Want to file Chapter 7, but I took a loan out this month to pay rent

[Butters54]

Made the dumb mistake of taking this loan out. It was $1,100 and the first payment isn't due yet. I have a couple questions.

Should I wait the 90 days and then retain an attorney, or would it be safe to retain one now?

Would an attorney even let me file before the 90 day window is up?

Would it help my case any if I made the first few payments on the loan?

If I filed relatively soon, I'd have no problem if the creditor objects to the debt being discharged. I could either try to settle with them or pay it off after discharge. I just don't want to jeopardize the entire case being dismissed.

[justbroke]

Welcome to BKForum.

Take all these responses with a grain of salt. Just my humble impressions.

Should I wait the 90 days and then retain an attorney, or would it be safe to retain one now?

You can always consult with a bankruptcy attorney.

Would an attorney even let me file before the 90 day window is up?

That would be fact dependent. Can it be shown that you took out the loan knowing that you'd never pay it back?

Would it help my case any if I made the first few payments on the loan?

Time and a payment history showing intent to repay is always a good thing.

If I filed relatively soon, I'd have no problem if the creditor objects to the debt being discharged. I could either try to settle with them or pay it off after discharge. I just don't want to jeopardize the entire case being dismissed.

I would line up several free consultations and run this scenario by them. Of course the best is to wait and make a few payments. If you can't wait and this loan was for health and safety, it's hard to argue from a creditor standpoint that this was a luxury purchase.

[Butters54]

Thank you! It was obviously used to pay rent, as can be proved if needed. I'll make some payments between now and filing, and likely file in December if I can make it to the 90 day mark. I am worried about being served with lawsuits before then on other debts I have. I haven't had any consultations yet, but I have a pretty good idea which attorney I'd like to use, but I'll get a few consultations though. I dislike many of the attorneys in my area.

[Carmella]

I don't know the time frame when you have defaulted on any credit card payments, etc. My experience is only with credit cards, I kept everything else paid on time and didn't have a loan. But it took way longer than 90 days to get a lawsuit filed as they would send the bill with late fees for a while and then the debt collection agencies came. It took a long time to get to an actual lawsuit and even then it took a long time there were 30 days to reply and my lawyer told me to wait until day 30, I could drop it off in person, then it was another 30 or more days until a pretrial and the credit card companies try to settle. I was uncertain when I talked to those lawyers and they were very nice, not mean debt collectors. After the first pretrial there were more pretrials. I never go to an actual trial because we filed for BK13, but even talking to the debt collector lawyers I was just like, "I don't know what we are going to do if we can pay or need BK." They were willing to set up another pretrial to give me time to decided what I was doing, very low pressure which surprised me.

That being said I don't think a lawsuit is likely to pop up in a 90 day window. Again this is just based on my experience.