Hello Brian here and I am so scared!

[Shakin]

I live in Massachsuetts and i have retained a lawer to file chapter 7. I have been reading here for a while. I cant sleep right. I dont eat right and I am having a hard time functioning. I have 4 kids and my wife works but my contracting business tanked last fall.

I have a bout $60K in CC debt and I am 6 months or more past due. They are all coming after me. One collector or attorney has sent me a letter telling me he has filed for a hearing in my district court. I have never been in this postion and honestly I did not expect to be.

I have been selling most of my coin collection on ebay to survive. After reading here I am so concerned about the way I have handled things. I have bought and sold so much stuff in an attempt to make money that I fear a trustee will jump on me. I am at the end of my liquid assets and hopong spring will bring new oppurtunity.

I can go on and on. Please help me to put this in order and to deal with things factually instead of the way I have been handleing it. I am so stunned and nervous. Please ask me questions and I will give honest answers.

I NEED A STRONG PATH BECAUSE I AM SO WEAK.

[EricaCallaha]

What else do you have?

Do you....own a house, cars, collections?
How much cash do you have?
What does your income look like for the last 6 months?

You said you have a wife and 4 kids. Have you been to legalconsumer.com to do a means test? This is a test that you can take to figure out if you are over/under the median income to file for 7 or 13.

It is okay. Relax. We are all here/have been in the same shoes that you are in right now. We were over a year behind on some cards when we finally filed. I was freaking out too. But when we hired a good attorney...the fears started to subside.

When you have questions that pop into your head....write them down and call your attorney once a week to get all of your questions answered. Or even daily if it makes you feel better. They are there to help you. And so is this forum. Just keep reading and have a little faith. It will all turn out in the end.

Good luck.

[dingdong]

First of all, you are going to be ok.

WE all felt the same way you did when it all started.

Second, give those nasty ass collectors your attorneys phone number since you have retained him, that will stop the calls and give you a little relief.


You might want to post how much of your assets you have sold.

If you were using the money to pay for basic living expenses, I don't think you will have a problem at all.

It is not like you are selling off assets at less than market value to hide them and then possibly get them back.
You are trying to survive.

Remember above everything else, You are going to be ok.
BK will make all your debt go away and you will get a fresh start, you just have to deal with a few more months of waiting for the BK to take its course..

[Shakin]

We own a home and owe about $335K I am not sure about equity but it cant be much today. I am filing alone. Most of the debt is in my name. My wife has some but we expect to stabilize here situation and maybe use her credit in the future.

We own three cars. One is an older sports car I am trying to sell right now to pay down her debt.

The other two are almost paid off.

Aside from that I dont have much left. Just some coins worth about $4000 which I am selling off to pay living expenses and my attorneys.

I have not taken the means test yet but I would assume that with 4 kids I will be ok. We always made well under $100K.

[Shakin]

I have sold off one car for $17K and used part of the money to settle with BofA as well as pay for Christmas and other living expenses. I have also sold off ovr $20K in colletibles. I have some of the cash set aside to keep going.

My checking account looks like kaos because the buying and selling. Witht he way things are now I am just selling everything. I have not made any profits and seen plenty of losses.

[lalap123]

You sound like me...sold so much stuff on Ebay, cashed in the retirement plan, etc. I also have never been behind on my cards but am currently over 60 days on almost all seven. Total debt is around $68K and I am the only one planning on filing (my husband is not). The only thing I would caution is to stop selling if you can b/c everything you take in prior to filing will most likely be counted as income, potentially putting you over the median. This is the situation I am in now...waiting on atty to run my figures (they are all over the place like yours...there were over 12 deposits from Paypal on our last bank statement!) so that he can tell me whether or not I can do ch 7 now or need to wait 6 months for my income to go down. The main reason is the retirement fund I cashed in last month.

It gets easier as you find out more information and know which direction you are heading...the hard part is feeling uninformed and unsure of what you are going to do. Depending on what state you live in you will have a median income figure that you need to be under to file ch 7...and everything added up over the 6 months has to be gross income. If you are over the median you may still be able to file ch 7, depending on your expenses and other things.

Try not to stress out too much...I have kids myself (three to be exact) and have just been trying to focus on taking care of them and looking out for their future. Contact a few attorneys as soon as you can so you will have something to direct your nervous energy towards.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

I am not an attorney - but I have been told its okay to sell assets before BK - the type of sale to avoid would be one to an insider (family or good friend) for significantly less than market value. If this happens, the "lookback period" is one year. Could be more if they suspect some kind of fraud - but doesn't sound like that is the case with you. You can sell items for market value to anyone, I think and use the money for living expenses.

I hope you realize that this is a boat many of us never thought we would find ourselves in. So hang in there - its not as bad as it seems it will be.

You also want to avoid, if possible, any "preferential payments" (amounts adding up to over $600 paid to one unsecured creditor, while not paying the others) within 91 days of your filing.

[knguye11]

No adivce. But just remember to take a deep breath. Thing will be OK.

The worst case they make you file Ch13, but even then you don't have to pay much back on the monthly plan.

Since you already retained with a lawyer, you should call or email them whenever you have question. They should have an answer for something close to it.

Also this forum is a haven for people like us here. Eversince I found this site, I have been sleep and eat better now. Just hang on, all bad things will pass. There is light at the end of the tunnel, you just have to walk toward it.

K-11