Filing Chapter 7... I have some questions :/

[M_Vient]

Heres the deal, My husband and I have a home that we owe $330,000, it is only worth about $240,000 with the way the market is. That is $90,000 upside down. On top of that we have about $50,000 in debt. We are starting to struggle and are to the point where we pay mortgage, cc bills, utilities with my husbands income and food, gas, necessities, and toiletries with cc's. If we don't pay for those things with a cc we will be behind on the bills. We have to stay current till December due to the fact that we are in the process of buying another home so we have some where to live when we foreclose. Escrow closes sometime in December. I am a stay at home mom and I go back and forth to taking my daughters to school and pre-k, we have 2 kids. =) So in order for us to qualify for the new home we had to sell one of our vehicles( it was financed and we sold it through CarMax, we owed 15,980.on on the vehicle and they gave us $17,000 for it and the $1000 was used as an earnest deposit for the new home. Now we only have one and I am stuck taking my husband to work at 4am and getting home at about 5am. I wouldn't mind but I have to drag the poor girls out of bed every morning at 4am. So here are my questions:

Can we finance another vehicle before filing while our credit is still good ( it will be after the house closes before we look for another vehicle)?

The only way to stay current on our bills is to pay for groceries, gas and necessities with a cc.... is this okay?

We did two balance transfers to my husbands credit card in at the end of October 2007, they offered a lower interest rate so we did it, but we are now filing. Is this going to look bad? We did the transfer's before deciding that we were going to file.

We each have a very low amount credit card that has a zero balance, can we keep these and not file them? That way we have a credit card to rebuild our credit.

We spend an average of $1,200 a month on food, gas, toiletries, and necessities (EX: Cell phone, which is required by my husbands job.) Is this okay?


If I can get some answers to these question's that would be great. Thanks in advance everyone!

[aachudneymiles]

Heres the deal, My husband and I have a home that we owe $330,000, it is only worth about $240,000 with the way the market is. That is $90,000 upside down. On top of that we have about $50,000 in debt. We are starting to struggle and are to the point where we pay mortgage, cc bills, utilities with my husbands income and food, gas, necessities, and toiletries with cc's. If we don't pay for those things with a cc we will be behind on the bills. We have to stay current till December due to the fact that we are in the process of buying another home so we have some where to live when we foreclose. Escrow closes sometime in December. I am a stay at home mom and I go back and forth to taking my daughters to school and pre-k, we have 2 kids. =) So in order for us to qualify for the new home we had to sell one of our vehicles( it was financed and we sold it through CarMax, we owed 15,980.on on the vehicle and they gave us $17,000 for it and the $1000 was used as an earnest deposit for the new home. Now we only have one and I am stuck taking my husband to work at 4am and getting home at about 5am. I wouldn't mind but I have to drag the poor girls out of bed every morning at 4am. So here are my questions:

Can we finance another vehicle before filing while our credit is still good ( it will be after the house closes before we look for another vehicle)?

The only way to stay current on our bills is to pay for groceries, gas and necessities with a cc.... is this okay?

We did two balance transfers to my husbands credit card in at the end of October 2007, they offered a lower interest rate so we did it, but we are now filing. Is this going to look bad? We did the transfer's before deciding that we were going to file.

We each have a very low amount credit card that has a zero balance, can we keep these and not file them? That way we have a credit card to rebuild our credit.

We spend an average of $1,200 a month on food, gas, toiletries, and necessities (EX: Cell phone, which is required by my husbands job.) Is this okay?


If I can get some answers to these question's that would be great. Thanks in advance everyone!

no using your cc before filing is not ok.. 1200 a month on cc. oh my goodness- thats a bit much but I understand do what you got to do to live and the other cc with no balance that would be up to the creditor cause once they see bk on your credit they mite close the account. If it has a low balance and it does at filing time and you cant pay if off it will have to be included in bk.. of course you can reaff it but the chance is still there they will close it. are you evevn in the median for chapter 7 with your family size and all because to my understanding you are buying a 2nd home? I dont know many who can do that and file a chapter 7 just because there is income guidelines and the means test and schedules to complete. Question is does hubby make to much? cause if so chapter 13

you mite want to look at chapter 13 filing cause with all thoses new purs. and you want to keep stuff right? You mite need to speak with a few lawyers who mite push you in to chapter 13. Good luck God Bless

[JollyGG]

First questions - How much did you and your husband make from any source over the last six months? What state do you live in? How many people live in your household (you mentioned two children. Anyone else live with you?)

It sounds like you are planning ahead to to a certain degree that is a very good thing. It sounds like some of your actions will be closely scutinized by the trustee so make sure you have good explinations, good documentation, and a good lawyer. You may want to get everything settled then wait a while before filing. However, a good lawyer would be able to best advise you.

I hope the new house is a lower monthly payment. All charges to your cards need to be for necessities only. If you buy a car make sure it is a modestly priced reasonable vehicle and that you can afford it.

[ssdsco]

You might also share the source of the down payment for the new house to see if that's a potential issue.

Looks like you'll make at least a couple more payments on that balance transfers which will help with potential creditor objections.

Once you’re settled in the new house and depending on what your attorney advises you should stop using credit, stop paying the creditors and get on a cash only budget.

Good luck with everything. You have a lot going on right now.