Positive Chapter 13 Stories?

[andysmom]

Hi,
From what we're gathering so far, it looks like we're probably headed for a chapter 13 as opposed to a chapter7.
Just looking for a little bit of hope for the future...
Are there any positive chapter 13 stories / outcomes? Is there anyone who feels they are better off that they did go ahead and file a chapter 13, rather than where they were before they filed?
If you've read any of my other posts, I'm sure by now you've come to the conclusion that I am a severe anxiety case especially with the realization of what we need to do. Unfortuately I don't see any other way to clean up this huge mess; I know I won't be sleeping again until we know what exactly it is we're in for....
But, in the meantime, any "positive" 13 outcome stories would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all for your support and all of the information we have already absorbed from this great resource.

[TexasEx]

We definitely are one of the positive ch. 13 stories out there. If you go back and read some of my posts we had to make very little changes in our lifestyle. We attribute our success to:
1. Planning ahead of time (we had almost one year to plan out our 13 and
2. A great easy going pro debtor trustee (this unfortunately was just plain luck).

Having already had our case confirmed and being 4 payments into our plan my only regret was not doing this sooner. Even in the past year I still was holding out hoping that we would not have to file in the end. It has been the best financial decision that we have taken in the past few years. Looking forward to being debt free (except for the house and student loans) in less than 5 years, which is something we could never have done without filing. We are finding out that having good credit is highly overrated (as long as you have decent income).

[tigergem]

I'm perfectly content with my Chapter 13. I am paying exactly what I want to be paying on my secured debt. My income tax bill from last year is being paid with no penalties and interest attached. I'm paying less than 1% to unsecured creditors (mostly medical bills, and random stupid bills left over from a previous marriage, no credit card debt at all, if you can believe it). My budget is comfortable. The bills I really needed and wanted to pay are suddenly magically affordable. No collectors breathing down my neck. The ex's/joint/other bills that I really didn't want to pay in the first place... well... they're unsecured. Oh well! :-)

It takes a lot of discipline and a strong will to succeed to answer to the trustee every month. I'm convinced that I did the right thing and will be better off for it eventually.

[andysmom]

Thank you both for your responses. It does make me feel a little better.
Just a quick question tigergem, when you say answer to the trustee every month, is that making your payment or do you actually have to have contact with them?
Our lawyer (well we had a consult & he's running the means test- but I'm already convinced it'll be a 13) hasn't explained too much about how a 13 works - he wanted to do the test first to make sure that's where we'll end up.
All of our debt is unsecured credit card debt- about $108,000. The only thing we have and want to keep is our house- which we only have a little equity & is exempt & 2 old cars that are paid off and exempt. Nothing of much value in our house so he said it'll all be exempt. I just don't want to be told I can't send my little boy to preschool next year. We already enrolled him & paid the deposit. I have almost all of the money to pay for it in an account in his name, which my lawyer said go ahead & pay for it now before we file, but I'm a little nervous about spending that before hand.
I'm scared to death to find out what the payment will be; I hope it's liveable because right now the stress is killing me. I can't sleep, eat, or anything. Sometimes I think not knowing is worse than finding out what it actually is.
We do have consult w/another lawyer on Thursday which I was debating going to because I did like the 1st one, but I guess it doesn't hurt to get another opinion (&info).

Thanks again to everyone & hoping to hear more 13 sucess stories / positive outcomes.

[momofthree]

Well, we're not even 1 month in. I just mailed off our first payment yesterday. But I have to say, the day that I saw our filing on pacer was a very happy day for me. A mountain of stress was lifted off of my shoulders on that day. Yes, we have to make a (very reasonable) payment to the trustee for the next 5 years, but once we finish up, we'll be completely debt free except for our mortgage, and that will be paid off in only 8 short years after that.

5 years is really nothing, my son will be 7 in just a couple of months and that time has flown by, so I know this will too. Besides, all we're paying is our car (+attny + trustee fees), and we would have had to pay that anyway, so it's not really that much different than a 7 for us.

[andysmom]

Thanks momofthree!
I think I will feel the same too. This burden is crushhing me & I feel like I don't even want to get out of bed in the morning & I cry an awful lot. I think the only thing that keeps me going is my toddler.
As long as our payment is affordable & not overwhelming we'll be fine. Trust me, the way it is now we really haven't been living quite "normally" anyways. This is our 1st month we were not going to be able to pay all of the credit cards- only some- but on the advice of lawyer, we have stopped as of this month - just about 2 weeks late on 1 card and the phone never stops ringing. The only way we were able to keep paying was to live off the credit cards. When we made the decision enough was enough & went all cash & tried to dig ourselves out of this mess, we realized we were in really deep and we couldn't do it on our own.

it seems you hear alot of negative things about a chapter 13, but for some of us I think it's the only way out. I really can't wait to find out exactly how it works, how involved the trustee is with your daily living once your plan is set up and you're making payments and most of all to get somewhat of an idea - at least a ballpark idea- as to what the payment will be.

Thanks again

[NoTomatoCan]

Please keep your head up! This is one of the worst times as you prepare for BK - It does actually get much better! The phone calls suck. Lots of suggestions on the "Collections" part of this forum on how to deal with them. My wife and I just filed, but stopped paying CCs around late November/early December - so the calls began in earnest right around Christmas time.

Now there are no more phone calls from creditors, we have a very livable plan proposed, and get to move forward with our lives. Not where any of us planned on being, but much better than struggling with a mountain of debt for the rest of our lives.

[Lissy]

I'm just beginning as well. My first payment is due end of next week and my 341 is scheduled for early April. Right now, my proposed payment is completely doable and I won't have to make any drastic changes in my lifestyle to afford it. Minor changes, yes, but nothing I can't do without. I just hope it stays that way once the trustee reviews everything! That still has me very stressed and I can't wait until my 341 is over and I'm confirmed. That's when I'll sleep better. But for me, however it ends up, it was the only way to get myself out of the mess I made. I'd rather do this than end up with 25% of my wages garnished. That would cripple me.

[Amadan]

Andysmom, you are not alone with your anxiety and concern. The fear is quite frankly on the verge of tearing our family apart. We had about a 20% reduction in income over the last year and our debt bloomed as we struggled to continue. We never lived lavishly, but there were things we could have done without (like eating out 2-3 times a week). But this last year has been pure hell, with over half of our income going to creditiors just to keep our heads above water. Now that we finally realize we MUST do this, the stress has actually doubled! While this site has helped me understand some of the process I still face my worst fears and anxiety every night. I havent slept more than an hour or two a night since we stopped paying. The first consult had us paying back 100% and wouldnt even discuss how they came up with those numbers, they made me feel ashamed and didnt seem to give me any recourse. I had donea means test online that showed a couple hundred a month, which would still be hard but feasible. The second lawyer i met with was much more compassionate, and has explained much - even before i paid the retainer he spent hours with me going over the process. I have a wait a few more days for him to do the math and see what he comes up with. Maybe I am an idiot, but i still dont get it. Some of what I hear makes Chapter 13 sound debtors prison, only your under house arrest.

[andysmom]

thank you notomatocan & lissy for your comments. I hope we end up in a liveable plan as well.

Amadan- you sound just like me; the anxiety is killing me! (not to mention I have been diagnosed w/panic disorder years ago and this is really making me nuts right now). I just want to know the details and want to get it over with as soon as possible.
I hope by hearing of other people's success/ start over in this plan will help somewhat calm the fears and extreme nerves of those of us that are just at the begining and feel like we're trapped & suffocating by fear, anxiety & panic.

[tigergem]

Just a quick question tigergem, when you say answer to the trustee every month, is that making your payment or do you actually have to have contact with them?

Well, the payment for the most part, (now that I am confirmed). But I worked closely with my trustee and his staff through my confirmation process because I am pro se, and he's a neat guy. We don't always see eye to eye, but he is very helpful. I don't hesitate to ask him any questions if they come up. At his request, I go directly to him, and not through his staff. If I have any issues that come up with my budget over the next 5 years, he is going to be the second person to know about it.

If you use an attorney, you may or may not ever find yourself in the position of having to work with your trustee directly, but you should realize that you WILL have a working relationship of some sort with that office for the next 3 to 5 years. It would be to your benefit to understand who you are dealing with, and not let them intimidate you. After you are confirmed, their goal is to help you succeed, after all.

[andysmom]

Thanks tigergem!
I am already intimidated by the entire process. I had a consult w/an attorney who's doing the means test now & I have another consult Thursday. There's no way I'd be able to handle this on my own. I give you all the credit in the world; you must be a very strong person.
I don't think I could be anymore nervous,scared, anxious, impatient,....... as I am right now. I don't know how I'm going to make it through this whole process. I really wish we saw the writing on the wall before we got so deep into this mess.
I only hope for a decent turn out so we could start to get our lives back on track because I can not live like this anymore.

[tigergem]

Ok I have to confess, I didn't have an ounce of fear or anxiety going in to my bankruptcy at all. I looked at it like my sword of revenge.... "off with the creditor's talking heads!" And then I worked my budget. And then I made my plan work within my budget. That is how you have to approach it. You know you HAVE to have a budget, and you are going to have to pay something to somebody, so work it. Quite frankly, especially after reading some of the posts on this board, for me, I am sure that hiring an attorney would have caused me more anxiety than the process itself lol.

[andysmom]

Wow!! I really wish I could be like you
I don't mind a budget; in fact these last months have not a cakewalk by any means. We haven't been spending much on anything. I do want to pay what I could but I know we can not afford to pay it all and not at the payments & interest they all want (jacked rates to about 30% on almost everything- even though we were never late or missed payments) and some cards went from a minimum of maybe $150 or $175 to over $600 making our final bill add up to almost $2600 a month in MINIMUM credit card payments. How did we keep afloat for the last year? Like idiots, using the cards to live off. We don't make anywhere near that amount and what did we get for it? By trying to prevent the inevitable, we ended up here anyways just with waaaaaay more debt and waaaay more anxiety.
I just want to know our payment & start working towards a better future.
I'm glad everything is working well for you & I hope the same holds true for us.
Again, I really wish I had your attitude & courage!!

[tigergem]

Well. I don't know if this is a good idea or a bad idea. But I think that even if you hire an attorney, you should get the Nolo books and work through the paperwork yourself so that you are familiar with the forms and the terminology and the process. That way you can communicate with your attorney in a pro active way. Maybe a bit of extra knowledge would take the fear out of it for you.