Hi everyone, this is my first time posting, but I have been reading the site for weeks now. I really need some advise, so here is my story (sorry if its too long). My husband and myself (we have one child) were planning on filing Chapter 7 within a few months. We retained an attorney in December 2008. We are above the median income, but with our expenses should pass the means test. We have about $70,000 to $75,000 in CC debt. A house with no equity and two new cars (worth less than we owe). No other assets.
I work for a bank, I do not handle any transactions, I'm a commercial appriaser. This bank was bought by another large international company last September. At that time, I was making a base salary plus commission. When the new bank took over, that put the breaks on all commercial loans. Thus, no more commission. I made it past the layoffs, but they told me there would be no commissions going forward only the possibility of a year-end performance bonus. This essentially gave me a 35% decrease in income. To top that off my husband is in sales, as in independent contractor (with LLC), and receives commission only. His income has dropped substantially over the last year and we have no way of knowing how much he will make in the coming months.
We stopped paying credit cards in December 2008. We are now having trouble making car payments and our mortgage. Much less get the rest of the money together to pay the attorney so that we can file. Another issue is our 2nd mortgage was with the bank for which I am now an employee. I don't want to do anything that could negatively impact my employment. We would really like to keep our house and we need both cars for our jobs.
My question is should we not pay the 1st mortgage and use any money to pay the attorney and file Ch. 13. or wait and see if we can scrape by and come up with all the money we need and still file Ch. 7. I also should not that I am subject to disciplinary actions by my employer if I receive more than one judgement for garnishment.
Any input would be appreciated.
I work for a bank, I do not handle any transactions, I'm a commercial appriaser. This bank was bought by another large international company last September. At that time, I was making a base salary plus commission. When the new bank took over, that put the breaks on all commercial loans. Thus, no more commission. I made it past the layoffs, but they told me there would be no commissions going forward only the possibility of a year-end performance bonus. This essentially gave me a 35% decrease in income. To top that off my husband is in sales, as in independent contractor (with LLC), and receives commission only. His income has dropped substantially over the last year and we have no way of knowing how much he will make in the coming months.
We stopped paying credit cards in December 2008. We are now having trouble making car payments and our mortgage. Much less get the rest of the money together to pay the attorney so that we can file. Another issue is our 2nd mortgage was with the bank for which I am now an employee. I don't want to do anything that could negatively impact my employment. We would really like to keep our house and we need both cars for our jobs.
My question is should we not pay the 1st mortgage and use any money to pay the attorney and file Ch. 13. or wait and see if we can scrape by and come up with all the money we need and still file Ch. 7. I also should not that I am subject to disciplinary actions by my employer if I receive more than one judgement for garnishment.
Any input would be appreciated.
) so I understand it is extremely difficult to come up with a budget on commission income, but that is going to be the cornerstone of your new life. We just have to learn to project based on THIS market - not the market of 2005!
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