Why do some folks wait a long time to file BK?

[frogger]

Time in can be your friend. The more time between filing and some activities, the better off you could be. However, each persons situation is different.

[kym]

We delayed filing as we were waiting for another large medical bill to come in. (85K) and knew we could not take care of it ourselves. Their are so many reasons to wait...as there so many reasons to file...

[ForumReader]

For me, I filed rather in an emergent way for BK after receiving the first summons from BoA nearly 10 months after the last payment to BoA and being enrolled in a debt settlement company to begin with Like some posters have stated, each person's situation is different and by personal choice of deciding when/whether to file for BK, some would hold on as long as possible, others say ok that is it, filing for BK immediately.

[aces67]

There are a lot of different reasons. If you have no assets and nothing that anyone can take then you can wait it out and put your money back that way when you do file you have money to pay your lawyer in full.

Some people have to wait in order for their income to drop off enough. Dh and I started out in a Ch 13 but dh's income started dropping in January of this year. So we waited and kept a close eye on it. When his last check of April came our income was low enough to do a Ch 7 so we did and are now discharged.

[backtoschool]

I waited to file to get my income down. I also moved and waited to file so that I could file in Michigan and use Federal exemptions. (as opposed to nyc which does not allow Federal exemptions)

[awayalways]

I thought BK was the end of the road. I tried everything I could think of to prevent it. The creditors were ruthless and I finally gave up after 1 year. Could-a Should-a Would-a had I only been on this forum a few years ago I would be sitting pretty today. *sigh*

[MSbklawyer]

I tried everything I could think of to prevent it.

Which is as it should be.

But there are lots of reasons people who need to file don't.

A big part of it is the amount of misinformation people have. You would be amazed at the number of people who think that bankruptcy simply isn't allowed anymore after the reforms of 2005.

People have bizzare ideas of what they will be allowed to keep. I've posted before about the client I had that thought the trustee would take [I]EVERYTHING[I] she owned. It's a sad but funny story, she had been told by a lady in her church whose brother's friend's sister-in-law or some such had filed bankruptcy and was allowed to keep only one pair of underwear. She was scared to death that the trustee was going to come to her house and rifle through her dresser and take all her under clothes.

Another is expense. It's damn expensive to file bankruptcy. The 2005 act has a lot to do with that.

[Flamingo]

Which is as it should be.

But there are lots of reasons people who need to file don't.

A big part of it is the amount of misinformation people have. You would be amazed at the number of people who think that bankruptcy simply isn't allowed anymore after the reforms of 2005.

People have bizzare ideas of what they will be allowed to keep. I've posted before about the client I had that thought the trustee would take [I]EVERYTHING[I] she owned. It's a sad but funny story, she had been told by a lady in her church whose brother's friend's sister-in-law or some such had filed bankruptcy and was allowed to keep only one pair of underwear. She was scared to death that the trustee was going to come to her house and rifle through her dresser and take all her under clothes.

Another is expense. It's damn expensive to file bankruptcy. The 2005 act has a lot to do with that.

MSBKLawyer is correct not only in that people are misinformed, they are not educated as to bankrtupcy because lets face it, out of the population of the entire US, only 1.4 million BKs were filed in a one year period and even if they were all joint filings, that is less than 3 million people filing out of the entire US adult population. People in the past did not bother to educate themselves about bankruptcy because it was just something that was not gonna happen to them and for the majority of the population, that seems to be what is happening. However, for those that unfortunately find themselves having to file, no one has any clue all that is involved because it is not something that is taught in finance 101. It's mostly taboo discussion as most people don't want it to happen and feel horrid when they find themselves in that position. No one knows really anything about BK until they find themselves facing filing and then they either get the wrong information they need, wait to file hoping they can get out of it, or get good advice from friends, family or from forums like these that give out the right info and support.

Most people hear of only celebreties or Trump filing bankruptcies and what is in the paper about all the property and luxuries they have. Not too much is in the paper about personal bankruptcies as to what is involved, only that the number is up due to the economy.

[AngelinaCat]

We had a reason to wait. Each year in January, we receive a large payment from a retirement fund. We had to wait six months to file, until that large lump dropped off the radar. So, August 1, should have been a good time to file, with a buffer of a few days.

However, even though our attorney had all our information, she dragged feet and dragged feet. Nor would she return emails or phone calls. As the months wore on we started getting sued by American General, and the autoloan that 'Hub foolishly co-signed for. We had to literally camp in our attorney's office until she filed, which she filed an emergency petition the last possible day of the year, December 28, 2007.

If we had waited, we would have had to wait until August 2008 to file, because of the large payout, and by that time would have had a couple of judgments and possible garnishments against us.

[swampwiz]

Wow, one of my threads and no bile thrown at me.

[AngelinaCat]

As long as you are not out of line.......

[DeadManCrawling]

As long as you are not out of line.......

But the other way is fun. For us, at least