Separated from my wife who wants nothing to do with me. Can I file Chapter 7 alone?

[msp1518]

Greetings everyone. Yes, I am new here, but I have read extensively, so I only ask the following because I haven't found the answer(s).

I have been separated from my wife since March of this year. Lost my job in January and have really been broke since. I have no place to live, so have been crashing with family as I look for work. My wife moved to NYC and has nothing to do with me. She has never had her name on any of my debt and much of it was mine before we married.

I'm at a point where I'm hopelessly broke and need to file Chapter 7. Can I and what happens since I am not divorced?

Again, we have been living apart since March and she has never been a part of my debt. She only came to the USA 3.5 years ago and that is one reason why her name hasn't been on anything. She had no credit. At the moment she has one credit card with a limit under $500. After paying rent and bills each month, she can save ZERO dollars. She is barely surviving and has no money to send to her family back home, so she really has no way to help me.

I don't want a divorce because I am trying to get my life back in order and hope to fix things with her down the road and she doesn't want a divorce because it will shame her with her family (she is Asian). But we are living apart and only speak once in a while.

I've nearly 30k in debt with credit cards. Discover and Citizens put me on plans in March, but when the unemployment ran out I had to stop paying. Chase Bank is the big but. I owe them a ton and they call me every day. All three will "charge off" (still trying to understand what that means) as Chase says to me, but that just means the debt is now going to some other people who are going to come after me like there is no tomorrow, right? Chase told me since I have yet to file for bankruptcy that I cannot include this debt, as it will be charged off and I will be responsible for it for the rest of my life. WTF?

That's my situation. No job. No house. No assets, other than my old car, which I own outright. I have no savings. No income. Nothing.

Advice, please.

By the way, during the plan periods with Discover and Citizens, I didn't make a single purchase. None of my debt is from cash advances. My debt with Chase was 10k higher at one point, but over the years I paid it down. I canceled all my Chase cards as soon as I lost my job so as not to get into a deeper hole, so I have not made any charges on any credit card at all this year. No way was any of this disaster intentional.

The ONLY charge I made that I worry about is I paid the nearly 1800 in taxes we owed on one of the cards. We had no cash to do it. But when we did our taxes in February, we found we owed big bucks. What else could we do? We had no money at all to pay and just charged it. Never in a million years did I think almost a year later I'd still be unemployed.

[hamburgervol]

I'm no pro but I wouldn't even consider filing BK until your employment situation is fixed. When the CC companies call, tell them you are unemployed.

[Dst1]

Well Chase is lying if they told you that CC debt can't be discharged in BK.

The IRS doesn't care that you charged your taxes.

Anyway, I agree that employment is your first issue. It's not wrong to file a BK while you are still unemployed but then what's going happen? You have no income and no ability to charge anymore so unless you have some other source of revenue such as family then you're really out of luck.

[msp1518]

Well, this I do not understand. My being unemployed now means I am completely unable to pay a dime. I'm just busted and the stress is killing me. I lost 20 pounds this year and I only needed to lose 5.

My family has basically told me I am on my own. The creditors were calling my parents, sister and even my 90 year old grandmother every day and even at 6:30 in the morning. Eventually, my family told me to get lost. They had their own issues (mostly health) and didn't want me adding to their own any longer.

I want this off my shoulders. I just can't deal with it anymore. The stress has been killing me. I don't even sleep anymore because I can't. I went from a guy who never missed a bill to one who needs food stamps to eat.

Is there a legal reason why filing while unemployed is bad? Will the court look on my worse if I do?

By the way, Chase, Citizens and Discover have all told me I cannot include the debt once it is charged off if I file Chapter 7 or 13. Unreal. They also repeatedly attempted to force me to transfer the money I owed them to my Wachovia credit card, which had a limit of $7800 according to my credit reports. Only thing was, I didn't know I even had a Wachovia card until they told me! Of course, once I called Wachovia, they immediately dropped the limit to $700. I still have that card, not used, zero balance. I won't transfer to it because that would be fraud. Amazing how the banks do not care if you commit fraud to get rid of the money you owe them, but would go ape if I put money on their cards to get rid of debt from a different bank.

[ForumReader]

Well, this I do not understand. My being unemployed now means I am completely unable to pay a dime. I'm just busted and the stress is killing me. I lost 20 pounds this year and I only needed to lose 5.

My family has basically told me I am on my own. The creditors were calling my parents, sister and even my 90 year old grandmother every day and even at 6:30 in the morning. Eventually, my family told me to get lost. They had their own issues (mostly health) and didn't want me adding to their own any longer.

I want this off my shoulders. I just can't deal with it anymore. The stress has been killing me. I don't even sleep anymore because I can't. I went from a guy who never missed a bill to one who needs food stamps to eat.

Is there a legal reason why filing while unemployed is bad? Will the court look on my worse if I do?

First off, I am sorry to hear you are in this position, being separated from your spouse and on top of it, being unemployed while dealing with debt everyday. From what I have read and heard, it is not a terrible thing to file for BK while unemployed since you are not able to pay any of your debt. But to emerge from BK, it is important to have some sort of income to support yourself. The trustee might ask that at your 341 in case you decide to file. Good luck and hang in there. Ask questions if need to be and you can also go around get free consults from BK attorneys and they should be able to answer your questions especially with unemployment issues and filing for BK.

[keepmine]

By the way, Chase, Citizens and Discover have all told me I cannot include the debt once it is charged off if I file Chapter 7 or 13.

This isn't true. Many of us had debts chargedoff prior to filing bk and the debts were discharged. They're just trying to scare you.
First thing you do is, calm down. You have nothing anyone can take. Just concentrate on improving your situation. The bk card will always be there.

[hamburgervol]

Well, this I do not understand. My being unemployed now means I am completely unable to pay a dime.

Some cease communication letters

[music12]

the reason people say it's not good to file while unemployed is that you could end up homeless and hungry very quickly after bk unless you have somewhere to crash. you said you are staying with family but you also say they are tired of the phone calls. the question is: will your family be able/willing to support you until you find a new job? if yes, go ahead and file now. if no: find a job so you have income, because the only thing you will have with you is the cash that gets exempted during the bk. there will be NOTHING else to rely on.

[scindebt1]

Take control now. Get a small job and focus your energies to things you can improve. Write a cease and desist contact letter,certified mail, to all creditors and collection agents. Take control of the situation, face your past honestly and w/o blame to yourself or others. Hold Your head high and don't be afraid. Take control.

[msp1518]

My uncle, God bless him, has always been close with me and thankfully, the creditors have never called him because I have never used his address with any of them. Because of this he is now letting me stay with him for as long as I need. His basement is finished and has a bed, couch, TV and kitchenette. Worse comes to worse, I can stay there rent free until I get myself in order.

I'm now determined to just do this. The stress has taken a terrible toll on me and my family. Tomorrow morning I will be sending letters to the creditors demanding they cease calling me. That alone will help. I was unaware I could do this.Wish I knew that months ago.

My home state is North Carolina, so I know it is a little odd in regards to bankruptcy. Guess I need to do a lot of reading.

[DebtEnder]

The orig creditors, ie chase and whatnot, are not bound by a C&D letter. Only those who operate as collectors are bound by it. However the OC's can't call family like crazy so long as they have talked with you. They can only call others in an attempt to locate you, not pressure/harrass you. If they know how to contact you by phone and you have spoken with them then that legally should satisfy thier need to call other people.

Your best bet is if a junk debt buyer or collector calls ask them to send them the 1st notice paperwork, then send them the Debt Validation letter with a c&d letter. That will stop them at least and they are the worst by far. With the OC's find a way to record those calls and if they tell you they can't be discharged ask them for thier law practice id number as otherwise they are providing legal advice and well, they can't do that.