How does a ch 13 person purchase needed items?

[Hos75]

Ok, I posted a while back that my AC had gone out. Well, the glorious trustee was so kind this year that he let me keep my $1932.00 income tax return. Well, beings my AC went tits up, I called somebody out to look at it. After $450 and 2 service calls, I was "bandaged up" for a while with a new start capacitor and contacts. Well.... this is just peachy cause the breaker keeps overheating (nearly melting) and thus tripping. So it runs for about 20 min, overheats and trips. I have to wait around 15 min then turn it back on. Came home to find the house at a BALMY 87. Now the company was nice enough to allow me to apply the money I paid to go towards a new unit if I bought one in the next 14 days. However, I'm left with $1500 of which, $200 went to catch up my at&t bill, another $225 went to pay my car insurance, and I have another $160 to pay on my car tags and taxes... ya know the car that's now mine.. that I still have to pay for to have. After paying an additional $200 on my house payment beings it's nearly 2K behind, I'm left with around $650.

Now I've already missed 2 payments and have pushed the luck of the trustee already. It's gonna cost around $2,500 for a new AC, and that's just for a bare minimum, don't get anything that would be more efficient or productive model. I'm trying to understand how this works. The trustee has a nice air conditioned house to come home to. I make nearly $95K a year, yet I sit here typing this with sweat running down my forehead. I'm physically completely miserable, can't sleep, it's now 7am and I have to be at work in 8 hours, been up since 9 yesterday. This sucks!!!!!!! I read a recent post about this new law being completely in favor for the CC companies, and I agree 1000%!!

So... I'm curious, what would you guys do in a situation as this? Just when things seem like they're bearable they go worse. I can't sell the house, I'm pretty much broke. How the heck does anybody fix anything that goes wrong in their house for 5 years under this God forsaken misery of hell on earth? My neighbors had it with my fence and tore it down. I sat outside and watched in horror as my view of the lake and my "openness" was sealed shut, board by board. I felt like I was being imprisoned. That little bit of icing on the cake actually pushed me to the point of doing things I never thought I'd do. Not as a bandaid fix, but a permanent solution. My gf threatening to come kick my butt is really all there is to me being here. I hate this F'ing thing and will curse it forever.

Before I filed this cursed thing, I used credit cards as a last resort, for emergencies. Now I'm not allowed to use them for anything and am FORCED to live paycheck to paycheck, bowing down to lick the perverbial brown eye of the trustee so I can keep a payment to pay for something I don't want.. don't desire, don't haplessly spend fruitlessly, but rather NEED! Even the AC issue isn't really much, I have an abscessed tooth that needs taken care of, but at $450 it is staying where it is. The remainder of my tax return will make up the shortfall I have monthly till I'm forced to sell something else. My gf being a dental assistant told me of a person who literally died after not taking care of an abscess that just never bothered her.. got infected and went to her brain. But this is ok. I have to get the IRS their money. If it kills me? Well... eh... oh well, they can take my house and sell all my possessions to pay off the rest of the 13.. which amounts to nothing at this point. No bro's sis's or children or wife so they can have everything to sell in a government auction. If that happens, Discover? Trustee? IRS? you can kiss my A**!


I smell something electrical burning, wonder what that is? Who cares, gotta pay that trustee! Now if you'll excuse me, I have several Excedrin PM to take so I can get some sleep...

[newbie2]

Ok, I posted a while back that my AC had gone out. Well, the glorious trustee was so kind this year that he let me keep my $1932.00 income tax return. Well, beings my AC went tits up, I called somebody out to look at it. After $450 and 2 service calls, I was "bandaged up" for a while with a new start capacitor and contacts. Well.... this is just peachy cause the breaker keeps overheating (nearly melting) and thus tripping. So it runs for about 20 min, overheats and trips. I have to wait around 15 min then turn it back on. Came home to find the house at a BALMY 87. Now the company was nice enough to allow me to apply the money I paid to go towards a new unit if I bought one in the next 14 days. However, I'm left with $1500 of which, $200 went to catch up my at&t bill, another $225 went to pay my car insurance, and I have another $160 to pay on my car tags and taxes... ya know the car that's now mine.. that I still have to pay for to have. After paying an additional $200 on my house payment beings it's nearly 2K behind, I'm left with around $650.

Now I've already missed 2 payments and have pushed the luck of the trustee already. It's gonna cost around $2,500 for a new AC, and that's just for a bare minimum, don't get anything that would be more efficient or productive model. I'm trying to understand how this works. The trustee has a nice air conditioned house to come home to. I make nearly $95K a year, yet I sit here typing this with sweat running down my forehead. I'm physically completely miserable, can't sleep, it's now 7am and I have to be at work in 8 hours, been up since 9 yesterday. This sucks!!!!!!! I read a recent post about this new law being completely in favor for the CC companies, and I agree 1000%!!

So... I'm curious, what would you guys do in a situation as this? Just when things seem like they're bearable they go worse. I can't sell the house, I'm pretty much broke. How the heck does anybody fix anything that goes wrong in their house for 5 years under this God forsaken misery of hell on earth? My neighbors had it with my fence and tore it down. I sat outside and watched in horror as my view of the lake and my "openness" was sealed shut, board by board. I felt like I was being imprisoned. That little bit of icing on the cake actually pushed me to the point of doing things I never thought I'd do. Not as a bandaid fix, but a permanent solution. My gf threatening to come kick my butt is really all there is to me being here. I hate this F'ing thing and will curse it forever.

Before I filed this cursed thing, I used credit cards as a last resort, for emergencies. Now I'm not allowed to use them for anything and am FORCED to live paycheck to paycheck, bowing down to lick the perverbial brown eye of the trustee so I can keep a payment to pay for something I don't want.. don't desire, don't haplessly spend fruitlessly, but rather NEED! Even the AC issue isn't really much, I have an abscessed tooth that needs taken care of, but at $450 it is staying where it is. The remainder of my tax return will make up the shortfall I have monthly till I'm forced to sell something else. My gf being a dental assistant told me of a person who literally died after not taking care of an abscess that just never bothered her.. got infected and went to her brain. But this is ok. I have to get the IRS their money. If it kills me? Well... eh... oh well, they can take my house and sell all my possessions to pay off the rest of the 13.. which amounts to nothing at this point. No bro's sis's or children or wife so they can have everything to sell in a government auction. If that happens, Discover? Trustee? IRS? you can kiss my A**!


I smell something electrical burning, wonder what that is? Who cares, gotta pay that trustee! Now if you'll excuse me, I have several Excedrin PM to take so I can get some sleep...

Hos, you've written before about the struggles with keeping up with your house and the maintenance and payments.

Please don't think I'm being unsympathetic, I can sympathize with your situation as I am in a 13 also. That being said, why are you keeping your house?

A chapter 13 is entered in to voluntarily. It's not supposed to be a picnic, yet it's also not supposed to be as hard as yours has been for you. Please re-think the "save the house" aspect of yours.

[Hos75]

The house is in NO condition to sell. There's no way I could sell it and not have to pay a Realtor to put it on the market. Also my neighbors house (which was totally refurbished) started out at $169,900 and was sold for $139,900. I paid $155k for mine and can't afford to take that hit. It's all I have left. I guess I could just strike a match and watch it all go up. Additionally though, as I stated I have a lein against the house from the IRS and the state.

And what am I supposed to do afterwards? I'm not allowed to use any credit for anything. Am I to get an apartment? Rent a house? I don't want to have to sell everything I've worked for for the past 5 years because the AC went out.

[newbie2]

The house is in NO condition to sell. There's no way I could sell it and not have to pay a Realtor to put it on the market. Also my neighbors house (which was totally refurbished) started out at $169,900 and was sold for $139,900. I paid $155k for mine and can't afford to take that hit. It's all I have left. I guess I could just strike a match and watch it all go up. Additionally though, as I stated I have a lein against the house from the IRS and the state.

And what am I supposed to do afterwards? I'm not allowed to use any credit for anything. Am I to get an apartment? Rent a house? I don't want to have to sell everything I've worked for for the past 5 years because the AC went out.

Actually, in a 13 you can give up your house and not have to worry about selling it. The bank will take care of that for you. Many people have done this and rented an apartment or a house. The allowable rent for your area is what you will be given, but you wouldn't have to worry about maintenance or falling behind in your mortgage payments again. I don't know how the IRS and state tax liens would be treated, someone else would have to chime in on that.

We've gone through the same things (major repairs coming up while in our plan) and we've had to make some tough decisions.

I don't know the size of your house, but perhaps for now you could purchase a small window AC for your bedroom, so that in the evenings at least one room would be cool enough to get some sleep. Craigslist is also a good source for used appliances if you're so inclined.

Good luck to you.

[SMinGA]

First thought: sounds like you went into the ch. 13 without an accurate budget. Meaning you're short every month, and unless that gets fixed ASAP then its going to get worse. Schedule an appointment with your atty to sit down, go over your budget, and amend. Perhaps to the point of letting the house go, getting into a less costly (on maintenance for sure) rental and assessing what you've allotted yourself for basic living expenses, medical/dental, vehicle maintenance, etc.

[researchnerd]

The house is in NO condition to sell. There's no way I could sell it and not have to pay a Realtor to put it on the market. Also my neighbors house (which was totally refurbished) started out at $169,900 and was sold for $139,900. I paid $155k for mine and can't afford to take that hit. It's all I have left. I guess I could just strike a match and watch it all go up. Additionally though, as I stated I have a lein against the house from the IRS and the state.

And what am I supposed to do afterwards? I'm not allowed to use any credit for anything. Am I to get an apartment? Rent a house? I don't want to have to sell everything I've worked for for the past 5 years because the AC went out.

You say your house is all you have left, but you don't really have it -- the bank does. There is no investment value for you -- if your house is worth $139-ish and you bought it for $155, you're underwater. If you give up the house, you can lose that $16k negative equity and maybe the liens too, and you can start over from $0 instead of the negative thousands. You won't have to pay an agent to sell it for you, just let it go back to the bank.

Yes, afterwards you can rent a house or apartment. Currently it is a renter's market out there - we were able to find a nice rental home for less than half what we were paying for our mortgage. Giving up our home was an incredibly difficult decision, but it was the right thing to do in our situation. You may not want to rule it out in your situation, if it can make the next five years of your day-to-day life easier.

[Lissy]

Is your trustee payment so high because of IRS debt? You have alluded to that, so I'm just trying to understand why your payment seems to be much higher than you can really afford. But you also say your TT allowed you to skip a couple of payments, so that leads me to believe your priority debt must not be that restricting. I think you either got a really crappy lawyer or you rushed to file for some reason and didn't have time to plan well.

I agree with letting the house go if it will make things even a little easier for you. I don't see the point of holding on to it when you are struggling so much. As someone else said, a CH 13 isn't supposed to be a cakewalk, but it also shouldn't be THIS hard. I was able to build up a pretty nice "mattress fund" before I filed and was also allowed to keep my bonus and tax refund this year. I refuse to touch that money now because it's going to be my safety net for the next 5 years and I'll try to add to it whenever I can. I rent a nice apartment and don't have to worry about paying for maintenance. My car is brand new, not that that means I won't ever have problems with it, but at least the odds are in my favor. My emergency fund will be used for unexpected expenses and things like new tires for my car when needed. That's how you get through a 13 and why proper planning is crucial. I don't know how far into your plan you are, but you may want to consider either voluntarily dismissing and refiling when you've had the opportunity to plan better or sitting down with your lawyer and filing an amendment to your plan.

[Universal]

I agree with all of the above. The house is an albatross and is dragging you down further than anyone needs to go. Free yourself from it.

[Hos75]

Well at this point it's like this... the gf was going to move in with me on June 1st. She's 25 miles away. Her ex has split custody of her kids on a daily basis, and yes he's a deadbeat POS and "literally" uses the kids against her. She notified him she was moving in with me and taking the kids with her since she has them 70% of the time. She was renting a house from her family, so, when she announced she was moving, they instantly rented her house out. So she had to move in with me. Well her ex hired an attorney and refused to let her move the kids out of the school district as it would affect his parenting time. Now she had all her stuff packed up, her house was gone and she was forced to move back in with her parents. All her stuff is now here in my place (all 4 truckloads), along with 2 spare bedrooms being setup for the kids. This done because she didn't want everything going into storage. And while all this is going on I have my ch13 payments to make monthly? *sigh*, it's turning me into an old man. Her moving in was supposed to help me, instead she's had to hire an attorney to fight her ex and try to move on with her life. So I'm in limbo with everything....

Yeah, I think I'll have to consider a window unit. I'll hang it outside my upstairs window so my neighbor can look at it. If he questions me about it I'll take my fridge and old water heater out in the front yard for him to look at. I'll show this neighborhood what a derelict I can really be.

[newbie2]

Well at this point it's like this... the gf was going to move in with me on June 1st. She's 25 miles away. Her ex has split custody of her kids on a daily basis, and yes he's a deadbeat POS and "literally" uses the kids against her. She notified him she was moving in with me and taking the kids with her since she has them 70% of the time. She was renting a house from her family, so, when she announced she was moving, they instantly rented her house out. So she had to move in with me. Well her ex hired an attorney and refused to let her move the kids out of the school district as it would affect his parenting time. Now she had all her stuff packed up, her house was gone and she was forced to move back in with her parents. All her stuff is now here in my place (all 4 truckloads), along with 2 spare bedrooms being setup for the kids. This done because she didn't want everything going into storage. And while all this is going on I have my ch13 payments to make monthly? *sigh*, it's turning me into an old man. Her moving in was supposed to help me, instead she's had to hire an attorney to fight her ex and try to move on with her life. So I'm in limbo with everything....

Yeah, I think I'll have to consider a window unit. I'll hang it outside my upstairs window so my neighbor can look at it. If he questions me about it I'll take my fridge and old water heater out in the front yard for him to look at. I'll show this neighborhood what a derelict I can really be.

Until you get out of the mindset that you need to hang on to your home you're going to be in a financial pickle. The house is eating you alive and you want to hang on to it for one reason after another.

We can all commiserate with you, but only you can do what needs to be done to change your financial picture (walking away from your home, having your girlfriend rent a storage unit for her belongings, amending your BK plan, etc.)

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, no matter what the neighbors or girlfriends may think.

[Lissy]

I agree with newbie. You have to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and start thinking about what's best for you. Your girlfriend can't move in with you right now because something came up to prevent that. Well, you can't continue this way just so she doesn't have to pay for a storage unit. She did what she needed to do to keep her kids and that blew the financial help you were expecting out the window. Now you have to do what you have to do to get your head above water. If you simply will not part with the house, then fine, that's up to you of course. But that or a plan amendment are your only hopes of changing your situation. Until you realize that and take action, you will continue to be miserable.

[LadyInTheRed]

Maybe your GF can buy a new airconditioner as a fee for the storage of her 4 truckloads of stuff.

[newbie2]

Maybe your GF can buy a new airconditioner as a fee for the storage of her 4 truckloads of stuff.

I like the way you think :-)

[ShooFly]

I don't know the size of your house, but perhaps for now you could purchase a small window AC for your bedroom, so that in the evenings at least one room would be cool enough to get some sleep. Craigslist is also a good source for used appliances if you're so inclined.

Good luck to you.

This is great advice. Take the $650 you have left and buy 2 window AC's. Just because it's hot doesn't mean you can afford to replace a central unit, and even then for a cheap model you don't really want in the long run. I would buy a few units and run them as needed. Even better - they sell ones now that keep a thermostat and turn off and on automatically. Great idea.

[ShooFly]

Side note... deadbeat means that they do nothing. If the girlfriends ex wants to see their kids everyday or week, then that's not a deadbeat.

Be careful of those labels, bankrupt people wear one too!