Please Help.

[jetset]

This is my first post.

In a nutshell...I have $18,000 in credit card debt, and I only made $9,000 dollars last year. I work full time now, and I'm also a full time student who pays my own tuition...not to mention books which just drained my bank account of 420 bucks last week.

I know I obviously make less then my state's median income...so that's not a problem. But I currently live at home. These are the things I currently pay for:

Car insurance
Tuition (Deferment plan, $370/month three months per semester)
Books

As far as the means test goes, will I be able to calculate food (I eat out daily, average $6.50-$10/day, but don't buy groceries nor eat at home), cell phone ($50/month) gas, and I also pay for life insurance. These are all things that I can't just stop paying for in order to pay my debts in chapter 13. So the question is, what can you subtract from your income so that you fall under the required $100/month means test?

Also, my first consultation with my attorney is Monday...he wants me to bring along my latest bills sent to me by my creditors...am I required to show the actual bills, because they are all in collections now, and to my regret, 3 days ago (before I scheduled the consultation) I cleaned my desk, and assuming I was going into bankruptcy, I shredded every bill from every creditor, not even thinking I would need the ACTUAL bill. Is this a problem?

Thank you all for your help, and I hope that in the next few months I can post my "I GOT MY DISCHARGE" thread.

Any other advice is appreciated.
Thank, jetset.

[edwards2]

You shredded your bills? yes you will have to be able to show your lawyer what you owe. If the accounts are in collections dont you have notices from the collections department of the company or collection agencies? Your lawyer will best advise you on how your obligations will match up to the criteria in a Chapter 7 or 13. $18K I am sure is a lot to you but for our case it was a drop in the bucket. Good move hiring an attorney...let us know.

[bkfiler]

you will learn more after you see the attorney. keep reading here and lots of things will fall into place.

dont go with the first attorney. he doesnt need your bills until you file. just give him your stats. have them ready. make more appts. ask many questions.

look at this link for things you need to pay for each month to give you an idea:

http://www.ca-bankruptcy-attorneys.com/calculators/expense_calculator.html

[SinkingFast]

I have $18,000 in credit card debt,

Thank, jetset.

$18K I am sure is a lot to you but for our case it was a drop in the bucket. .

Ours too, Edwards.


Not one of the attnys we've consulted with has even looked at our bills.

One sent us a packet wanting us to bring a ton of stuff with us to the Consult appt. Bills, 4 years taxes, etc. Never looked at any of it.

Basically, they have all looked at Hubby's pay statements, asked how much we owe total, not individual amounts to who. They've all asked how much we pay for rent, how many in the family, asked about our vehicles, any loans on the vehicles. Is the debt all recent or has it been building for some time. General, basic questions. The attnys pretty much know what they can and cannot take to Court in the way of expenses depending on the family size.

You don't have to worry about getting at or below $100 on the Means Test. You have to show actual expenses on Schedule J. So your problem is gonna be expenses. You don't have rent/mortgage payments, utilities, grocery bills, etc. Even though you live at home, do you pay anything to help out with the general household expenses?? That would be one thing to consider. Maybe?? Do you buy your own clothes?? How much do you spend for clothes on a per month basis?? Entertainment is also an allowable expense. Do you go to the movies, concerts, etc.?? How much does that cost and how often??

Start right now saving receipts for every thing you buy. If you don't get a receipt at the time of purchase, jot down the date, the dollar amount, and what you bought. That will help you get a truer picture of where your money has been going.

[down&out]

Also, my first consultation with my attorney is Monday...he wants me to bring along my latest bills sent to me by my creditors...am I required to show the actual bills, because they are all in collections now, and to my regret, 3 days ago (before I scheduled the consultation) I cleaned my desk, and assuming I was going into bankruptcy, I shredded every bill from every creditor, not even thinking I would need the ACTUAL bill. Is this a problem?

[bkfiler]

i havnt heard that before. i hope that is not true. that doesnt sound fair.

[AMISLANDER]

In my opinion....

...I'd sit on it for awhile....now, I'm a little cocky here, but let me explain:

I hadn't paid a cc bill since 2002 and I just filed in Oct. 2005. I owed $50K. I just kept throwing the bills away myself....believe me, one thing that you can count on is there will always be a bill available somewhere...all my sh*t was in collections...but I obviously seem to have taken it to the extreme. I think they really started harassing me about a year ago, when I got back into the work force and my SS # must have started sending out alerts...they used to call on the phone & I'd tell them, "oh, no, she's not here, she got deployed to Iran." Well, it worked for a couple of months...I told the truth to a number of creditors (bad coke habit) and I think it actually scared them off...

but seriously, take it easy...see a couple of bk lawyers and read this forum like crazy so you know what you're about to experience.

[bkfiler]

"deployed to iran"

ROFLMAO!

good one!

[edwards2]

You guys are right about cc companies sending bills. I am sure your next months bills are on the way. I have heard the same story about student loans and BK. I would be interested in knowing whether that is true or not myself. Please post when you find out.

[SinkingFast]

I'd say it is true, about student loans, from what I've seen and other people I know going thru it.

Son is a college student. We get offers all the time. There are always comments about credit worthiness of the applicant and the co-signer.

Neighbors back home just went thru 2 kids in college. Lots of loans between the 2. Neighbors co-signed for both of them so lenders checked both neighbor's credit and their kids' credit. Both parents and kids had to be considered credit worthy in order to qualify.

[Jenny]

With that that much credit card debt and your income, I know this won't help pay off your debts, but take this as a suggestion for the future. Don't eat out all the time. $10 a day is a lot of money. That's $300 a month! You could make a good brown-bag lunch and save quite a bit. Some of the people I work with go to a sit-down restaurant every day for lunch. It just seems like a waste of money to me.

[bkfiler]

With that that much credit card debt and your income, I know this won't help pay off your debts, but take this as a suggestion for the future. Don't eat out all the time. $10 a day is a lot of money. That's $300 a month! You could make a good brown-bag lunch and save quite a bit. Some of the people I work with go to a sit-down restaurant every day for lunch. It just seems like a waste of money to me.

i agree with you. $10 for lunch, snacks and extras here and there each day for 1 person only is $50 a week at least. that will end up being $3K a year. after onkly 3 years thats a $10,000 down the drain imo.

imagine a family doing this.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

With that that much credit card debt and your income, I know this won't help pay off your debts, but take this as a suggestion for the future. Don't eat out all the time. $10 a day is a lot of money. That's $300 a month! You could make a good brown-bag lunch and save quite a bit. Some of the people I work with go to a sit-down restaurant every day for lunch. It just seems like a waste of money to me.

Very true, but you can still easily spend 300$ a month on groceries. And some will go unused or bad of course and must be discarded. And then you have to factor in the time and labor of preparation and cleanup. Unless you live on ramen and rice cakes groceries are not cheap either.

[Jenny]

It's cheaper to make a sandwich at home rather than buying one at a deli or restaurant. It's an easy way to save some money. And it doesn't take much time to make or clean up.

[bkfiler]

fillingonmyown, did you just argue that you cant save money making your own food? or just saying groceries arnt cheap either? i agree with the later.

i think the gov should sell me all my food at half price.

but since they dont you can buy most food from walmart and shopping clubs to save tons of money. and then 99 cent stores too. some states have great 99 cent stores. if the person reading this doesnt think that then more then likely they have the crappy 99 cent stores.