I finally filed and it wasn't so bad.
I know a lot of people come here just to get an idea of what it's like to go through the BK process so here's what it was like for me.
I had to take the credit counseling class at my attorney's office. I met with the paralegal and she sat with me at the computer and had me type in all the info. I had to enter my sources of income, my debts and my monthly budget. We used numbers from the paperwork I'd turned in and she had me enter the highest amounts allowed in the budget categories. Just FYI, they used a counseling service called Hummingbird. After we entered the info she printed a bunch of stuff for me to review.
To finish the counseling I had to speak to a live counselor on the phone. That was a joke and she all but told me to BS my way through it. That took about 10 minutes. I noticed on the web site that the fee really was $49, which is what my attorney charged me for the class.
Then we went through all the paperwork she had prepared. I had compiled a list of my own of all my creditors, the balances due, if they were current or past due, if they were in collections or not and if they had gone to collections I included the name of the collection agency. We compared the info I brought to the info she had to make sure everything matched and that it was all there.
We went over my budget briefly. I had brought an updated budget and pointed out the changes. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She did tell me if I get a tax refund of over $2000 not to spend it because the trustee may take it. She also wondered why 2 tax years ago I had a fairly large refund, then last year it was small. I explained that my X gets to use our daughter as a deduction on his taxes every other year and last year was his year. This year it's mine. I also explained to her that I don't expect a large refund like I got 2 years ago and explained why.
I signed a bunch of paperwork and she explained what each one was for and gave me as much time as I wanted to read through them and ask questions. We chatted a bit about the new BK laws and she was impressed that I knew so much about BK already. I told her I do a lot of reading and research and told her about this forum.
I do have to show up in court tomorrow just to make sure they know I filed so I don't get arrested (I got a letter stating if I didn't show up in court in regards to being sued by a former landlord that I'd be arrested). I don't mind going...I sure don't want to get arrested!!!!
So, that's what my experience was like. I hope this helps others who are wondering what to expect. Of course, your experience may be quite different from mine, depending on your circumstances, but if you have a simple, no asset case I imagine the process would be very similar.
niteflytes
I know a lot of people come here just to get an idea of what it's like to go through the BK process so here's what it was like for me.I had to take the credit counseling class at my attorney's office. I met with the paralegal and she sat with me at the computer and had me type in all the info. I had to enter my sources of income, my debts and my monthly budget. We used numbers from the paperwork I'd turned in and she had me enter the highest amounts allowed in the budget categories. Just FYI, they used a counseling service called Hummingbird. After we entered the info she printed a bunch of stuff for me to review.
To finish the counseling I had to speak to a live counselor on the phone. That was a joke and she all but told me to BS my way through it. That took about 10 minutes. I noticed on the web site that the fee really was $49, which is what my attorney charged me for the class.
Then we went through all the paperwork she had prepared. I had compiled a list of my own of all my creditors, the balances due, if they were current or past due, if they were in collections or not and if they had gone to collections I included the name of the collection agency. We compared the info I brought to the info she had to make sure everything matched and that it was all there.
We went over my budget briefly. I had brought an updated budget and pointed out the changes. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She did tell me if I get a tax refund of over $2000 not to spend it because the trustee may take it. She also wondered why 2 tax years ago I had a fairly large refund, then last year it was small. I explained that my X gets to use our daughter as a deduction on his taxes every other year and last year was his year. This year it's mine. I also explained to her that I don't expect a large refund like I got 2 years ago and explained why.
I signed a bunch of paperwork and she explained what each one was for and gave me as much time as I wanted to read through them and ask questions. We chatted a bit about the new BK laws and she was impressed that I knew so much about BK already. I told her I do a lot of reading and research and told her about this forum.
I do have to show up in court tomorrow just to make sure they know I filed so I don't get arrested (I got a letter stating if I didn't show up in court in regards to being sued by a former landlord that I'd be arrested). I don't mind going...I sure don't want to get arrested!!!!
So, that's what my experience was like. I hope this helps others who are wondering what to expect. Of course, your experience may be quite different from mine, depending on your circumstances, but if you have a simple, no asset case I imagine the process would be very similar.
niteflytes
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