Holding of on BK

[centroid]

I have about $45k in unsecured debt from my business. I can't file for BK just yet due to some property transfers a year ago. So I need to wait. I'm looking for some strategies to deal with that debt in the mean time. I'm married and have a home equity loan with both my wife and my name on it. Its for $45k. My BK plan was not to deal with the home equity loan since its under both of our names. We both would have to file in order to fix it. I just want to deal with mine only for now.

One idea is to find a bank that can give me a term loan. I'm not sure if its possible yet but I'm looking into it. If I do get it, then the bank would be third to the home (second is home equity, third will be the business loan) My questions are:

- Is this a good idea?

- Would my debt be tied to the house, hence to my wife and not allow me to file without her ?

[centroid]

Oops, I meant "Holding Off on BK"

[tcreegan]

Hi centroid,

Not sure I can help much, but your post looked so lonely out here....

Suggestion: while waiting, research consumer vs non-consumer Ch 7 BK w/ the business debts it might give you an option

More info: How much equity is in the house past the 1st mortgage? Unless there is something worth going after, the 2nd won't foreclose. And after discharge you can negotiate a settlement, seen those going around 4-10% (this also solves the joint debt issue)

Clarify: "tied to the house" sounds like using home equity as collateral...is there equity past 1st and 2nd to secure the bank loan? And if the bank loan is to pay off the business debt, that would be robbing Peter to pay Paul....and Peter might not view that too kindly when you file BK.

Well, hope some of this helps somehow,

Tom in Colo

[biotechsolution]

You do realize that property transfered can be looked at well past 1 year if the trustee suspects fraud.
Keep that in mind.

[centroid]

tom- there might be about 20k equity in the 1st. So that's not good. The 2nd would go after that equity.

As far as the transfer, I'm going to get some info from an atty. The property was gift to me year ago, I gained no monetary benefit from it. Meaning I didn't rent it or sell it or took a loan from it. I didn't put any money into it and didn't take any money out of it. Then I quit claim it to my brother. I don't know if that makes a difference. I know the look back time might be 2 years for a normal transaction and I heard it can be up to 4-5 years if its fishy.

[AngelinaCatHub]

tom- there might be about 20k equity in the 1st. So that's not good. The 2nd would go after that equity.

As far as the transfer, I'm going to get some info from an atty. The property was gift to me year ago, I gained no monetary benefit from it. Meaning I didn't rent it or sell it or took a loan from it. I didn't put any money into it and didn't take any money out of it. Then I quit claim it to my brother. I don't know if that makes a difference. I know the look back time might be 2 years for a normal transaction and I heard it can be up to 4-5 years if its fishy.

Very good understanding. However, you also mentioned taking out a loan to cover bad debt. That is a very big red flag unless you immediately reaffirm it in bk. To make a loan to satisfy other loans, would be fraud if you attempted to get the last loan discharged. It would be constructive bk and would flag an audit probability. My two cents. 'Hub