How long before you filed and why?

[tobee43]

The CCC agent admitted that court was often the only way to get a "payment plan" -- yes, bankruptcy and Chapter 13 is the only way to "force" a payment plan on a creditor who refuses to work with you. I was never tempted to try "debt management," having gotten wind somehow that it was considered a scam.

empowered.....CCC got theirs too......they are the one of the MAIN ones that make BIG bucks now giving the course that is mandated by the Federal government before you file and another class prior to your discharge....so they are included with the banks and atty's that lined their pockets...

I echo what I read earlier in this or another thread about Chapter 13 being a very poor solution for the debtor, especially an older debtor. Surviving a Chapter 13 plan in your 20s or 30s still leaves you time to begin with home ownership and retirement savings. When you're older, it seems that it's likely to just strip you of any savings you might have made in your supposed highest income years, making it hard to ensure that you can make it into your later years without becoming a burden on the state and probably also having a greater impact on your health. What are we asking people to do here with these Chapter 13 plans? It seems punitive and like, for many, we're ensuring that they can never go forward and act on whatever lessons they've learned in bankruptcy by saving for the future.

i am the "older" person that continue to echo these words....a 13 would have given us almost no chance to built what small future we have left...they were prepared to strip what little we had left....that is the reason it took us years to plan, and execute our bk...we needed to protect ourselves the best way we could.

please do not get me wrong...i can't stand those that attempt to defraud their creditors...who rack up huge bills for tv's, vacations...and luxury items. actually, those people along with the banks being so upset that they were left in the "wind"....help pull these new laws in to effect.

however, now...we have a HUGE group of people that are not in that type of situation....they HAVE lost their jobs, they weren't runaway spenders...i think congress is going have to revamp this system sooner...than later. i hope.

[gman]

...i think congress is going have to revamp this system sooner...than later. i hope.

Sadly, I do not see Congress making any changes.

The reality is that our government is being run by 10 Big Banks who have bought off Congress and the White House (no matter who the President is.)

The BPACPA of 2005 was very pro-creditor, anti-debtor. Some people refer to it as the "Debt Slave Act of 2005."

In 2008, when the Big Banks were in trouble due to bad loans and other derivative (bets), Congress stepped in and bailed out these banks instead of pushing them into bankruptcy as they should have. To add insult to injury, Congress chose not to bailout the debtors. This is very pro-lender and anti-debtor behavior.

In my book, when a loan goes bad, both parties should pay the price. The borrower gets marked for bad credit and is cut off from the system for years and/or pays higher rates for future credit. But the lender too should suffer for their bad judgment is assessing risk. This is what real capitalism is all about. What we have here in the US is no longer this system. The Big Banks make profits, but when they "lose" - they force the US citizens to bail them out. Even worse, some of the Big Banks are not even US companies. We actually bailed out and continue to subsidize foreign banks as well!

Crazy, crazy times we live in!

Do not forget: In late 2008, phone calls against the initial TARP bailout were 10 to 1 or more according to most news reports, yet Congress and the President passed this with ease. These DC people are no longer representing us - they represent the Big Banks.

Sad - but factual.

[kartoons19]

3 years and 9 months after we originally sought out BK.
3 years and 4 months of collections calls, letters, and other harassment.

Most people kind of dread BK.
For us it has been the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Wow, that had to be difficult to deal with the collection calls for that long! I only had to handle them for about 4 months and that was more than enough. Glad you were finally able to file and get closer to that fresh start.

[tod183]

It took us about 11 months after having stopped paying our cards. We were hoping to keep the car we were making payments on. However, we never had money left after paying rent, utilities, car payment, insurance, daycare, groceries, gas, etc. I think I came to my senses about two months before I told my wife. We were way upside down on the car (worth about $6,500 and owe about $14,000), and the payments were too high (about $380). After I discussed it with my wife, we decided we'd quit making payments on the car and use that money to pay the attorney. Once we turn the car over, we'll carpool in the other, much older, but completely paid for car...

As of now, we still have both cars and have paid about half of what we owe the attorney. They let us file still, but said it needed to be paid off by the discharge date. The reaffirmation papers came in to the attorney's office yesterday, and I verified today that we are not keeping the car. I wonder how long we'll get to keep using it for free... It's due for an oil change (not gonna happen under my watch!), and I'm only putting a few dollars of gas in the tank at a time. I don't want them to get my gas money too!

[sunshinepa]

TO BE...........I too have cash advances along with balance transfers. Long story but mostly due to son losing job, supporting him and his kids with food, rent, car pyments and then nursing father with brain cancer 2 years. After he died, I went on a "gambling spree" with advances over a 3 mo. period. I know, I know.......stupid. But unless you have spent 48 hrs a day for 11 mos. taking care of someone you love who lived with you for 6 years, I guess you can't really describe what happens. I guess in reality, it was that many hours a day but when they are helpless, it seems like it. For me, I could not stand to be in my house for months after my dad died...........so would spend mights at a casino.instead of crying my heart out......big mistake.

Anyway, I paid on all the cards for 7 months, just missed my first payments this month and they are calling like crazy. Most of the large cash advances were money I sent to my son over an 18 month period and then about 5 k gamgling.............UGH! (I have not and will not talk to any of them, ignore the calls so not sure what will happen. I plan on interviewing attorneys in September although a forum member gave me 3 good names. Then I will save the money and hopefully file in Dec, Jan or Feb.

I really am hoping for FEB as that will have aged the major advances for at least 12 months. If I get lawsuits, I will file sooner.......hope not.

Anyway, stop paying, save for your attorney and stockpile stuff. Most of all, hang on in this forum.........so many great folks here with info and support!

Sunshine.

[2bdebtfree]

I'm sooo nervous. I'm off to see a attorney for 1st consult. Why am I so nervous???

Thank you for your replies.

[ccsjoe]

I'm sooo nervous. I'm off to see a attorney for 1st consult. Why am I so nervous???

Thank you for your replies.

You are nervous because:

1. It makes it real, and
2. The end of the nightmare is beginning to be in sight, and
3. If you're like me, at this stage you are still wondering what if....

Go see the attorney, you'll be just fine....make sure you're comfortable with the attorney and ask lots of questions.

[empowered]

gman, I forgot to mention in my post about my creditor's refusal to give me time to become current with a payment plan, that the following year they declared themselves a bank so they could benefit as a member of that class. Additionally, in the span of time over which I was gathering materials to file bankruptcy the first time, I remember seeing some article where they were raising rates or something because, they explained, with the struggles of their debtors in the current economy, there was a dent in their profits.

I was angry enough when they just charged off my debt instead of giving me time to become current that I wrote my congressional representatives and I think I wrote the FTC or some other supposed overseeing entity as well after they said I didn't qualify for their probably bogus payment plan program. Since then, my stance has been that credit lenders should be required to provide payment plans to debtors -- that should be part of their cost of doing business in the domain of credit. It's obvious that I am not only person who has ended up with no alternative other than bankruptcy after the unreasonable demands of a creditor during a time of financial duress. And I've also come to believe that once you get to this point where interest rates are high (and wouldn't be permitted in most countries) and the amount you owe is so much that there is constant stress, you are already financially unseated and likely to eventually default under unremitting financial pressure. Hence the number of people, like me, who may begin as Chapter 13 and end up as Chapter 7 during a prolonged time of economic stress. The writing is on the wall after a certain point -- it's the tipping point.

Basically, I felt they pushed me into bankruptcy. It's a reasonable argument. And aren't they insured for their losses? So when they refuse to work with people who would prefer to pay and instead charge off these debts, aren't they protected from the financial loss themselves? Are they truly forced to raise rates when they suffer debtor losses or is that just an excuse to raise rates still more? It's almost, well, constructive default, where in the same way that the landlord forces you to get out, the lender leaves you little choice but to default.

Because of this complete refusal to work with me I was surprised when, after the dismissal of my Chapter 13 when I was unable to continue making payments into the plan, I suddenly started receiving time-sensitive "offers" from this erstwhile lender to settle my debt for something like 85% of what they felt it was now more than two years since they charged it off. It was pretty amusing that after all this time... anyway, I'd already been unemployed for months and had already started preparing to file Chapter 7 so there was little chance that after their jerking me around years before I would take them seriously when they pretend to play nice. I figure that it's pretty predictable that someone whose Chapter 13 is dismissed is likely to come back with a filing for Chapter 7, at which point they lose their hold over the debtor.

Gosh, this thread has really reminded me of how pissed off I am about this. :]

[ccsjoe]

Gosh, this thread has really reminded me of how pissed off I am about this. :]

WOW...you are pissed!!!!

[empowered]

cssjoe, I like the reference to the mushroom cloud next to the notation of filing in your sigblock. Apt.

[BCA2009]

We file 43 days after we decided to go the BK route, would have been quicker, but Thanksgiving snd Christmas feel inbetween and our attorneys office was closed for the holidays.

We were less than 30 days late on all of our bills except for one, and we were 60 days late on it. Only recieved one collection call during the whole process.

We had to file before our income edged up too high to qualify for chap 7.

[nomore008]

I wish I wasn't in panic mode. I guess I get very impulsive when things happen and the cash advance was one of those moments. Boy, did I learn my lesson.

I did the same, paniced and used those checks they put in with the bills a couple of times. The amounts were for $1500 and it was used just to pay other cc's and for food and gas. Paralegal said we had to wait 90 days after that to file. So hopefully Sept 17 will be out filing date. We get 20 calls a day from cc companies (the same ones calling over and over). We don't answer their calls any more.

I knew nothing about bk and didn't plan very well. Hopefully no one will file against us. I am just so very nervous and tense about the whole thing including my husbands injury and continuing medical problems.

[ccsjoe]

So hopefully Sept 17 will be out filing date. We get 20 calls a day from cc companies (the same ones calling over and over). We don't answer their calls any more.

Hopefully no one will file against us.

nomore,

If Sept 17 or close to it will indeed be your filing date, then I wouldn't worry about anybody filing against you. Technically when they file, you have I believe 30 days or so to respond which puts you already in BK before anything happens.

Also, if you are relatively certain about the filing date, and 100% certain about filing, then you may want to pick up the phone and let the creditors know you're filing. If you have an attorney, give them his/her name and number. They don't have to stop calling you, but a lot will. Also, with your filing date so close, you don't have to worry about them moving against you legally, not enough time for them to maneuver!

[wipetheslate]

I have been waiting about 9 months, and will file in late Oct/early Nov. I had intended to file earlier in the year, but found out I had cancer and had to deal with that. Found out I screwed up some state taxes when I moved mid-year several years back, and now waiting 240 days from my notice date to get those discharged.

My cancer is a bad type (even though I caught it early and my prognosis is much better than most, it's an automatic qualifier for SS disability as 'terminal'), so I'll take the opportunity to file and adversarial proceeding against my student loans, which I faithfully payed for 8+ years but recently put on forbearance because I'm not working full time while undergoing more chemo.

Trying to look on the bright side here! The thought of being completely totally debt free--for pretty much the first time in my independent adult life--in a few months is absolutely exhilarating.

Edited to add why: I've been circling the bankruptcy drain for years. Always paying my bills on time and making minimum payments. Caught in the trap of using the cc's to pay for the inevitable shortfall that would come every month. Applied for lots of jobs, hoping to find one that paid more, but non materialized. Just realized bankruptcy was really my only way out.

[empowered]

wipetheslate, I feel for you. It's really upsetting that so many people in this country have the double-whammy of life-threatening illness and financial stress that makes it harder to get care or to take care of oneself at the most critical time. I had the experience of acting as a lay representative to the IRS for someone who had a terminal diagnosis a few years back and was grateful that I was able to secure "non-collectible" status for them during their final year of life -- I know that this person would not have handled it, had not handled it in the past, alone. It really does sound like you're keeping all of this in hand though. I wish you the best.