Anything I can do before filing, to help my case?

[PaKettle]

I was thinking along the lines of cutting up my cards and sending them back to creditors now, before filing.

I will probably wait a couple months before filing because I just bought a tv last month and used some balance transfer offers last month, and I figure it would be better if I waited a month or two before filing. No?

So will it help to tear up my cards ahead of time and closing my accounts voluntarily?

How about taking the required credit course (class) ahead of time voluntarily?

Is there anything else I can do that might make the judge look kindly upon my case?

We are under the income limit for the means test, and our expenses do not allow me to pay much of anything on top of our expenses. I haven't done a complete breakdown yet, but a quick survey leads me to believe we will qualify because after paying rent, car payment, insurance, student loan, health insurance, etc., we will be left with only a couple hundred dollars a month, before paying creditors. Right now I CANNOT pay creditors.

However, I am concerned about the fact that I did use credit last month to buy a tv and transfer balances to pay off other balances. Had I known I was going to file soon I wouldn't have done it, but hindsight is 20/20 on all this stuff.

[SinkingFast]

Stop using Credit if you're seriously thinking of filing BK.

Most attnys will want no CC use or balance transfers within 90 days of filing. So look up your most recent balance transfers and your TV purchase. Add 90 days to that time and that will be your target date to file. Here's a link to a Day/Date Calculator to help you figure it out:

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html

You can cut up your cards. We did that. Had a "CC Cut Up" party one afternoon. I wouldn't waste the postage mailing them back to the various Creditors tho.

Don't bother closing your accts. Any you have with $0 balances might survive the BK. The older or more age accts have, the better for you after BK. Any you're gonna Discharge, the Creditors will close anyway. And with BK on your Credit, it doesn't really matter if you accts show "Closed by Credit Grantor" or "Closed by Customer". BK is gonna be the big negative.

Take the 90 days to review your financial situation with a Credit Counselor. Maybe wait until closer to time to file to get your Cert. Even tho the Cert is good for 180 days, you never can tell what will happen.

Research and learn about the BK process. Call around. Schedule several Consults. Meet with several different attnys. Most attnys will give you a list of Documents they're gonna want on file. Work on gathering your docs. Get your attny picked and work on paying your fees.

Then when you're ready, time wise, you'll be all set to file.

[CindyLou]

was it a 300.00 tv or a 5000.00 tv? that will make also make a huge difference

[PaKettle]

was it a 300.00 tv or a 5000.00 tv? that will make also make a huge difference

It was a $1000 tv. We could not find any analog (old style) tv's except off brands. We were forced into going digital even though I really did not want to. $1000 is about the cheapest tv you can get nowadays that has a 25" screen (same as our old tv) after you get the black bars one each side for most channels, since most channels are not digital yet.

As to waiting 90 days, a couple other people have said, "Dont' wait, file as soon as you know you want to file" but some are saying wait 90 days after the last charge or transfer.

Yes, I am stopping the use of the credit cards as of this week, when I decided to file. Last month I used transfers, not to spend the money, but to pay down the American Express card which has a higher interest than most of the others.