new at this and so confused.

[purpledaisy1005]

OK i have always had some form of debt usually a lot more than i should but i have always been able to pay the minimum payments on time every month. I think i got my first credit card when i was 18 then the offers started rolling in i took them up on all! It was so much fun! Haha i thought! But u know i was young, had no real bills, my parents had a hand me down car for me so i had no car payments, So these little $10 and $15 dollar minimum CC payments were a breeze and i got to purchase cool fun things.

Well at one point i decided i wanted to move out on my own and i needed all the extra money i could so i did a debt management with Incharge debt soultuions (back then it was Profina) and that managed to combine all payments and saved me only $30 a month but was promised to pay off sooner. Well that was almost 5 yrs ago and i am still paying them for all the cards so i dont know if it was good idea or not.

Well i soon met a guy we dated a yr and ended up getting eloped and didnt have quite enough money to make it like we thought we would. So we got a credit card from Rooms To Go to do extra furnishing (after all no payments for 2 yrs!) and then we signed up for random master cards and visa's and such. We had a discover card that had a $3300 limit on it so we stocked our cabinets bought anything we came across we "needed" and just made mistake after mistake. charge after charge.

you would think these companies would stop sending so many cards once we have as many as we did. All this started 3 yrs ago. we had rough patches of cut in hours where we would use the credit card to pay our electristy bills cell phone bills and cable bills and buy groceries every week.

It did come to a point where we wised up and said no more credit cards lets focus on paying them off. So one yr ago we decided on this pay off plan. work on paying all the small ones off and use those payments once paid off to go towards others. (the snow ball effect) well of course when u are trying to save and pay off stuff "life" happens. Our cars started acting up at the same time so that took what we saved to fix, then the people that owned the house we were renting decided to sell it so we had to find another place to live and that took a deposit and moving costs so we are back at nothing paid and nothing saved, a few more months go by and we manage to pay off our check into cash loans we had a total of 3 of those at a pay off of bout $700. Then my car goes out once again. My dad tried to replace everything he can think may be wrong with it costing another $700 total and to no prevail could not fix it! So My DAD took out a loan in Sept 2007 of HIS 401k and we bought my car used for $7000 i am to pay him $99 every 2 weeks cause thats his loan payback amount from his paycheck bi weekly. So more Bills!

The loan was actually for nearly 10,000 so it took care of the taxes and some minor extra maintenance on the car and allowed enough that we could pay of a finance loan i had that made me pay $76 every two weeks. Since that loan was gone, it made it easier to make a car payment. My insurance also went up $80. Then 2 weeks after i got it it needed engine work and a few other problems costing me $3000 that i have managed to finally pay back to my dad. All of that was fine and we managed to pay off 3 more credit cards with $500 balance each so we have tried really hard with lots in the way and a very long way to go so this brings us up to date,

January 4th 2008 I find out that my job is doing a major realignment and their hours are changing, my schecule i currently work will no longer be available in fact the shift i got chose to move to is a total opposite shift that is i currently work 8-5 they want me to work a crazy shift and oh yes they gave me a choice 4:30am-3:30pm 4 days a week or 3:00pm -2am 4 days a week! thats it! i have been there 2 yrs working a steady shift and now this compnay changing thing is a huge life changing thing! im so mad. I knew that they do realignements i knew when they hired me. i have been through 3 of them all ready but i have managed to keep a 8-5 or 9-6 kinda thing. I have a 6 yr old daughter i cant take my daughter to school on one shift (im the only one that can) or have anytime with her on that other crazy shift the stress out alone is giving me high blood pressure. so with basic everyday bills like rent food electricity car payment insurance clothes, my husband makes enough to cover that with just his check.

My check pretty much clears out the minimum payments of all our loans and credit cards. I could be a stay at home mom if it werent for all our debt. We havent gotten any new cards in bout a yr, and we havent used any of them since november and even then it was maybe just $15 on about 3 of the cards or so. NO cash advances in years.

I can get another job, but i was lucky to find that one at $13 an hour. Ay other job would only pay me max of $8 in this area. I am a HS grad but no college. no expierence in anything really except customer care or retail. so im looking at a huge drop i know we are looking at bankruptcy and hoping to be CH 7 we would be looking to file probably around july 08 to keep the income low but here are the basics of where we stand our income debt and assets to date
husband gross income - $1600 month ($1320 net)
my current gross income - $2080 month ($1800 net)
BUT my new job when i find one will only probably project a gross income of $1280 and ($1100 net)
Total combined gross income at time of file should be bout $2800

HEREs what we have to pay..
Discover $3300 min pay 91.00 month
Bank of Amer $3000 min pay 93.00 month
Rooms 2 GO $3000 min pay 95.00 month
Best buy $1600 min pay 46.00 month
Circuit city $1500 min pay 46.00 month
Applied CC#1 $1000 min pay 37.00 month
Sears store $1000 min pay 34.00month
Profina Debt consolidation $900 min pay $118.00 month
Applied CC #2 $600 min pay 35.00 month
Orcahrd Bank $500 min pay $20.00 month
HSBC Bank#1 $500 min pay $15 month
HSBC Bank#2 $300 min pay $15 month
HSBC Bank #3 $300 min pay $ 15 month
Finance loan $500 min pay $98 month
Cap one #1 $500 min pay $15 month
Cap one #2 $500 min pay $15 month
Capone #3 $300 min pay $10 month
Sears mastercard $600 min pay $18 month
Pac Sun Card $500 min pay $25 month
walmart store card $350 min pay $15 month
Goodys $600 min pay $28 month
Belk $400 min pay $18 month
Suntrust overdraft account $200 min pay $10 month
and dell computers $2700 min pay ??? i have had this card for almost 6 yrs now made payments for 4 yrs to them and i stopped paying them 2 yrs ago. waiting to get sued for that one at anytime!

We will continue to pay RENT $450
Electric$150
Cell phones $75
Cable and internet$150
Groceries $250
Auto Gas $200
Car insurance $158
Car payment $198 month that pretty much will leave us with nothing on one income plus we will have other needs that come up for my daughter

Assets
We dont have a house, we rent an apartment .
My husband have a junker car 1997 nissan maxima with 170,000 miles that i fear will breakdown anyday if we would sell it on our yard
someone may buy it for $800 but kelly blue book says alot more i have NO idea why its seriously bad.

My car is a 2004 kia sorento 105,000miles i only paid $7000 for it and i think resale is bout $6000 for it on kelly blue book

then i have my other piece of junk car that is a 93 pontiac grand am 100,000 that will not crank or run at all i think kbb said $925 haha but it wont run.

we have a computer and my daughter has alot of little toys i would hate to think that take my daughters things as its not even her fault. we have our clothes and normal everyday kitchen things. i rent so the appliances are not mine. i have washer and dryer i own. we have a tv and a dvd player and my daughter has a small tv and dvd player and lots of kids cartoon dvds, me and my husband both have cell phones. only jewelry i have other than my wedding is just $2 costume jewelry u can by from claires or walmart. we have normal living room set furniture and a table and chairs for the dining room all of which was room to go credit card 3 yrs ago. i dont have any stocks or anything like that my 401k account will only be like $1400 dollars and that will be cashed out when i have t o quit in february and will be used for our groceries and nessecities while i do not have a job

this is a huge long post when i go back to look at it. Im sorry i just like to be honest and give as much of a background of everything so that i can get the best advice. we dont have money for a lawyer right now so we will have to save for that. i have read lots of posts on here and u guys do so well at advice that now that u know most my life story or at least the last 10 yrs of it maybe it can better assist with some advice,


knowing what you know bout my life so far, my questions are

#1 since we will be filing in june or july should we stop paying all the credit cards we want discharged right away. we need the money to save up for a lawyer and also to get by the tough times ahead while i am not working?

#2 if we stop paying everything its going to of course make everyone mad and we will get sued! we wont have money for any judgement that gets made simply not paying ANY of them scares me to death!!!! it feels so wrong cause we have been paying these creditors for 3 yrs and now we just stop what else other than creditors calling should we be aware of and also what should we tell the creditiors if we do answer?

#3 what are the exemptions for Tennessee? me and my husband live in tennesse been here all our lives. Personal exemption amount and they say something bout homestead> is that only for home owners or is that for stuff normally found in the home? what bout the cars all together they may be worth $7000 for all 3 they can take the one that is not running i doubt they would want it. i dont want them to take my car its the only good running one we have. plus i still owe my dad for it. i just hate all this so much.

# 4 regarding the exepmtions is it per person or just all as a whole? my duaghter has soo many clothes and toys and books and dvds she probaly owns more personal stuff than me and my husband combined with the exception of our cars. i just hate to think of selling off all her beloved things.

#5 when would be the best time for us to do the mandatory credit counseling thing? after im unemployed or right before i file when im working another job?

#6 if i cant find another job before we file or just decide not to for a while are they going to belittle me for not working anymore and skipping out on debts? i mean we can seriously hardly afford to pay them now while i am working.

#7 im worried bout creditor objections. we have had the cards for so long and made tons of payments on them its in no way any kind of fraud we had every intention on paying them off its just way to hard. and as u can see i have tons and tons of creditors that there is bound to be a few bad apples in the bunch or i should say a few that will object somewhere and not discharge us. i keep thinking of the 341 meeting with my creditors haha they will have a huge room full of people.

any advice that any of you can give would be so much apprciated im sure i will come up with lots more questions further i get into this

[mcdulph]

Hi--I know how you must be feeling 'cause I was there myself last year. Neither hubby nor I were aware just how much he owed all together. When we realized how bad things were, I was physically sick. There were SO many questions, so scared--just absolutely panicking about everything. UGH! Wouldn't wish that feeling on my worst enemy.

Take a couple of deep breaths--and first thing Monday, get an appointment with a bankruptcy lawyer. Many of them will offer a free 30-60 minute consultation, and many will hold a couple of appointments open for people who are in crisis to come in the same day.

You will feel a LOT better. And the attorney will tell you exactly what to do, what not to do, and what to say when the phone calls start coming in.

AFAIK, most of the things that you are worried about are very unlikely to happen.

I can tell you our experience so far. Hubby just finally filed last week. There were 6 or 7 months between discontinuing payments to the credit cards and actually filing the bankruptcy petition. We had ONE written threat to take us to court, but it was never carried out. We just forwarded the threat letter to husband's attorney and never heard another word. The only thing this creditor can do now is file their claim paperwork with the court just like everyone else.

Since we had actually retained an attorney, we had surprisingly little trouble with most of the collectors who called. That seems to be the secret--actually having an attorney, and just keeping the attorney's name, address, and phone number handy to give to the collectors. A couple of the collectors did call back a few months later requesting the BK court case number, but we just said we're still planning to file, and here's the lawyer's phone number again. (We had to wait for our "average income" to go down, and also for a greatly increased homestead exemption law to go into effect.)

BTW as far as creditor's objections--a creditor can object if they want to, but the judge is the one who will decide whether or not your debt is discharged. The trustee can also object, and our lawyer said that our trustee finds something to object to in EVERY case, and so not to freak out when--not if, but when--we get the notice of objection. Apparently, it's all part of the "game" to many of the attorneys. Husband's attorney also said that at least in our area, it's extremely unlikely that creditors will actually appear at the 341 meeting. Apparently, creditors usually just file everything electronically--it's way cheaper than paying someone to come sit in court. We'll see what happens at hubby's 341 next month!

Best of luck to you, and again, try not to panic.

[keepmine]

Stop paying all debt you wish to discharge in bk. It'll take a lot longer than a few months to escalate to litigation. If you get sued-no big deal. Judgments can be included in the bk and vacated post bk.
Here are Tn. exemptions.

http://www.bankruptcyinformation.com/TN_exemp.htm

Nobody will come after your childrens stuff and creditor objections are very rare. In fact, creditors seldom show at the 341 meetimg.
Post bk, you 2 need to really get serious about raising your income. As you point out, there will be the need to get some reliable transportation plus, the rising cost of living will spell disaster on that income.

[purpledaisy1005]

Thanks so much for the info everyone! It helps to hear from people who have went through , and are going through the same things. Its nice to know that im not alone. As i look through my stuff here though it just seems if i put it all on paper that its just going to add up to be more than allowed. I really dont feel like i have alot of stuff but i have been combining it into categorys like clothes and kitchen goods and bedroom furniture and things like that but i think it will take most or all the exemption in my house hold goods. So what about my cars? Together the 2 may be worth 7000. I may be able to be a little lower with it. What value are they looking at for a car? How much a dealer will sell it for or what i would?

My 2 major concerns in all this is them taking my assets because i dont feel like i have extra assets than just the nesscities , yet it comes to add up to be so expensive. Then there is my 2 cars. One is reliable and the other not so much. If i do my asset list and i accidently forget a few things or dont total right i mean how do they really know what anyone has. Aside from being under oath , how do they know that i dont own like 10 tvs and 6 different game systems, 3 ipods well u get my point, i dont have any of that stuff , at least not in the mass quatnities. Are they going to come do a check of my assest and make sure everything is on the list?

The most expensive thing that is new in our house at this point is a nintendo wii that belongs soley to my daughter. It was bought as a christmas present from her daddy this yr and he has everything to prove that he bought it for her and he shipped it here from where he lives in minnesota. I have the video christmas morning when she opened it from him. Is that item really endanger if all our items exceed the limit? The way it looks by everything i read it says that we get so much of personal and a wildcard exemption. If i want to keep mine and my husband car i fear that may eat just bout every exepmtion we have, unless im over looking something.

If thats the case i think when her daddy moves here from minnesota in april i wll just let him house all her expensives toys and gifts there for a while. I just dont consider her stuff fair game. None of it was bought with any of the debt we are in, They can take whatever from us aside from the cars but i hate that i have to list her stuff in it. IDK how do you guys feel bout that?

But am i missing something bout the exemption? I know there was a link posted earlier in this thread, i just didnt see anything bout an automobile exemption limit so i am assuming its just part of your personal?

[lrprn]

Welcome to BK Forum - glad you found us!

Purple, a suggestion for you. You will get a lot more responses if you'll start your sentences with capital letters and break your long running one-paragraph post into lots of smaller paragraphs. That makes for much easier reading.

Most of our members won't read long running posts like yours - it's too hard on a computer monitor.

Again, welcome!

[spongenotbob]

My 2 major concerns in all this is them taking my assets because i dont feel like i have extra assets than just the nesscities , yet it comes to add up to be so expensive. Then there is my 2 cars. One is reliable and the other not so much. If i do my asset list and i accidently forget a few things or dont total right i mean how do they really know what anyone has. Aside from being under oath , how do they know that i dont own like 10 tvs and 6 different game systems, 3 ipods well u get my point, i dont have any of that stuff , at least not in the mass quatnities. Are they going to come do a check of my assest and make sure everything is on the list?

Hi Daisy,

Couple of things to ease your worries. The odds are 1,000,000:1 that noone will ever visit your home to "audit" your assets. This might sometimes happen for very high-profile, big money, celebrity-type BK cases, but I can almost assure it won't happen to you. It just doesn't happen - remember the Trustee's time is quite expensive and he's not going to spend a couple of hours to inventory baby toys, etc., when there are much lower-hanging fruit. Just not worth it to him/her. So I wouldn't worry about this AT ALL.

As far as valuing your assets, it's "distress sale" values you're going to be listing - i.e. what would it sell for at a yard sale today? Not what you paid for it...

On the cars, it sounds like you still owe money on the cars. The only part you need to be worried about is your EQUITY in the car - i.e. is the car worth more than what you owe? If so that would use part of your exemptions.

On the loan from your dad, I do have some bad news there. Your dad is a unsecured creditor to you now - and potentially the loan could be undone by the trustee as well. You need to review this one carefully with your attorney.

Anyway, keep on reading here, take a deep breath and relax, get the Nolo book, and you'll be just fine.

Take care,
snb

[purpledaisy1005]

spongenotbob, what do u mean by the loan from my dad can be undone by the trustee? The loan is for the car. i dont mind if they discharge the debt i owe my dad. I can always figure out something to work out for him later. My car is a kia sorento 2004 lx was $7000 when i bought it 4 months ago. i had the verbal agreement with him to pay it back since he took it out of 401k he had. He understands my money stiuation right now so he's ok with me not paying him for a while. I doubt i have any equity in the car but to the trustee the my car is going to look paid in full i have the title and its in my name. but i thought when a car is paid off you have to add it in as an exemption either personal or wildcard? or do you get ANY automobile exemption in tennesse? what should i do just to make sure i can keep it?

[lrprn]

Members - purpledaisy1005 posted this same question in a new thread at http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=20404 . Please post all your replies there - thanks!