What has happeend to you while in Chapter 13...

[aa06a47]

Probably for people 2-3 years in there plan, but others hop in. Just some things to think about while going through a chapter 13. Others, please share.

Here are some things that happened to me....

1) Gas went from 2 to 4.50 a gallon. Thanks God it came back down, but it is creaping back up. Figure by June, we might see it over 3 again.

2) Basement flooded (sump pump / sewer backup), wiping out HVAC system, water heater, destroying all contents in basement. Insurance covered all but deductible.

3) Roof destroyed by hail damage...... Insurance covered all but deductible.

4) State Farm Insurance dropped me due to claims. (17 years without a claim, 2 claims and see ya later) Cheapest insurance found was $1700....(previous was paying $650).......ouch....and believe me, not many quotes came back because of the 2 claims in 2 years, and bk (though none said anything about the bk)

5) Cost for benefits at work increased from about 50 / month to over 200/month. (note, no pay increase in 3 years).

6) Positive thing, we have been working sporadic overtime at work, seemed enough to be me by the tough times. (No, didn't report to trustee...figured he would read it in the income tax)

[lrprn]

Let's see, aa - you and I are only a few months apart filing three and a half years ago. Highlights for us since filing...

The Challenges

1) Twelve days after filing, I had a health emergency and ended up in the hospital for three days. Arranged for a payment plan with the hospital and physicians over the next 18 months to pay for that and still be able to keep up financially with everything else.

2) Same as aa - the gas price increases were hard on our budget during year one and two.

3) My diabetic husband started our plan on less expensive oral medications. Now he's insulin-dependent, so our medical costs have gone up considerably over the last three years covering his more extensive medical needs.

4) Sprung a plumbing leak between our bedroom bathroom and the main bathroom last summer. Had to get that repaired. Luckily our emergency fund covered that.

5) We discovered a few weeks ago that our house has termites again (we treated 15 years ago - the guarantee was for 10 years - sigh). Lucky #2 - our emergency fund will cover this too.

6) Our one TV went out right before the holidays. Guess what we got each other for Christmas? (And - lucky #3 - our emergency fund handled this too. We have been incredibly faithful to our budget and maximizing our savings for four straight years - it's really made a huge difference for us.)

The Good

1) We have a good friend who is a great mechanic and has kept our 2000 and 2002 cars (now paid off through our plan) running very well. He does all our work at cost and takes services in trade for his labor. This alone has saved us a lot of money over the last three years!

2) We are both still gainfully employed and even have gotten small raises to add to our emergency fund.

3) Insurance - Our auto insurance is about the same amount monthly as when we filed. Our health insurance has increased, but my raises have gone a long way to cover that so far. Property taxes have been a little higher, but we've managed to cover that too.

3) (Knock on wood) Our appliances are all behaving themselves so far. My hubby is very handy, so he keeps a close eye on everything and maintenances them regularly. That helps a ton.

4) We've stayed under our trustee's radar effectively so far - all payments have been on time, and (knock on wood again), so far no unexpected financial meltdowns (job loss, divorce, etc) as so many filers have had to deal with recently.

We tell each other all the time that we are so grateful that Ch 13 bankruptcy has been our saving grace financially and also likely saved our marriage as well. Our 13 and the financial management lessons we've both learned as a result have definitely been our personal financial storm cloud's silver lining.

[woeisme]

We are almost halfway through, 29 months I think right now.

Challenges:

1. Hubby injured his back, had to go on disability retirement. Was an interesting few months where he got no income at all, and then about a 40% reduction in his total income.

2. Health insurance that was provided by hubby's work is no longer available, had to switch to my employer's insurance plan, which was $300 more per month and had much worse coverage, $2000/$4000 deductibles per person/per family, and much higher co-pays. Oh, and it doesn't cover chiropractic or physical therapy at all, both of which are required for hubby as is part of his disability treatment plan, so if he doesn't do the therapy, he no longer gets his disability pay, so it's all out of pocket.

3. Vehicle died, had to get financed for a new (well, new to us, but used) vehicle while in CH 13, not so easy to do!

4. Lost hubby's work-provided life insurance, now pay $45/month for much less coverage, but at least we have something.

5. Car problems too numerous to count!

Good Things
1. Trustee approved a 3-month suspension of payments when hubby lost all income during disability approval process. Also was able to amend plan to go from $1100/month payments to $400/month payments, and approved motion to incur new debt to get new vehicle, with vehicle payments included as part of the modification so was taken into consideration when new payment calculated.

2. Hubby no longer has long commute, so we actually were able to save quite a bit of $ in the gasoline budget after filing because his 60-mile per day commute is no longer part of the picture.

3. Hubby is home all the time now, so no longer have child care expenses before or after school.

4. I got several raises (3) since filing, although two of them were taken into account when we did the total new financial picture to modify the plan.

5. Have a very fair and reasonable trustee, and an ok attorney (she's made a few mistakes, but nothing fatal and we've been able to get everything ironed out). But our trustee's ability to see that making our plan livable for us is actually the best for our creditors because we aren't going to drop out of the plan this way has been key to surviving so far.

6. We were able to keep our tax refunds and the tax rebates, as well as overtime pay I was able to earn a couple of times, which helped us build up emergency funds that we have used to handle the mini-crises we've had.

7. My hubby has a friend who has helped keep our cars running for reasonable costs. Not as good a deal as doing things at cost, but way less than any other mechanic in town would have charged.

[sunshineMN]

Just wanted to say that this is a GREAT thread!!

Hubby and I are just in the beginning stages of preparing to file for ch 13.
Reading both the ups and downs that people have been through while in ch 13 puts me so much more at ease...and feel confident that we are doing the right thing.

Keep this thread going so I can read more!!!

[$$only4ever]

I have been in BankruptcyLand the longest so far, so here goes:

The Bad:
1) Hubbby has had each of his shoulders operated on-1st was in 2006 and the second in 2008. Both times he was out of work for approximately 5 weeks. My out of pocket for the first surgery was over $2k. The second surgery-$50.00.

2) I became unemployed in 2008. Thank goodness, only took a few months to become employed again.

3) Major car repairs, new tires, had to replace the microwave and a TV.

4) My son got married in 2007. Not only did we have to buy the fancy duds and rent a tux, we also contributed to the cost of the wedding.

The Good:

The best part was that we, too had an emergency fund and all of my big expenses were covered. Whew!!