Hello all. Quite the forum here, a lot of great information and reading regarding BK.
A bit of background. I am a 27 year old residing in NYC, married with a child on the way. Our income is about 90k (60k me, ~30k wife), well above the median for a family of 2 in New York of $57,000.
We are current on all of our bills, have never missed a payment, but in the red every month due to living expenditures. Every month we are in the red about 800 dollars. I have excellent credit and high credit limits, which facilitates this deficit each month. My debt to credit ratio is about 40% now, and we have a lot of accounts even with 0% interest. Most accounts are 9-11% if interest is accruing. The writing is on the wall though, that this cannot be sustained forever. We have no meaningful savings at all (3,000 dollars), and if something were to happen or one of us lose our job it would be big trouble.
Luckily, all of the unsecured credit card debts of about 37k are in my name, so I have already confirmed with an attorney that I can file for BK without involving her, which is great. We have 55k in student loan debt, and about 25k owed on a truck which we will be keeping as it is a joint account. Another car is a lease solely in my wifes names so it wont be involved.
Every lawyer I have spoken has a different story about us passing the means test. Either they are confident 100% (without actually running the numbers) that we will pass the means test. I can't see how being almost 32k over the median.. 2 lawyers also said they wouldn't even bother running the numbers and chapter 13 would be our only option..
My questions are general.
When can I claim 3 members of the household ($10,000 increase in the median), is it the month the baby is born? Can't get a clear answer on this.
Will my best option be to wait until my wife is out of the work for the 3 months maternity so we will be closer to the means test level and probably pass the test a lot easier? How is this viewed by the trustee since maternity is like disability and she will likely be returning to work after the 3 months(or does it matter to them?)
Lawyers here in NYC tend to not want to give out much concrete information unless you sign a retainer them. We are really on the fence about whether to go through with this at all in the end, since we are both college educated and just starting out. With that said though, it would be awesome to start on a fresh financial slate with the baby coming. This debt is slowly going up month after month.. and we would really be in a good position if we didn't have this debt to service.
Reading all of the candid stories on here makes me almost feel guilty about our what seem to be paltry debt amounts. But in the end, the cost of living in NYC is absolutely horrible, and although we do have a decent lifestyle, its nothing extravagent, and we are eeking by. 90k may sound like a lot, but in NYC this does not go a long way..
Sorry if this seems jumbled, as we are just beginning to explore this Chapter 7 stuff. Thanks for any suggestions.
A bit of background. I am a 27 year old residing in NYC, married with a child on the way. Our income is about 90k (60k me, ~30k wife), well above the median for a family of 2 in New York of $57,000.
We are current on all of our bills, have never missed a payment, but in the red every month due to living expenditures. Every month we are in the red about 800 dollars. I have excellent credit and high credit limits, which facilitates this deficit each month. My debt to credit ratio is about 40% now, and we have a lot of accounts even with 0% interest. Most accounts are 9-11% if interest is accruing. The writing is on the wall though, that this cannot be sustained forever. We have no meaningful savings at all (3,000 dollars), and if something were to happen or one of us lose our job it would be big trouble.
Luckily, all of the unsecured credit card debts of about 37k are in my name, so I have already confirmed with an attorney that I can file for BK without involving her, which is great. We have 55k in student loan debt, and about 25k owed on a truck which we will be keeping as it is a joint account. Another car is a lease solely in my wifes names so it wont be involved.
Every lawyer I have spoken has a different story about us passing the means test. Either they are confident 100% (without actually running the numbers) that we will pass the means test. I can't see how being almost 32k over the median.. 2 lawyers also said they wouldn't even bother running the numbers and chapter 13 would be our only option..
My questions are general.
When can I claim 3 members of the household ($10,000 increase in the median), is it the month the baby is born? Can't get a clear answer on this.
Will my best option be to wait until my wife is out of the work for the 3 months maternity so we will be closer to the means test level and probably pass the test a lot easier? How is this viewed by the trustee since maternity is like disability and she will likely be returning to work after the 3 months(or does it matter to them?)
Lawyers here in NYC tend to not want to give out much concrete information unless you sign a retainer them. We are really on the fence about whether to go through with this at all in the end, since we are both college educated and just starting out. With that said though, it would be awesome to start on a fresh financial slate with the baby coming. This debt is slowly going up month after month.. and we would really be in a good position if we didn't have this debt to service.
Reading all of the candid stories on here makes me almost feel guilty about our what seem to be paltry debt amounts. But in the end, the cost of living in NYC is absolutely horrible, and although we do have a decent lifestyle, its nothing extravagent, and we are eeking by. 90k may sound like a lot, but in NYC this does not go a long way..
Sorry if this seems jumbled, as we are just beginning to explore this Chapter 7 stuff. Thanks for any suggestions.
Closed November 2010
341 on September 23
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