How long to wait?

[Michellemg]

Hi. Can everyone tell me how long to wait til filing chapter 7 to almost definetely avoid creditor objections? I can keep struggling and paying my minimums for the time being. I just went through a terrible divorce and I want as little drama with this process as possible. Any insight regarding this would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has had objections what were the reasons and how far back was the charge? I'm just concerned cause I have always been a big shopper and I'm thinking my prior large purchases might look bad.

[tobee43]

we waited an unusual long amount of time...but that was also because there were certain questions on the petition itself we wanted to be able to answer "NO". (actually it took over 2 years going on 3 to carefully plan it out).

however, we made certain that any charges made on the cc's were at least hitting the year mark....but that was just us...and as a matter of fact we stopped paying our mortgage (we had to for loan mod) but continued up until we hired an atty to pay on cc cards...

for two reasons...we wanted to put in as much time between the last charge and the filing date and it would not show on our credit report 1 year or so of late payments....we almost filed before they could report we were late.

but it's a personal decision. they say 90 days...we just wanted to make certain...being a bit OCD....

[ccsjoe]

michelle, how long ago were your large purchases? Normally, you stop using cc's 90 days prior to filing and any large purchases 6 months to 1 year prior to filing. This also includes balance transfers.

In my case however, we have a small balance transfer (400) at the 5 month mark and we did not stop using cc's until 7/31....we filed 8/27, so less than one month. However, we were using cc's mostly for living expenses, nothing major...well except the bachelor party wekend to Vegas in July...but that, too, was under 600 and only financing was plane tickets at 281 that are included in bk. But I digress.

[wnguyen]

Michellemg

It's said that you should wait at least 90 days after you made 'large' purchase/transaction, but I think you should wait longer than that (ideally 6 months or more) for your own good. I waited 7 months because I couldn't wait longer than that. My creditors all started or already sued me by that time.

[tobee43]

well except the bachelor party wekend to Vegas in July...but that, too, was under 600 and only financing was plane tickets at 281 that are included in bk. But I digress.

what???????? LOL!!! that $600 was JUST for the girl that came out of the cake.

[tcreegan]

Hi michellemg,

To file a BK, you need to be insolvent 90 days prior to filing and it is "bad faith" to use credit when you know you can't repay it. That is where the 90 days come from. You also have to have made a "good faith" effort to repay, that is where the 6 months to a year comes in.

A cc company can object to their debt being discharged, but whether or not they do so is variable by lender and usually not unless the charge is large enough to make it worth their time. "Large" is going to be multi-hundreds for sure, again variable by cc company.

Tom in Colo