My engagement ring! ACK!

[DivorceRuinedMe]

I think I know the answer to this before I even post it but I'm gonna post it anyway. The trustee will take my engagement ring, right? Is there any way I can save it? It was just purchased in December and we put it on a credit card that I am the sole owner to. My fiance was giving me money to make payments on it. He has awful credit and doesn't even have a cc anymore. We bought it before the proverbial ship started to sink and way before we were thinking about bankruptcy. (Chase jacked my interest rate up to 29% after I had 1 late payment. I was in the hospital due to complications from my pregnancy and I missed the bill! When I called they told me it was too bad - blah blah blah. That was the card that I had put all my legal bills on from when I went through my awful divorce. It had something like 35K on it from that whole mess and the minimum payment was manageable but then when they jacked the interest rate - omg - it became unbearable!) So, needless to say, after that happened, I was sunk and am now facing bankruptcy.

The ring was purchased in December on a credit card I'm going to include in the bankruptcy. I'm scared first off from the whole fraud standpoint but heck -at the time, we were fine and paying everything. We never even thought about BK. In fact, I've paid on that card every month since but now am in over my head with the interest rate hike. Secondly, I used another piece of jewelry (my old engagement ring from my first marriage - LOL) as a trade in. Therefore, I didn't have to pay for part of the cost of my new ring as the old ring covered that.

Oh what a mess. What can I do (if anything) to save this ring? If I have to give it back, I'm not opposed to it, I'd just like to know my options. And please don't think I'm a greedy b*tch. This is one of the few things that I am really concerned about losing in a Chapter 7.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

YOU CAN SAY YOU LOST IT ! ! !

Catchmeifyoucan

[juststupid]

I don't think that you would be greedy to want to keep your engagement ring. I would hate the possibility of losing my wedding rings.

Now I really don't know much about BK, but I would think that if you have been paying the bill and didn't just buy the ring than stop and file, they shouldn't consider it fraud. Although I am sure that it can be covered with an exemption. And hopfully if I am wrong someone will come on here and post so.

Good Luck!

[jal1129]

I can't remember when you said you were going to file. My best advice would be to wait at least 6-7 months from the time you purchased it to file and make sure you make the payment on the cc for at least 3-4 months after you purchased the ring. The more time and the more payments you can put between filing and purchasing the ring the better.

If you put it on the chase I would make sure to get that time in because chase seems to be the cc who is doing the most objecting lately.

[BassBoy]

Did you put the ring on store credit card (i.e., JB Robinson, Zales, Kay)? If so, then the ring may be the security for the credit and it may have to be returned to the jewelry store. If you used a CC (i.e., MasterCard, Visa, Discover), then the debt is unsecured. It will depend what the value of the ring is. I would say that if the ring is worth more than $1000 and you can't cover it by exemptions, the Trustee may want to seize it. Can anyone else elaborate since I'm not all that familar with the new laws and such?

[DivorceRuinedMe]

I put the ring on a Chase MC. It was purchased in December and I've paid the bill to Chase for Jan, Feb and March. This month will be the first month I haven't paid anything to Chase. The ring was purchased for $3500. It's worth about $7700 according to my appraisal. I only paid $3500 for it because $4000 was put to pay down the ring with the old engagement ring.

Oh and I'm waiting till at least October to file b/c of skewed income in the month of March. So I'll have the time in.

[BKTango]

If you are waiting until late this year to file, I would think you would be fine. On a side note, they do ask how much you owe each creditor, but they do not ask to see a detailed monthly statement of all years with the products or services charged on it lol. If they did that we would all be in trouble. As long as you can exempt the "reasonable fair market value" of the ring itself with the jewelry or wildcard or any other exemption you can possibly use, you should be able to keep it. If you don't have the luxury of having a large exemption to use and it won't cover it then it is possible the trustee could seize it.

[lrprn]

As I recall, you live in Florida. The Florida exemption for personal property is $1000 (husband and wife may double), and there's no wildcard either. Everyone who has responded is right - the longer you wait to file in this situation, the less likely it is that your ring will become an issue.

As I recall, there's a line on the bk forms that asks for valuation of jewelry and other personal valuables. Ask your lawyer if it's acceptable in your bk district to put a pawn shop value for the ring on that line rather than the insurance value.

I would suggest not wearing your ring to your 341 meeting either - no sense flashing it to the trustee and giving him/her ideas.

[SinkingFast]

Unless you have a Certified Diamond, you're not gonna get much resale for the ring.

As Lrprn suggested, take it to a Pawn Shop and/or Jewelry Stores. Act like you want to sell the ring and see what they will give you, Cash, on the spot, for your ring.

Many jewelers will only pay scrap price for a ring with smaller stones. They salvage the stones and scrap out the metal. The metal gets sent to one of a few smelters in the country where it's melted down, alloys are seperated out, and new metal can be refabricated.

Remember,.......... You want a low value on the ring right now. So you can protect it with your Exemptions.

[BKOnce]

Sigh.. I hate to see a 35K rock going down the drain too.

[lrprn]

Sigh.. I hate to see a 35K rock going down the drain too.

BKO, $35K was the amount owed on the credit card they used. DRM's engagement ring is valued at $7,700. They only paid $3,500 due to a ring trade-in. Still a loss, but thank heavens not a $35,000 one!

[spell]

The value for the ring is what you could get if you tried to sell it.
Talk to pawn brokers or 2nd hand shops or peruse the want ads to get an idea of what it's worth.
It may be easily exemptable. If it's only partially exempt, the Trustee may decide it's not worth the effort. But never lie, it only encourages them to dig deeper.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

As I recall, you live in Florida. The Florida exemption for personal property is $1000 (husband and wife may double), and there's no wildcard either.

When you say husband and wife may double - is that still the case if only ONE of you is filing? In my instance, I'm filing, DH is not. So would that mean b/c we are married we get $2000 of exemptions?

The other wrench is that we lived together before we got married so half the "stuff" in the house is his. How does this work? I don't count any of the stuff that is his when I'm doing my itemization/valuation of items? But would that mean I wouldn't get his $1000 exemption either? I'm so confused. LOL!

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Go to a pawn shop and ask them how much they would give you for it right there on the spot. Use that number in your filing. Chances are they wouldn't even offer you a grand for it.

[SinkingFast]

When you say husband and wife may double - is that still the case if only ONE of you is filing? In my instance, I'm filing, DH is not. So would that mean b/c we are married we get $2000 of exemptions?

The other wrench is that we lived together before we got married so half the "stuff" in the house is his. How does this work? I don't count any of the stuff that is his when I'm doing my itemization/valuation of items? But would that mean I wouldn't get his $1000 exemption either? I'm so confused. LOL!

If you're filing solo, you only get $1K. Double would be if you were both filing.

And your things won't be worth as much as you might think.

Clothes,............ Maybe $100. Total. Undies, pants, tops, and all.

Furniture,........... Think in terms of "Where would I buy an 8 year old sofa?" That would be garage sales, yard sales, 2nd hand stores. Goodwill type of thing.

A whole kitchen could only be worth $100-$200 for all your china/stoneware, glasses, pots, pans, flatware, etc. So if half is yours, then $50-$100.

And lump it all together. Misc Household Goods. Clothing. etc. Only break out and list what the BK Forms require. Collectibles, works of art, etc.