Should I file in July or wait?

[Klesko]

We have made alot of changes recently so that we could qualify for BK7. The current plan is to reduce our income to under the med income so we could auto qualify with hopefully no hassle. This is very difficult to do since I get paid well as a consultant. Right now I am just reducing the hours I am working to bring home less money but I feel like I am leaving money on the table so to speak.

Anyway my two scenarios are this.

1. Keep my hours low and wait until Sept this year and might just squeeze in under the med income so we can skip the means test.
- Advantage: I can increase my hours sooner and we can recover quicker.
- Disadvantage: We owe 180k in mostly CC debt and I have read this may raise a red flag when doing the means test.
2. File in July where we should pass the means test, we should be -200 to -300 under that test on July 1st.
- Advantage: We wont have to do the means test, should be hassle free.
- Disadvantage: I miss out on at least 2 more months of hours and pushing our recovery back.

Let me hear your thoughts on my options..

[liz417]

I would definately wait to file, you don't want to take a chance and be pushed into a ch 13 with 3-5 repayment. It is VERY important to plan your BK. Although you are over the median that doesn't mean that you won't qualify for a ch 7, it all depends on your expenses. So, do the means test and fill out your expenses and try to get a negative number from that.

Good Luck!

[kathy4530050]

Just a thought

We have made alot of changes recently so that we could qualify for BK7. The current plan is to reduce our income to under the med income so we could auto qualify with hopefully no hassle. This is very difficult to do since I get paid well as a consultant. Right now I am just reducing the hours I am working to bring home less money but I feel like I am leaving money on the table so to speak.

Anyway my two scenarios are this.

1. Keep my hours low and wait until Sept this year and might just squeeze in under the med income so we can skip the means test.
- Advantage: I can increase my hours sooner and we can recover quicker.
- Disadvantage: We owe 180k in mostly CC debt and I have read this may raise a red flag when doing the means test.
2. File in July where we should pass the means test, we should be -200 to -300 under that test on July 1st.
- Advantage: We wont have to do the means test, should be hassle free.
- Disadvantage: I miss out on at least 2 more months of hours and pushing our recovery back.

Let me hear your thoughts on my options..

Because I am a self-employed consultant too, I wrestled with the same issue. I have felt "out of the game" for about two years in my field because business has been so slow. Now it is picking up and career-wise I cannot afford to voluntarily keep myself out of the game. I'm back in and now is the time to build on the momentum I've got going and turn this around. I'm willing to accept that this might mean Ch 13-- but I have to put the business first. If I put the debt first--the business suffers. If I put business first, I believe that over the long haul, I still come out ahead.

Does it hurt your business to cut back on your hours? Do you lose any standing in your field in terms of visibility, remaining current, etc?

If it doesn't hurt your business, I'd do whatever it takes to qualify for a Ch 7. However, if it means crippling your business in any way . . . I would be really, really careful. Just my thoughts.

[Klesko]

Because I am a self-employed consultant too, I wrestled with the same issue. I have felt "out of the game" for about two years in my field because business has been so slow. Now it is picking up and career-wise I cannot afford to voluntarily keep myself out of the game. I'm back in and now is the time to build on the momentum I've got going and turn this around. I'm willing to accept that this might mean Ch 13-- but I have to put the business first. If I put the debt first--the business suffers. If I put business first, I believe that over the long haul, I still come out ahead.

Does it hurt your business to cut back on your hours? Do you lose any standing in your field in terms of visibility, remaining current, etc?

If it doesn't hurt your business, I'd do whatever it takes to qualify for a Ch 7. However, if it means crippling your business in any way . . . I would be really, really careful. Just my thoughts.

Right now I am losing about 3.5k a month in income to try and get under the med income. While I am not losing business I am afraid my main client and going to start asking why I am only billing them for say 20 hours a week when I am working 40+ hours a week for them.

I have been using savings we had built up to get us through this time with my lowered income.

I did the means test online, and using exact numbers and not taking liberty with any numbers I would be -350ish on first of July. We would be much more negative but we got an apartment, let one car go which would have us about -2k easily.

If I file July 1st and they push me into BK13 for some reason, can I drop the BK and wait 2 months and file again?