My personal struggle with morality, pride and shame...

[CorkScrewIt]

The sooner you stop paying on your unsecured debt, the sooner you'll have the money for your attorney. Said another way, keep current on your car(s) and mortgage(s), and stop paying everything else.

I have never missed a payment on the house or car and will continue to keep that up. As a matter of fact, we have five more payments on the one car we are paying for. The other car is completely paid for and old (but still runs well).

I still don't have any idea how I can stop the payment of the auto-pay for that consolidation loan. I assume a lawyer could figure that out in the process. I would prefer to NOT open a new account and leave the one they try to pull from empty and/or closed.

[justbroke]

At our location, Pokemon Go is actually used as an exercise tool. It gets people out of the building(s) and walking around. So it does have a therapeutic affect by getting people up and active.

[CorkScrewIt]

At our location, Pokemon Go is actually used as an exercise tool. It gets people out of the building(s) and walking around. So it does have a therapeutic affect by getting people up and active.

It plays a multi-facet role for me. I sometimes wonder if I would have gambled my way out of debt (like I have done a bunch of times with gambling debt) if I didn't start playing PoGo. However this is a question I will never have an answer to as I have zero interest in placing a bet ever again. If I had to make a guess, though, I have a strong inclination that I would have.

[shipo]

I have never missed a payment on the house or car and will continue to keep that up. As a matter of fact, we have five more payments on the one car we are paying for. The other car is completely paid for and old (but still runs well).

Hmmm, cars are definitely an issue in a 5-year Chapter 13; I entered mine with an old, but well maintained and very serviceable car, in spite of my attorney's advice to buy a new car before filing. That decision came back to bite me in the hind-parts; in my fourth year of my bankruptcy I needed to wipe out my meager savings plus gut my food budget for a month to buy a new(er) car. Had I followed her advice, I would have bought something uninspired like a Corolla, then had it financed through the bankruptcy as a secured loan; the net result of which is I wouldn't have had the gut-check in year four, and I would have come out of my bankruptcy with a paid-off asset worth over $10,000.

My bet is your attorney will instruct you to trade your cars in now before you file.

[CorkScrewIt]

Hmmm, cars are definitely an issue in a 5-year Chapter 13; I entered mine with an old, but well maintained and very serviceable car, in spite of my attorney's advice to buy a new car before filing. That decision came back to bite me in the hind-parts; in my fourth year of my bankruptcy I needed to wipe out my meager savings plus gut my food budget for a month to buy a new(er) car. Had I followed her advice, I would have bought something uninspired like a Corolla, then had it financed through the bankruptcy as a secured loan; the net result of which is I wouldn't have had the gut-check in year four, and I would have come out of my bankruptcy with a paid-off asset worth over $10,000.

My bet is your attorney will instruct you to trade your cars in now before you file.

Really?

My mind is boggled right now. How would I buy a car with this credit situation anyway? I have to tell you, I am more than confused with such advice. I am sure a lawyer would explain it but "what the what"?

Don't get me wrong, I get the paid-off "asset" piece but I don't get the rest.

Furthermore, the paid off vehicle is in my wife's name. She is the technical owner. The other, with five months left, is mine. Does this change the scenario?

[Carmella]

flashoflight explained the Dave Ramsey scenario well. I was thinking that, but just blurted out his method wouldn't work. I do think he has some great strategies, but at this point making the move to BK can be the best solution and I understand wanting to pay the creditors back because you always thought you would be able to do that, at least that is how I felt. But I have no guilt about that since we are in 100% payback (even if not all creditors have claimed their money back, that's their call).

Bankruptcy is public record, but it's not that easy for the average person to find out. When we filed we got junk mail from lawyers and to buy cars and maybe few others. Bankruptcies are listed on a site called PACER and you can search for cases by name or case number. But the average person is never even going to know that site exists, let alone read it. I am glad it's low key. There's enough stigma to deal with from our own feelings. People don't discuss it, don't talk about it.

As for Pokemon Go, sounds like a good hobby. My young adult daughter's boyfriend got her started on it. They were showing me and she asked if I wanted to do it, then she said "no you don't want to do this because you won't want to stop."

The attorney can probably tell you what the best way to handle the consolidation loan and stop the automatic payments. If you go into Chapter 7 I think it's recommended to open a new account and even if you go into Chapter 13 it might be recommended if you have an account in a bank where you also are a debtor, this might depend on your state.

There's lots of great comments/info here. Please update when you see attorneys and let us know what they recommend.

And remember, as you may have read, if you negotiate with credit card companies or collection agencies there is no guarantee they are going to make a deal with you.

[flashoflight]

Really?

My mind is boggled right now. How would I buy a car with this credit situation anyway? I have to tell you, I am more than confused with such advice. I am sure a lawyer would explain it but "what the what"?

Don't get me wrong, I get the paid-off "asset" piece but I don't get the rest.

Furthermore, the paid off vehicle is in my wife's name. She is the technical owner. The other, with five months left, is mine. Does this change the scenario?

I know someone who knew chapter 13 bankruptcy was inevitable before his first missed payment aged beyond 30 days. He had already canceled all autopays on his credit cards so the plan was already in motion. Next step was dealing with the car problem. He went to a car dealership to get an auto loan. The lender only saw the maxed out cards but the credit card company did not post the late payment yet in the credit report. The interest rate was quite high at 15%, but in a chapter 13 situation it makes sense if there is a new car warranty still on it and you finance the MANUFACTURER'S (not 3rd party) extended warranty into the loan. His other car was paid off so the lawyer figured the trustee won't object to the super high payment. In a chapter 13, the budget amount allowed for a vehicle is much higher on a financed car and the car needs to survive the 5-year chapter 13 so that warranty will help a lot.

Other than this narrow exception for a 13, I would follow Dave and never, ever buy a financed car again. With your income level, you sound like a candidate for a 7. You probably don't have any disposable income for a 13.

[flashoflight]

The most foolproof way to stop the consolidation loan autopay is close out your account with a zero balance and move elsewhere. I would not trust any debt collector to stop the autopay. Moving the billpay isn't that hard because you're not moving the credit card companies over. You'll want to get a PDF copy of all bank statements before you close the account. If you owe your current bank on any unsecured debt, you'll want to move checking accounts anyway as a precaution since they could offset the funds when you file bankruptcy. Usually you tell the work's direct deposit to go to the new account and once the direct deposit and your debit card shows up, you can proceed with account closure.

[CorkScrewIt]

Geez! This seems like it was so, so long ago.

So I was sitting at home this morning and I decided to clean up a few of my E-Mail accounts and I am glad I did. For the life of me, I couldn't remember which website I came to when I felt so desperate and dull. I thought it was here and did visit the forum a few times but I couldn't remember which username I used. Well that was until I found a message deep in the inbox of an account that I rarely ever use.

First, and foremost, I want to send a very, very overdue THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY THAT PARTICIPATES AND INTERJECTS THEIR THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS in here!

Second, I spoke to one of my old baseball teammates who is a lawyer here in Central Florida. He directed me to the most amazing lawyer. She was so compassionate, understanding but, most importantly, very, very straightforward. After she ran the numbers it was determined that I was not going to be able to declare Chapter 7 until my wife's small inheritance, that she receives annually, fell out of a six month window. Sure enough, once that time passed she called me in and we were able to begin the process.

Third, "my personal struggle with morality, pride and shame" came to a halt following my conversations with my lawyer. It was mentioned above, a few times, that a good lawyer (or for that matter, just about any lawyer in this field) has seen it all. I believe this to be true but when in the moment we just don't think that there is anybody out there that won't be judgmental. A good lawyer really makes a humongous difference in all facets of life when facing these trials and tribulations.

Fourth, I began the process only two weeks after posting in here of which this forum gave me the gumption to do so. The only obstacle outside of the inheritance money (since we file jointly) was a vehicle that was already paid in full. Being that we wanted to keep the car, many of you know, we had to pay the court to keep it. Thankfully this came at the early stages of these crazy used car prices we are seeing today. Anyway... All-in-all, after waiting for the six month window (mentioned above) we officially filed Chapter 7 in August of 2021. After dealing with a couple small requests from the lawyer and the judge I sat for my hearing via Zoom in October 2021. It took about ten minutes. It was much more mellow and conversational than I anticipated too. Afterwards one more thing was needed from the judge, a vehicle payoff of $2,250. (We ended up paying a higher price than was anticipated due to the monthly increase determined by the J.D. Power & Associates appraisal but it was way better than having to buy another vehicle.) After hand-delivering the check to my lawyer she told me that she expected a smooth discharge sometime around Thanksgiving or early December.

Lastly, I walked out to the mailbox on Thursday, September 2nd and there it was an envelope from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Florida. It didn't exactly feel like relief but it did feel good knowing everything was official. Due to having "assets" involved the case is still open but as far as I am concerned everything is final.

Now I sit with a low credit score (still less than 600) but I haven't attempted to change it in anyway. I have recently left my position from the time that this post was originally authored for a job that put me back into the range of $135k. Life is getting brighter and brighter each day.

So... ONE LAST TIME... THANK YOU ALL! AND IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A FINANCIAL SITUATION LIKE I DID (OR SO MANY OTHERS IN HERE) TAKE A FEW DEEP BREATHS AND READ/LISTEN TO EVERYBODY'S EXPERIENCES FROM THIS GROUP. IT MAY NOT SEEM ALL THAT VALUABLE AT THE TIME BUT I ASSURE YOU IT IS!

P.S. I hope this flows well as I feel like all I have done is ramble but, unfortunately, I don't have time to go back and proof-read at the moment. Sorry if it is choppy.

[CorkScrewIt]

Woops. That should have been Thursday, December 2nd.

Thank you for reading Shipo and Carmella.

[shipo]

Thanks for the update CorkScrewIt! Congratulations on your new financial freedom.

[Carmella]

Congrats!! Thanks for the update it’s great hearing how people are doing during and after the BK journey!

[CorkScrewIt]

Thank you for reading Shipo and Carmella.