Here is my situation...
I have gone through horrible year-long depressions twice in my life. The first time, I "woke up" to 30,000 in credit card debt. I went through a debt management company and paid off all of the debt. It was so, so hard but I worked extra jobs to be able to make payments. Thankfully, nothing major happened during those years and I wasn't stuck with a huge emergency. This was several years ago.
Vowed I would never allow myself to get into that position again. Not sticking to a budget and another year-long depression later, I'm at 34K in credit card debt. While I had a good experience with the debt management company the first time around, I found the amount of the monthly payments very difficult and not all creditors would become part of the plan. My credit score took a major hit, obviously, but i haven't been late on any payments since then and my score has gone up.
I met with an attorney a few weeks ago to discuss my options. By going the 13 route, I will actually have a lower payment than if I did a DMP and I know that creditors won't have a choice and cannot harass me. I am not worried about the monthly budgeting because I have done it before, at much higher payments. I will be on a 100% repayment plan for 5 years. Because of that, my attorney told me that I will be able to take a PT job if I want and be able to rebuild more of my emergency fund and savings and even pay off the debt sooner if I choose to do so. Until this month, when the attorney told me to stop paying my credit cards since I had started the c13 process, I haven't been late on a payment at all and am not behind. I will now be a month behind on all creditors within the next month.
I think I'm just a little scared. Will I be screwing myself for years by doing c13 instead of a DMP? Should I stop the c13 process and go another route? I like my attorney a lot--I'm just having last-minute second thoughts, I guess. Any thoughts or advice? Reassurance? LOL Something?
I have gone through horrible year-long depressions twice in my life. The first time, I "woke up" to 30,000 in credit card debt. I went through a debt management company and paid off all of the debt. It was so, so hard but I worked extra jobs to be able to make payments. Thankfully, nothing major happened during those years and I wasn't stuck with a huge emergency. This was several years ago.
Vowed I would never allow myself to get into that position again. Not sticking to a budget and another year-long depression later, I'm at 34K in credit card debt. While I had a good experience with the debt management company the first time around, I found the amount of the monthly payments very difficult and not all creditors would become part of the plan. My credit score took a major hit, obviously, but i haven't been late on any payments since then and my score has gone up.
I met with an attorney a few weeks ago to discuss my options. By going the 13 route, I will actually have a lower payment than if I did a DMP and I know that creditors won't have a choice and cannot harass me. I am not worried about the monthly budgeting because I have done it before, at much higher payments. I will be on a 100% repayment plan for 5 years. Because of that, my attorney told me that I will be able to take a PT job if I want and be able to rebuild more of my emergency fund and savings and even pay off the debt sooner if I choose to do so. Until this month, when the attorney told me to stop paying my credit cards since I had started the c13 process, I haven't been late on a payment at all and am not behind. I will now be a month behind on all creditors within the next month.
I think I'm just a little scared. Will I be screwing myself for years by doing c13 instead of a DMP? Should I stop the c13 process and go another route? I like my attorney a lot--I'm just having last-minute second thoughts, I guess. Any thoughts or advice? Reassurance? LOL Something?
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