Just starting out -- scared
First I want to say this forum has been a wealth of information. I'm so glad I found it.
We met with the lawyer yesterday -- first visit, just a free consultation, though we met for 2 hours. I went in thinking Ch 13 was the way we needed to go (we have a business and house we want to keep), but the lawyer seemed to think we wouldn't be able to pay off our debts in 5 years (about 100K, mostly CCs). We talked some more and I mentioned that we are currently paying 3000-3500/month on CC minimum payments (up until this month, we've been able to pay, usually on time). Then I guess he realized that we could pay the possible $1667/month.
We do have a small amount of equity in our house and we do have inventory in our business. The lawyer initially suggested we look to get a small business loan using our inventory as collateral. I don't think that will work though. Our business has been in a decline, and some of our vendors have cut us off because of our slow payment history.
Also, our CCs are maxed out, high interest rates, etc, etc.
We are not great business people (obviously), so our financial records are not up to date. We are working hard to gather what we need to file and get up to date, but in the meantime, we are scared to death.
How do we know we have a good lawyer? We are in VA if anyone has any recommendations (for or against).
We are still paying what we can on CC bills. We haven't filed yet, so is it ok to keep paying? Like I said, we've been able to keep up until now, and now the calls are starting as we fall behind.
I'm also scared about the other side -- will we survive? I've read so many encouraging posts from others here who've successfully gone through this process. It's the only thing keeping me going at this point. Thanks for being here.
Lisa
We met with the lawyer yesterday -- first visit, just a free consultation, though we met for 2 hours. I went in thinking Ch 13 was the way we needed to go (we have a business and house we want to keep), but the lawyer seemed to think we wouldn't be able to pay off our debts in 5 years (about 100K, mostly CCs). We talked some more and I mentioned that we are currently paying 3000-3500/month on CC minimum payments (up until this month, we've been able to pay, usually on time). Then I guess he realized that we could pay the possible $1667/month.
We do have a small amount of equity in our house and we do have inventory in our business. The lawyer initially suggested we look to get a small business loan using our inventory as collateral. I don't think that will work though. Our business has been in a decline, and some of our vendors have cut us off because of our slow payment history.
Also, our CCs are maxed out, high interest rates, etc, etc.We are not great business people (obviously), so our financial records are not up to date. We are working hard to gather what we need to file and get up to date, but in the meantime, we are scared to death.
How do we know we have a good lawyer? We are in VA if anyone has any recommendations (for or against).
We are still paying what we can on CC bills. We haven't filed yet, so is it ok to keep paying? Like I said, we've been able to keep up until now, and now the calls are starting as we fall behind.
I'm also scared about the other side -- will we survive? I've read so many encouraging posts from others here who've successfully gone through this process. It's the only thing keeping me going at this point. Thanks for being here.
Lisa
Filed March 9, 2010; 
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