need input please

[Ann]

Was told today by my lawyer that with my unsecured debt: $211,000 and my secured debt: 193,000 first and 68,000 second I simply have too much debt to qualify for a chapter 13. I posted on the 7 boards about this earlier. Was hoping maybe someone here could give me some input. Thanks!

[SMinGA]

Unless there is some other nonsecured debt he knows about that you didn't mention, the advice makes no sense. If the 2nd is unsecured, you're still under $300k unsecured debt. I don't know the exact limit, but its in the low $300's.

Is there anything else you're not counting? School loans, irs, etc.? They're priority but unsecured.

[Ann]

Unless there is some other nonsecured debt he knows about that you didn't mention, the advice makes no sense. If the 2nd is unsecured, you're still under $300k unsecured debt. I don't know the exact limit, but its in the low $300's.

Is there anything else you're not counting? School loans, irs, etc.? They're priority but unsecured.

I do have a student loan that is now going into repayment but that is only $10,000 and I already knew you couldn't claim that. What the heck was he thinking??? Does the value of my first mortgage have anything to do with this? We need help and I already blew 1400 on him. Really afraid I was given some bad advice.

[SMinGA]

1st mortgage = secured, so that does not count in the unsecured max amount.

The student loan does (I think, and worst case scenario is to assume it does) but that $10k does not push you over the max.

I have heard of many atty's pushing people to 13's, but it does not seem common for them to push people away from 13's. It could be your particular atty likes 7's because they're short, simple. You could ask about his experience: about how many 7's does he file a year, how many 13's? Could even go on Pacer and look up some of his cases - but that can get costly if you're not careful. ($2.40 per petition if you look at whole case files.)

I would suggest get on the phone today. Call several bk attorneys. Give a brief overview (slightly over the median, interested in ch. 7 but not opposed to ch. 13 if that is the only option, give rough #'s of debt & income). Schedule appointments - do not pay anyone anything. Feel free to schedule 2nd visits, but you can always cancel ones you decide not to pursue.

[NoTomatoCan]

This is a HUGE stretch, but how much is your home worth? In some districts they count the unsecured portion of your secured assets as part of your unsecured debt.

For example, if your home was only worth $110k now, then you would have an additional $148k of unsecured debt.

But even with those numbers and your $10k student loan, it would put you above the current unsecured debt limit of $336k, but just barely above the unsecured debt limit as of April 1 (They adjust up to $360k).

As SMinGA suggests, get some other opinions/free consultations. I bet you get some different opinions.

[zeezee]

You didn't mention your income (rather disposable income)...maybe he meant you had too much debt to be able to pay anything back on a 13?