It's been a long while, since October, that I posted anything lengthy, but I am going to do so now. I have finally filed, so I figure this is a good time for an update. I am going to give my background again, which I did back in October when I found this forum. I am so thankful for finding everyone here, too. I know others have said it, and I have said it, and I will say it again, but everyone here is great, and words cannot do this forum justice, so I will not try - at least not right now.
I am one of 'those people' that quite literally has made every single payment on my credit cards since I was 18. I do not exagerate when I say that. Every last payment has been made and always on time. I have never been late. Not once time. Still, my credit card debt was massive, close to $50,000. A vast majority of that was from my early to mid-20s when I spent, obviously, quite a bit going to Italy, Greece, and other places. Add to that some large purchases, and, well, I think everyone gets the idea.
Fast forward to late 20s, and I realized that I would be paying my debt back for the rest of my life. Even my parents recommended bankruptcy, and I can only guess how that made them feel. Nevertheless, I went on and made minimum payments every month for years. As a majority of us here, I had been living paycheck to paycheck for over a decade. Then September of 2010 something snapped in me. I took my car in for a regular servicing, expecting to simply use the debit card, and they come back saying I need all new brake pads. I did, of course; they were not lying. Some other stuff needed to be done, and that ran my total to over $600. At that exact moment I said to myself, "I'm done." Any progress I had made on any credit card was gone just like that. By 'progress' I mean nothing more than paying down a hundred dollars on one, twenty bucks on another, etc. Again, all of us know how that is.
It killed me to even think of bankruptcy. I did not know much about it, only a little here and there. Oddly, and this was the strangest thing, a co-worker and I were talking a week later, and he said he went through chapter 7 about a year ago. To say I asked him a billion questions may be an understatement. He probably wanted to smack me after days of questioning. Around that time, I found this forum, and poured over what I could. Most of the stuff posted here agreed with what he was telling me. I decided it was time to find an attorney, and I am *BIG* on word of mouth, and I soon found out another co-worker went through chapter 7 a few months back. Both of them used the same attorney, one who focuses on bankruptcy, so I researched him, and I went in.
Long story short, I went with him, and the first day I met with him, he, like everyone here, said to stop paying my credit cards immediatley. I would not be able to file for at least three months due to having just used the credit card for the car payment, groceries, etc. I also found out that day that I am below the median income for Florida, so I pass the means test automatically. Again, everything he said concured with what I had found out here. I was given a rather huge packet and asked to fill it all out, given a list of information needed (pay stubs, etc.), and was advised that my case would be extremely easy.
About me: I'm not married, and I have no children. I rent an apartment, so I do not have a house or anything of the sort, and all of my debt is credit card debt. I do have a car loan through USAA, and I was advised to keep paying on that. I also have nothing that is of any real value. An older TV and computer, etc. And again, I'm below the median income.
I won't go into detail on this, a search of my older posts will turn them up, but to say I was beyond nervous, scared, frightened, etc. to NOT make my first CC payment is a gross understatement. I was sick to my stomach. When that day came to make a payment, I nearly lost my dinner when the deadline came and left. The nerves were nearly destroying me. Looking back, I truly don't even think I slept that night. Attorney advised that the phone calls would start coming sooner or later and in most cases, probably sooner. I was advised to simply give them his name and number and volunteer nothing else.
Sure enough, within a week BOA began to call. For over a month and a half, I was not able to speak to any of the callers. I ALWAYS got a message or was asked to hold, etc. I would not do this, so I decided to answer maybe once every few days. I know the calls bug a lot of people, but the phone ringing, for me, is not that annoying. Nevertheless, after quite some time, I finally had a real live person on the other end, and after giving them the information (name and number of the lawyer), the calls stopped completely. All of the callers were, oddly, extremely nice and not once argued or tried to get anything out of me.
So late last month the final day came when I got the phone call to come in and sign the actual paperwork. I went in, and was quite surprised at how thick everything was. For those that do this on their own, and in much more complicated matters than I find myself in, my respect goes out to you. I read every single page and signed and dated where told to.
They filed for me on the fourth of this month (so about a week ago), and I now have my case number. I have not even looked at Pacer as of yet, so I will probably do so tomorrow (as I type this, it's 3:00am my time). When I signed my paperwork, I was again told that my case is one of the easiest there can be, and there should be zero issues. I was advised that my meeting with the trustee should last around three to five minutes, so I sincerely hope that is true.
I did ask him about my car. Told him I had continued to make my payments, and I did just make my payment right before I started this message. I was told that if they wish to reaffirm, they would contact his office. He asked who I had the loan with. I told him USAA, and he said he's never dealt with them before. To be blunt, the car issue is scary. I have one car, it's a 2004 Accord, and my loan is through the middle of next year. Is it possible I will wake up and the car will be gone? I would hope they would first call or do whatever else there is to do, but, again, that is very scary for me.
Anyway, that's that. I'm told to now take my pre-discharge course online, so I'll get to that in a few days. I want to truly thank every single person here, especially those that helped me from my first post up until now. I know my situation is not nearly as awful as some others here, but this was all new to me, and it has been a struggle from time to time. However, I will say this: it's amazing to have money. I can actually see a movie every so often, go out to eat once every couple of weeks, I've purchased better food, and I even managed to take a day long trip to St. Augustine, something I had been wanting to do since I moved to Florida at the end of high school. I never managed to do so, but now I actually was able to do so and pay for it with no credit card, and I still have money. True, I am not rich, not by any means (as I said, I'm below the median income), but to actually not have to wonder if I will have money for tooth paste or something as simple as that is almost indescriable.
So again, thank you to everyone here, and for those lurking, let me say this: it gets better. We're all here to help you, and when all is said and done for me, when all of this is over, I will still be around even if only to post messages of encouragement.
With that, I'm off to bed... finally filed, a long journey since that $600 servicing on my car that truly was the beginning of all of this.
I am one of 'those people' that quite literally has made every single payment on my credit cards since I was 18. I do not exagerate when I say that. Every last payment has been made and always on time. I have never been late. Not once time. Still, my credit card debt was massive, close to $50,000. A vast majority of that was from my early to mid-20s when I spent, obviously, quite a bit going to Italy, Greece, and other places. Add to that some large purchases, and, well, I think everyone gets the idea.
Fast forward to late 20s, and I realized that I would be paying my debt back for the rest of my life. Even my parents recommended bankruptcy, and I can only guess how that made them feel. Nevertheless, I went on and made minimum payments every month for years. As a majority of us here, I had been living paycheck to paycheck for over a decade. Then September of 2010 something snapped in me. I took my car in for a regular servicing, expecting to simply use the debit card, and they come back saying I need all new brake pads. I did, of course; they were not lying. Some other stuff needed to be done, and that ran my total to over $600. At that exact moment I said to myself, "I'm done." Any progress I had made on any credit card was gone just like that. By 'progress' I mean nothing more than paying down a hundred dollars on one, twenty bucks on another, etc. Again, all of us know how that is.
It killed me to even think of bankruptcy. I did not know much about it, only a little here and there. Oddly, and this was the strangest thing, a co-worker and I were talking a week later, and he said he went through chapter 7 about a year ago. To say I asked him a billion questions may be an understatement. He probably wanted to smack me after days of questioning. Around that time, I found this forum, and poured over what I could. Most of the stuff posted here agreed with what he was telling me. I decided it was time to find an attorney, and I am *BIG* on word of mouth, and I soon found out another co-worker went through chapter 7 a few months back. Both of them used the same attorney, one who focuses on bankruptcy, so I researched him, and I went in.
Long story short, I went with him, and the first day I met with him, he, like everyone here, said to stop paying my credit cards immediatley. I would not be able to file for at least three months due to having just used the credit card for the car payment, groceries, etc. I also found out that day that I am below the median income for Florida, so I pass the means test automatically. Again, everything he said concured with what I had found out here. I was given a rather huge packet and asked to fill it all out, given a list of information needed (pay stubs, etc.), and was advised that my case would be extremely easy.
About me: I'm not married, and I have no children. I rent an apartment, so I do not have a house or anything of the sort, and all of my debt is credit card debt. I do have a car loan through USAA, and I was advised to keep paying on that. I also have nothing that is of any real value. An older TV and computer, etc. And again, I'm below the median income.
I won't go into detail on this, a search of my older posts will turn them up, but to say I was beyond nervous, scared, frightened, etc. to NOT make my first CC payment is a gross understatement. I was sick to my stomach. When that day came to make a payment, I nearly lost my dinner when the deadline came and left. The nerves were nearly destroying me. Looking back, I truly don't even think I slept that night. Attorney advised that the phone calls would start coming sooner or later and in most cases, probably sooner. I was advised to simply give them his name and number and volunteer nothing else.
Sure enough, within a week BOA began to call. For over a month and a half, I was not able to speak to any of the callers. I ALWAYS got a message or was asked to hold, etc. I would not do this, so I decided to answer maybe once every few days. I know the calls bug a lot of people, but the phone ringing, for me, is not that annoying. Nevertheless, after quite some time, I finally had a real live person on the other end, and after giving them the information (name and number of the lawyer), the calls stopped completely. All of the callers were, oddly, extremely nice and not once argued or tried to get anything out of me.
So late last month the final day came when I got the phone call to come in and sign the actual paperwork. I went in, and was quite surprised at how thick everything was. For those that do this on their own, and in much more complicated matters than I find myself in, my respect goes out to you. I read every single page and signed and dated where told to.
They filed for me on the fourth of this month (so about a week ago), and I now have my case number. I have not even looked at Pacer as of yet, so I will probably do so tomorrow (as I type this, it's 3:00am my time). When I signed my paperwork, I was again told that my case is one of the easiest there can be, and there should be zero issues. I was advised that my meeting with the trustee should last around three to five minutes, so I sincerely hope that is true.
I did ask him about my car. Told him I had continued to make my payments, and I did just make my payment right before I started this message. I was told that if they wish to reaffirm, they would contact his office. He asked who I had the loan with. I told him USAA, and he said he's never dealt with them before. To be blunt, the car issue is scary. I have one car, it's a 2004 Accord, and my loan is through the middle of next year. Is it possible I will wake up and the car will be gone? I would hope they would first call or do whatever else there is to do, but, again, that is very scary for me.
Anyway, that's that. I'm told to now take my pre-discharge course online, so I'll get to that in a few days. I want to truly thank every single person here, especially those that helped me from my first post up until now. I know my situation is not nearly as awful as some others here, but this was all new to me, and it has been a struggle from time to time. However, I will say this: it's amazing to have money. I can actually see a movie every so often, go out to eat once every couple of weeks, I've purchased better food, and I even managed to take a day long trip to St. Augustine, something I had been wanting to do since I moved to Florida at the end of high school. I never managed to do so, but now I actually was able to do so and pay for it with no credit card, and I still have money. True, I am not rich, not by any means (as I said, I'm below the median income), but to actually not have to wonder if I will have money for tooth paste or something as simple as that is almost indescriable.
So again, thank you to everyone here, and for those lurking, let me say this: it gets better. We're all here to help you, and when all is said and done for me, when all of this is over, I will still be around even if only to post messages of encouragement.
With that, I'm off to bed... finally filed, a long journey since that $600 servicing on my car that truly was the beginning of all of this.
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