Well I already messed up.. Guess I should at least prepare for BK

[badgambler]

I will keep this as brief as possible but as detailed.

I have been in therapy for 9 months now for compulsive gambling on Welbutrin for 3 weeks as well. It has been very hard.. But with the help of my wife and family I have not gambled in over 8 months..

Back in Jan of 05, I amassed a total credit card debit of 53k perhaps half in balance transfer checks made out to myself and deposited into my checking account. The other half spent at the casino but not showing as a cash advices only as internet purchases. I have paid on all 6 accounts on time and the full minimum payment for 6 months without putting any new charges on any of them.. However my mortgage just was raised $350 per month and I am no longer getting overtime and the credit card payments are not something I can make anymore... and keep a roof over my families head.

I live in Illinois

Asses ts are my home which I moved into in June of 2004. Amount owed on the home is $198k Resale is about $218K.. There is a Special Assessment attached to the property by the city in the amount of $23k which is basically a loan through the city which has to be repaid over 20 years, the put in the infrastructure in the sub-division instead of the builder.. This amount was not financed into my home loan just a note I had to sign at closing to acknowledge the debit and lean on property. I am not sure if this is taken into account when determining equity.

2003 Dodge Durango.. Amount owed $23K Blue book Value $13K

No large saving account and I have a 401K with $2500

Home loan payment is $1225 Never been late
HELOC payment is $253 Never been late
Car note is $575 Never been late
Plus..Food, electricity, and other essentials..

My weekly take home is $645

That is it for assets..

I did lie on my credit card applications about my yearly earnings.. I make about 50k a year and I was putting down 80k...I am afraid this will be used to show fraud or something of that nature which I read about on some BK board..

These cards had been maxed out before to the sum of $40k and I had paid off the debit with money taken from a real estate deal..Then slipped back into the gambling..

Does it sound like I am a candidate for Chapter 7 ??

Trust me folks, this is a very shameful time in my life.. Bk is my last resort and one I would not take at all if not for my family.. I believe in people paying for their mistakes.. But I can not make my family pay for mine and put them in the gutter.. Hence the BK 7..

I appreciate all of your time and input..

Here is my basic plan... I have closed my checking account and have been added to my wife's checking account. This is for two reason.. One, I can not be in control of money for obvious reasons.. Two.. To not have to show all those large cash transactions through my checking account to the courts.. I am going to make small payments nothing near the minimum on some cards for a couple more months.. Total payments on all cards is over 2k a month.. Which is not something I can do any longer.. Then I am going to stop paying.. This will go on until Jan 07.. By this time I am sure cards would have been charged off or I will be getting sued by this point.. At this point I will file BK giving it well over a year since my last charge on the card.. and having over a year attached to my wife's checking account..I know I have messed up my finances really bad.. But I figure if I am going to claim BK to save my home, I might as well make sure I make it as painless as possible.

Thanks again

[bkfiler]

well lots to talk about.

first, congrats on stopping your gambling! great to hear! that is the most important thing.

- increasing your income on applications usually beleive it or not is not a problem. you thought you were going to make more. that is not a concern usually. i was shocked to hear that as well.

- closing you account so you dont have to show transaction wont work. you have to list all accounts you have opened, closed or are still open for the past year. and then they will probably want monthly statements for all of it.

- gambling can be a problem for gettign debts discharged. i see it when there is extra money or disposable income to be had. otherwise i havnt seen it been a problem for the trustee. imagaine that lol. but creditors can make a deal about it. you can show the problem, that you are gettign help this goes a long way toward convicning them it is a true problem.

-as far as chap 7 - take the means test and see what it says. if you pass that and then you have less then enough to pay anything back to your creditors (i guess its $100 still per month or more) then you will qualify. thats my best guess.

- use an attorney for this case imo.

[badgambler]

- closing you account so you dont have to show transaction wont work. you have to list all accounts you have opened, closed or are still open for the past year. and then they will probably want monthly statements for all of it.

Thanks first off for reading that entire thing and offering your opinion.. It is greatly appreciated..

As far as the checking account. It will be over 1 year since I had it when I actually file for BK. I am about a year out and still in the early planning stages. I have not even really started to be harrassed by my creditors yet.

I took the means test and fall far under the 100 disposal income per month catergory.. I would much prefer to make $100 payments for three years then go through this whole thing..

Once again thanks for the input.

[HopeinHorizon]

I didn't have as much gambling as you, but I wanted to offer my congratulations on quitting! I listed a 5000 loss total for the year before my petition, and nothing was said at any point so far.

I still have 30 days to worry about creditors, but as I was filing I read articles about people charging a lot of gambling expenses on credit, and then they got that amount off their credit cards, because collecting on gambling debt is illegal... I don't know all the laws and rules, but you might want to ask an attorney about it...

Here are some good reads that I found, when I was worried about my 5k gambling habit...

http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/29/29-67.htm

http://news.com.com/Net+gambler+settles+suit+against+MasterCard/2100-1023_3-228321.html

http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Nebraska/

http://www.phillipsnizer.com/library/topics/gambling.cfm

http://www.themorningsun.com/stories/021605/loc_track%20worker001.shtml

http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/lawand/papers/fa02/ferguson_harris_norman/

[JimH]

I took the means test and fall far under the 100 disposal income per month catergory.. I would much prefer to make $100 payments for three years then go through this whole thing..

In ch 13, your creditors must recieve as much through completion of payment plan as they would under a total liquidation. If I am corectly reading your numbers above, the $100 per month for 36 months is not going to cover that. You are either going to have to make large payments for 5 years or ch 7.

[bkfiler]

if you guys were talking about my $100, i was saying that you will have to do a chap 13 if you have $100 or more of disposable income. that is if it still works like that for the new laws. i think its the same. i hope i didnt confuse the issue. lots to talk about in this one.

badgambler, as you saying the account will be closed for over a year before you file? how long are you going to wait?

[badgambler]

In ch 13, your creditors must recieve as much through completion of payment plan as they would under a total liquidation. If I am corectly reading your numbers above, the $100 per month for 36 months is not going to cover that. You are either going to have to make large payments for 5 years or ch 7.

Thanks for the info..

Total liquidation would leave me in the red.. So the 3600.00 would be more then if I was to sell off anything.. But then again.. I have no idea how BK works.. So please take this as a question and not me telling you or anyone anything..

[HopeinHorizon]

Here is are the Illinois laws...

http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Illinois/

(720 ILCS 5/28‑7) (from Ch. 38, par. 28‑7)
Sec. 28‑7. Gambling contracts void.

(a) All promises, notes, bills, bonds, covenants, contracts, agreements, judgments, mortgages, or other securities or conveyances made, given, granted, drawn, or entered into, or executed by any person whatsoever, where the whole or any part of the consideration thereof is for any money or thing of value, won or obtained in violation of any Section of this Article are null and void.

(b) Any obligation void under this Section may be set aside and vacated by any court of competent jurisdiction, upon a complaint filed for that purpose, by the person so granting, giving, entering into, or executing the same, or by his executors or administrators, or by any creditor, heir, legatee, purchaser or other person interested therein; or if a judgment, the same may be set aside on motion of any person stated above, on due notice thereof given.

(c) No assignment of any obligation void under this Section may in any manner affect the defense of the person giving, granting, drawing, entering into or executing such obligation, or the remedies of any person interested therein.

(d) This Section shall not prevent a licensed owner of a riverboat gambling operation from instituting a cause of action to collect any amount due and owing under an extension of credit to a riverboat gambling patron as authorized under the Riverboat Gambling Act.
(Source: P.A. 87‑826.)



I think if the creditors try to give you any problems, the state would protect you with the above laws... again not sure, ask your lawyer...

[JimH]

On second look, you may be ok depending on your exemptions

[badgambler]

badgambler, as you saying the account will be closed for over a year before you file? how long are you going to wait?

I will file early next year "07" before any judgements are passed or garnishments have taken place.. I know it may not be needed.. But I want to put as much time between my past charges and the filing date due to my total amount of debt.. Just worried I suppose..

[JimH]

Thanks for the info..

Total liquidation would leave me in the red.. So the 3600.00 would be more then if I was to sell off anything.. But then again.. I have no idea how BK works.. So please take this as a question and not me telling you or anyone anything..

Yeah I misread your list of assets. looks like you'l be ok

[JimH]

What reason do you have for waiting until 07? I don't see anything that would make that necessary.

[badgambler]

What reason do you have for waiting until 07? I don't see anything that would make that necessary.

I would have to say nerves and I guess a shadow of hope 80k will fall into my lap and I can avoid the whole thing.. No further damage will be done by waiting that I can think of...

Guess my main sticking point is my old checking account.. I was having 30 to 60k a month going around in it between payoffs from casinos to me, checks from credit cards, and electronic checks back to the casinos.. Guess I just dont want to be sitting in my 341 and this come up and cause a huge delay or possible worse problems that waiting could have cleared up..

[bkfiler]

well i do congratulate you for also planning your bankruptcy. in the meantime you may find out you dont need to wait.

remember that if you do keep paying your bills then its just wasting you money.

there is key components in a suceessull bk though -
- showing that you made an atempt to pay your debts makes it harder to object to them.
- time between filing the bk petetion and last charges made makes it harder to object to them.
- reorganizing so that other things fall into place and learning to spend properly helps the entire process during and after the bk as well.

[JimH]

If you've been off the gambling binge for 8 months and it's pretty obvious that was what was happening in your checking acct up to 8 months ago, then you are probably ok.

I'm not sure where you think the $80k is going to come from when you have a $645/wk take home pay- that's just your gambling addiction trying to suck you back in.