so when they call give them your atty's name and number and that you don't have a chapter number yet but you are in the process of doing the paperwork and please do not call home or work anymore. None of my creditors have been calling and we have not paid since April...probably won't file till the first of the year.

I wasn't sure on what to say so I have been avoiding the calls here. I get paged I pick up and disconnect or forward to my voice box. I have not paid or sent any of the paper work I filled out back yet so I didn't think I should have them calling the Attorney until I atleast paid them. But I will tell them I am in process of BK and filling out all the paperwork and to please stop calling my work.