Question 13 or 7 Which is better And suggestions if any

[Ra7eN]

short version (hopefully).
Had several CC that were collecting dust. Some had balances some little and other larger (nothing more than $1,200 each).

I got a loan a few years ago, and cleared out all the CC's and any other misc straggler bills I had so I would just pay the loan and my basic rent/utilities and other misc things around the home. CCU was floating around 27% - 33%, score would hover around 700+. IRS starting knocking on my door due to some marital issues and my request to set up a plan with them since I was ahead

Things were fine until I had to move. Cost me everything I had to get moved to a cheaper apartment. Yes, had to literally max all my CC's, and on top of that to boot, the truck coincidentally the same week, needed $2k of front end work, had to get a shop CC to cover most of it. Total expenditures around $8k to move and repair the truck (not fully either)

So NOW I have over $20k - $30k in maxed out CC's and my loan co., and around $22k from IRS. I cannot keep up with the bills from the neither, still making the basic payments, and trying to make some payments to IRS to keep them at bay. It is now a 3 steps back and 1 step forward. Walls are closing in! I just do not have the income to cover what is coming in. And my company may be downsizing, so income may be an issue, but that is abour 4-6 months down the road (at the time of this writing).

I called my bank to see if they would give me a bump in my loan, I have excellent payment history - but no joy. I called another debt consolidation, same story with BOTH of them (and one other), credit is bad (540 climbing a little 1pt at a time), CCU is over 80%, debt to income is no good.

All of this confuses me, because If i have just one bill again, refinance what the current loan is, it would fix the CCU score and debt to income and I would be back at square one, and the loan co. would have basically gave me a loan again on top of what i already have (yes that second loan would fit fine under my current income).

Other than the IRS coming up on me (keep in mind, once my credit was building from above, I contacted IRS to start working on them, my good intentions seem to be backfiring now)

THEY ARE FAILING ME ON WHAT I AM TRYING TO FIX!*

As a result, the only option I have is BK. I am not sure if 7 or 13 would work. And then the other issue on top of this, most ATTY want around $1,800+ While most say I can make payments, it wont get filed until the final payment.

So really need some advice. I do not think this is rare situation, and I hope I made it pretty detailed to cover any questions.

Thank you for taking time to read this and make any suggestions.



*digress: I personally do not believe companies like insurance, all utilities, cellphones and EXISTING relationships with loan/banks should require a credit check. If I have an excellent payment history with the bank, that should be all they need. Not their problem if I don't pay Joe Blow or hospital, that is between me and them, my rep with the bank/loan is clean. The rest mentioned above? If you don't pay, they can just turn off your service (IMHO)

[Backagain]

Generally the decision centers around if you can qualify for a chapter 7. If your income is too high, you cannot file chapter 7. Then, the next decision point is, if you have assets you want to protect and would a chapter 7 let you protect the assets you want to keep. That is a matter of research into what your filing state provides in exemptions and deciding if that if enough for you.

maybe start a research project …start by reading everything you can at nolo press. No one here can answer most of those questions for you.

[Ra7eN]

OK, thanks for the tip. I'll keep feeding the search engines

[justbroke]

There is actually a reason to file Chapter 13. In fact, the purpose of a Chapter 13 is Reorganization of the Debtor. That allows a debtor to cure past due payments in order to keep / protect property. A person would file a Chapter 13, as I did, specifically to stave off foreclosure of a home or even repossession of a vehicle (less likely for vehicle). A Chapter 13, though, could be "forced" on a would-be Chapter 7 filer if they can "afford" to pay their creditors something over the life of the Chapter 13.

So, the bottom line is, first, whether or not you're trying to save important property such as a home. if you are, then only the Chapter 13 will help you achieve that outcome. If you're just trying to shed debt and everything is up to date with your home/vehicle, then a Chapter 7 is the better option.