If I pay on the card that was used...

[geye]

but stop paying on the cards that haven't been used in months/years, will that create a problem?

We've come to the point that either A) we charge what we need B) go without or C) stop paying. BUT, we have cards that were used recently, one for a luxury purchase. Is it better to keep paying on that card only to show intent to pay on those cards, or is it better to stop payments all at once on all cards?

I thought DH was going to throw up when I told him the minimum payment on one card was $167. I've told him before, but I think this is the first time that it sank in.

[StartingOver08]

Just curious, what was the luxury purchase and when did you charge it? How much was it?

If you have just made charges it is best to make a couple of payments to show that you intended to pay. Can you return the luxury item? You may need to put additional time between the charges and the actual filing date. It is best if you have no charges within the 90 days leading to the BK filing. However, although it is not recommended, some people have filed with charges for some small living expenses within that period and had a successful discharge. Do a search here for "presumption of abuse" to get an idea.

Stop charging now. Learn to live on what your income before you file. Go cash. Get your budget together. This is the hardest part of the entire process but also the most rewarding. Once you discover your actual budget you will be surprised at how it was possible to make the payments you actually made leading to the BK.

[geye]

Ha. Sorry, I wasn't quite clear. Charging what we need is not really an option, and at this point, going without doesn't fly well, either. We have stopped using our credit cards as of about a month ago. I did have a $10 charge go through for a book that I bought DS over a month ago, but that's it in the last 30 days.
The charge in question is a tv and stand, and it was $1100 about 6 weeks ago. The attorney said as long as we were willing to pay that amount if the cc company objects, to not worry about it, because the trustee wouldn't care. He didn't seem to think we needed to make payments on the card, but reading here it seems we should.

We're not planning on filing until the second half of August, so we won't have ANY charges within 90 days.

And, yes, it's been very eye-opening just how much wasn't included in our "budget" when we were throwing everything on the card and rolling it into our payments. No more beans-and-rice budgeting for me.

[keepinitreal]

If your attorney says to stop making payments on your cards, believe him. Use the money you used to make payments with to either pay the lawyer or to buy groceries and things you used to charge. That's good that you stopped using your credit cards a month ago. Good luck!

[freeatlast98]

but stop paying on the cards that haven't been used in months/years, will that create a problem?

We've come to the point that either A) we charge what we need B) go without or C) stop paying. BUT, we have cards that were used recently, one for a luxury purchase. Is it better to keep paying on that card only to show intent to pay on those cards, or is it better to stop payments all at once on all cards?

I thought DH was going to throw up when I told him the minimum payment on one card was $167. I've told him before, but I think this is the first time that it sank in.

I'm doing the same thing just to survive. I still pay on the one card I use however, keep in mind as soon as you stop paying they usually cut you off.

[geye]

Well, we're going to go ahead and retain the attorney tomorrow even though we're not filing for a few months. He recommended we retain him when we stop paying so he can deal with any issues, and if we continue paying we'll drain our mediocre savings and then not be able to afford the attorney until we save it back up again. Also, I think mentally I can handle the "final" leap of hiring the attorney better than I can the payment-missing, so if I do that first, I'm hoping it'll be easier.

but WOW. I've never in my life been late on a payment . I'll ask him again about stopping payments on that one card or keep up for a few more months.

And then down the road I'll try to figure out why I felt such loyalty to my credit cards to the point of scrimping on groceries

[CreditCretin]

I am right there with you geye. We actually retained a lawyer this past weekend, and he wants us to file sometime in the next month. We've never missed a payment, ever, so I am very apprehensive about doing so this week. However I don't have a lot of choice. Our highest 'minimum' payment is almost 350.00 and we have a few that are close to or over 300.00. We have been living on credit cards for the last 6 months, I used to have 100-150 left every week from my check but lately since January we've been lucky to have 20-40 left per week in cash and some weeks almost 0.

We have many cards that haven't been used in well over a year, as they were balance transfer accounts, but a few cards in rotation for the last 8 months to allow us to live. He told us to stop using the cards right away, unless we had a necessity that we needed (gas, food) since all my payments from last week's check had been sent out and I had no cash left after leaving the retainer. I get paid again next week, so we'll have cash then.

I thought I would feel better about stopping next week's payments in online banking, but I don't. I actually feel terrible. I am kind of happy though that he feels our situation warrants us filing right away and not waiting while we don't pay for a few months. I don't know why, I really dread the calls from the banks. We had one payment once late by two days (on accident) and they called and I felt like a little kid who get's in trouble by their parent. I am not looking forward to that, but it is what it is.

[creditgone]

I feel the same way. We have never been late either. We have recently used some of our cards too. I guess the bankruptcy has been in the back of my head for a long time now but I never actually thought it would actually happen so I have been just living life the way we always have. This is the first month we may actually not be able to pay our bills and of course extra living expense bills (like broken car, etc.)are coming in that HAVE to be paid and we have no cash to pay if we dont stop paying. Before we would have thrown it on the card but we are very close to the end our credit lines. Its like groceries for the kids or credit card payment?