One Year Later..........

[CoolBreeze]

I'm starting to regret filing. I filed Ch. 7 on 3/15/10 and went to court on 4/28/10. The thing is, now I want to get a Master's in Accounting which will take me a year and a half. I would like to be working in public accounting (preferred) or corporate accounting by fall of 2012. But, I'm afraid that my BK will cause me to not be hired anywhere. When I filed, I had just decided to go for my master's and didn't even think about the consequences as far as a future job goes. Does anyone know someone who filed and then got a job in accounting or finance? I have a meeting with my Attorney tomorrow morning and he'll discuss with me the positives and negatives of trying to get it dismissed. I'm thinking about getting it dismissed and just going to school and paying my debt off once I get a better paying job. I got into debt in undergrad. I used credit cards mostly for food and books. I owed about $30K in cc debt. But by filings say I owed $100K because my debt kept getting passed from collector to collector and I guess this made all that add up to $100K. I know that it'll still say that I filed on my credit report if I'm able to get it dismissed. But, will this matter to future employers?

[btbeme]

I would like to file a 7. We have no assets, are underwater with our home by about 250,000, and we have no retirement, savings, assets, etc.

Staying in a home that is that far upside down is something to seriously reconsider. I know from experience.

You will never, ever, see the upside of that loan, I can almost guarantee that. You will be forever upside down, no equity, no way to pick up and move should you want (or need) to do so. You will be tied to a house that keep dragging you into deep water.

Some day, I would bet that you would like to retire. My suggestion is to find a nice place for $1000 less a month for rent, save and invest the difference, and in 15 years you will have a retirement account worth an easy quarter-million dollars. Or, you can continue paying your mortgage for the next 15 years and be, at best, at break even on equity and have little or no retirement savings.

Just a thought.

Interview as many attorneys as you can. I finally found one that knew how to talk sense into me, and knew how to pre-plan a BK (which took 8 months so far). We file next month. And, we walk away from the "perfect" house (we are about $285,000 upside down) and start saving and investing again. In 20 years we will retire.

I can hardly wait!

[btbeme]

But, will this matter to future employers?

Hard to say. The reason FOR a BK filing is typically more important that the simple RECORD of a BK filing. And, my guess is that, in a couple years, more employers will see more candidates with more BKs on their records.

I doubt that a BK on your record will carry the same stigma that people imagine. Right now, almost 7000 people a day are filing BK in this country. It is not a felony conviction - it is a fresh start.

That said, some jobs will be out of reach simply because of a BK. I would venture to guess that MORE jobs would be out of reach for carrying too much debt and having lousy credit from missing payments or having judgements.

[nceguyfromne]

to coolbreeze

Coolbreeze, only you know what's truly right for you but you must have filed BK for a reason. Unless you're sure you can withdraw from it and continue paying your balances and keep your credit in decent shape on a long-term basis, I'd personally stick with the BK. Two years is a long time from now. What if it takes you a year or two on top of that to find a job? Then it's 3 or 4 years. If you withdraw your BK and, a couple years from now, end up with judgments against you from your creditors and have to file BK again anyway, then you're looking at having to find a job with a *fresh* BK on your record. If you continue now, you'll have a few years to rebuild your credit before the job issue even comes into play. BK may stay on your record for 10 years but as it ages, it becomes less of a consideration for creditors, employers, landlords, etc, especially if you've rebuilt your credit since then.

Again, I can't tell you what you should do, but I hope you won't panic your way out of what might be very well be the best decision for you, even taking your career goals into consideration.

Good luck!

[jadams]

pay all of the household bills ahead of time now. Something that for years now never happened..

Nice, isn't it?

No stress when I get the mail because I know what all the bills are that could be there, they're all budgeted, and I just need to spend a few minutes on the computer clicking to pay them.

Sure beats the previous method of putting it into the calendar, figuring out what money comes in when, which can be paid later rather than sooner, etc. Lots of "if that happens I can do that" "if i do this I can do that", "they let me pay x days late without a fee" "it will post same day if I run down to pay it before 3" etc.

I've gotten confused several times and thought I forgot about a bill because it feels like so much time has passed since I last dealt with it. That tends to happen when you bill pay the same evening the bill comes and don't see that bill again for a month vs constantly juggling until the last minute to pay it.

Not that this recession isn't hard or I'm floating in extra money. But living within your means sure makes a tough economy easier to deal with.

[ladyjenn]

Maybe you can help

Hi all! This is my first post. I have an appt. on Monday with a BK attorney to see if we qualify for 7 or 13. We live very modestly, and after bills are paid, have only about $5.00/month extra. We are current on everything, but are scraping by, by the skin of our teeth. We have a$70K home with most of that still being owed, make about $59K/year, and about $35K in unsecured debt.....any thoughts?
Thanks so much in advance. This has been a very hard decision to consider, but I am so tired of not being able to breathe and worry if something unforeseen comes up, we are REALLY in trouble.

My biggest fear is that the attorney will say we don't qualify, then what?

Jenn

[liboton21]

I was discharge last month and close last week. House was underwater over 300K and we did not reaffirm. We decided to stay in the house since we got a 2% loan mod fixed for 27 years from BofA, and I can afford the monthly payment. There is a temptation to leave the house, rent and save but I am not sure if we can still find a rate that is affordable. As far as the loan is concerned I am no longer liable since it was closed by BK but I still have a lien to pay. The good thing if somewhere down the road I cannot afford the house I can just leave.

[nceguyfromne]

Ladyjenn, there are very few people who don't qualify for Chapter 7. Even if you are over the income requirements for "automatic" qualification, your attorney can help you maximize your Means Test to give you the best chance of qualifying. For a family of 4, I believe your $59K income would "automatically" qualify you for Chapter 7 in every state except New Mexico, Mississippi and Arkansas. If your family size is smaller then your chances of automatically qualifying become a little slimmer.

You sound a lot like me with the scraping by. I did it for 3 years. Looking back, I realize I was technically "bankrupt" that entire time, I just chose not to make if "official." I was too proud (because I once had "perfect credit") and kept playing the "what if" game. What if I got a better job or a decent raise? Then I'd be able to afford my ridiculous payments and I'd wish I hadn't done it. To say the least, that never happened for me. Things only got worse. After I got laid off, I started using excess funds from my wife's student loans to continue paying my credit cards. That's when I realized how foolish it was to continue paying $1200 month for absolutely nothing. What good was "credit" when I already had too much anyway, when I was maxed out on every account and there wasn't a bank in the world that would lend me another dime, even though I paid all my accounts on time? After I got my new job, I stopped paying everything and my wife was even able to leave her job so she can finish her degree. My debt payments were just about equal to her entire take-home pay!

Obviously this is a choice you have to make based on your own unique circumstances, but if you're holding on for dear life "just because," then bankruptcy might be a blessing for you.

Best wishes!

[B65]

I agree 15 months post discharge

I have money in the bank savings, I now can go on vacation, Going through the process was hell..... Paying all the debts and worry was hell....... I love feeling free like this, I did give up my home after the discharge, to be honest i rent a fantastic place now, that i could never afford to buy.... I love it, i get to live like this while the landlord pays if things go wrong, a gorgeous farmhouse on 6 acres, I rreally am not sure i want to buy again I love feeling free like this and not being tied to any debt at all..... You will all be out of it one day and soooooo much better off!

B

[BananaCabana]

Coolbeans, I am also an accountant although not at a public accounting firm. When we lost our jobs, which is what really opened our eyes to how much debt we were paying on, we realized we didn't have much choice but to file BK. If we had been able to find jobs within three months or so it would have been tough but we could have held on. It took over seven months for me to find work again and my husband is still working for WAY less than he used to. We drained what savings we had and quit paying on the CC's and mortgage. Now there is just NO way to catch up. I disclosed that I was planning on filing BK with the temp agency that called me up for a job. They had no problems with it. Before I was hired on permenantly as a Staff Accountant and HR Manager with the company I also told them about it knowing that an indepth background check would be done. They also did not have a problem with it. But as I stressed earlier, I am not with a public accounting firm. What I have been told is that if you are looking to work for a bank or other "fianancial institution" then a credit check will be run and you will most likely be denied employment.

The possibility of being denied employment is greater for those who work with financial data. But every job and opportunity is different. And if you don't get one particular job, maybe it was just not meant to be and a better one will pop up for you eventually. I will always be afraid of a possible credit check that may be done for any job I apply for until my future bk and all bad credit disappears from my credit reports. Good luck with getting that Masters! I keep wanting to do the same thing but the Accountancy programs are way too far away from home. So I may have to do the MBA instead.

[ladyjenn]

Ladyjenn, there are very few people who don't qualify for Chapter 7. Even if you are over the income requirements for "automatic" qualification, your attorney can help you maximize your Means Test to give you the best chance of qualifying. For a family of 4, I believe your $59K income would "automatically" qualify you for Chapter 7 in every state except New Mexico, Mississippi and Arkansas. If your family size is smaller then your chances of automatically qualifying become a little slimmer.

You sound a lot like me with the scraping by. I did it for 3 years. Looking back, I realize I was technically "bankrupt" that entire time, I just chose not to make if "official." I was too proud (because I once had "perfect credit") and kept playing the "what if" game. What if I got a better job or a decent raise? Then I'd be able to afford my ridiculous payments and I'd wish I hadn't done it. To say the least, that never happened for me. Things only got worse. After I got laid off, I started using excess funds from my wife's student loans to continue paying my credit cards. That's when I realized how foolish it was to continue paying $1200 month for absolutely nothing. What good was "credit" when I already had too much anyway, when I was maxed out on every account and there wasn't a bank in the world that would lend me another dime, even though I paid all my accounts on time? After I got my new job, I stopped paying everything and my wife was even able to leave her job so she can finish her degree. My debt payments were just about equal to her entire take-home pay!

Obviously this is a choice you have to make based on your own unique circumstances, but if you're holding on for dear life "just because," then bankruptcy might be a blessing for you.

Best wishes!

Thank you soo much for your story! You are me to a TEE!!!! It is so good to hear other people had too much "pride with their credit". And you are so right when you say about having good credit, but what good does it do when no one will give you anymore and you have too much as it is?
Again, this really meant a lot to me! Thanks so much for sharing! Hopefullly Monday (first meeting with a lawyer) goes well. I have all my statements printed, property taxes, check stubs, and budget printed and ready to go. Hopefully that makes the first meeting go smooth!