When do we stop paying bills?

[bailoutplz]

We met with our attorney today. We have not completed any paperwork nor submitted any payments to the attorney. Is it too soon to stop paying our cc bills? We are current on all of our accounts and haven't been 30/60 days late before. Please advise.

[OhioFiler]

If you are planning to file bankruptcy in the next several months and have not charged any luxuries or taken cash advances in the last 6 months stop paying immediately. Any money you pay once you decide to file is wasted.

[IsLNdbOi]

I had this question too. What if I've made a couple of luxury charges on my card w/in the past month? Do I keep paying this card for the next 6 months, then stop paying?

[killinstinct]

If you are planning to file bankruptcy in the next several months and have not charged any luxuries or taken cash advances in the last 6 months stop paying immediately. Any money you pay once you decide to file is wasted.

This is absolutely true.

By the way "luxuries" would be purchases of $500 or more within 90 days of filing and "cash advances" would be in the amount of $750 or more within 70 days of filing. These would be "presumed" as non-dischargable (i.e. you would still owe the debt after BK).

So if you have anything like this, make the minimum payments of maybe just a bit more for AT LEAST three months, preferably six months if you can. After 90 days it's up to the creditors to try to fight your discharge of their debt. If it's been six months or more, prevailing wisdom says you've probably dropped off the radar and they will leave you alone.

And no, "luxuries" are not buying groceries, gas, car maintenance, dental work, etc. Use common sense here. We're talking about a cruise, diamonds, a Ferrari, etc.

[shabam]

At first I had this grand scheme of hopefully filing without having any late payments on my credit file. What it came down to was, would I rather try protect my credit or ensure I get through bk and minimize the chance of an AP. I took the second option and stopped paying for 6 months.