Why Are/Have You Filed BK?

[samantha625]

It was definitely cc debt that got us into trouble.
I applied for and received my own cc's for the first time in my life about 5 years ago. I had a good job at the time, didn't look ahead. Sure enough, the place I worked closed down. Other things came up, dh was out of work for 5 months, when we couldn't pay the minimum on any of our cards, of course our interest went WAY up, that's where I blame the cc company's, they did nothing to help our situation, just made it worse, then of course we ended up with late payment fees, and it just snowballed from there.
I did learn to never, ever count on what you don't have before you get it. I had counted on keeping my job to pay off my debt, never ever thought about what would happen.
Sigh.... when this is over, I'll never own another cc.

[bookwyrm]

Looking back ours was at least five years in the making with making poor financial decisions along the way, but thinking we were making the right decisions, or in some cases what we felt were our only choices at the time (i.e. using credit cards to pay for property taxes and auto and homeowner insurances when they occurred when we didn't have the cash money on hand at the time).

So in the last five years we have gone through:

Graduation from college with $22,000 in student loan debt.

The death of both of my in-laws because of cancer.

A couple of Hurricanes and tropical storms (with damage to our home as a result).
Job loss because of said Hurricanes and tropical storms because my husband was employed in beach condo construction work at time.

Meanwhile, we got behind on payments but eventually worked them out to become current again, even if we were only paying the minimums.

A move to another state with an all but "guaranteed" full time position with the Air National Guard at an excellent salary.

Upon arrival to said unit a week later for inprocessing only find out that the funding had been pulled for the position and that the Guard unit was leaving for Iraq in four months and my husband would have to go.

Scrambling for and not being able to find a full time job that would hire my huband knowing he would only be there for a couple of months before leaving for Iraq.

We had signed a rental agreement for a house for six months and knowing that my husband would be gone when the renewal came up we decided to extend the agreement for another six months only to be told that the owners would be moving back in to the house and didn't want to renew so we had to scamble to find another rental who would accept pets.

In the meantime, we were using credit cards to live off of and maxing them out. By the time my husband left for Iraq we were behind on payments, again, but I got them caught up while he was in Iraq.

Once he got back from Iraq, he had no trouble finding a job and I finally got a good full time job at the local University and life slowly became good again and we began to pay more to the creditors to pay the balances down a little at a time.

We bought a house and a year later decided to do a refinance that would allow us to pay off a couple of the credit cards, and pay almost all of the balances on a couple more but would still leave us with some equity in the house based on the appraisal.

About a month after we signed the papers, my brother-in-law and my husband got to talking about his job and how they had a lack of qualified (and quality) candidates for the city police department. My husband and I got to talking and realized that we were both miserable in Arkansas and we both wanted to be closer to our immediate families. So my husband applied for the job and was hired.

So off we went to move again to Alabama. But this time we had a savings to live off of until I found a job, which surely, we thought, wouldn't take long because I did have a stable, work background with excellent references. We also had credit cards we could use...

That's when the house of cards finally started to collapse for us. It took me 7 months just to find a job as a waitress (good use of my college degree, huh?). I finally have a part time job with the county now... as a result of my not having a salary it became increasingly harder to rob peter to pay paul.

The house the realtor assured us they would have no problem selling since it was at an excellent price for the neighborhood (priced well below the appraised value). Needless to say didn't sell, apparently the bottom fell out of the real estate market after we left and no one was buying anything (the realtor didn't even sell one piece of property for several months). It became impossible to make rent and mortgage payment and the mortgage company didn't want to work with us. The realtor even came up with some options to try and at least stay afloat with the mortgage payment, like renting, until the market came back and we could sell the property, but no dice with the mortgage company. One option the realtor presented was someone who wanted to do an owner finance, they wanted to put $10,000 down and make payments that would be just a little over our monthly mortgage payment for one year to allow them time to qualify for a mortgage in a year. We got excited and presented this to our morgage company and they turned it down flat. We finally decided out of frustration to just let them have the house if they thought they could do a better job in selling it than we did.

I snicker at them when I realize that they haven't been able to sell it either. They've had a Sheriff's sale and three auctions and still haven't been able to sell it.

We had a small alluminum bass boat that we also finally told the bank to come and get. I will say they really tried to work us though and even when we called them to come and get it they still tried to work with us.

It was after the boat repo and the house foreclosure that I started thinking about bankruptcy when I realized that they could still come after us for any deficiency amounts.

In the last couple of months we have quit paying on anything we intend to have discharged and have turned the ringer off on the phone so we don't have to hear it throughout the day.

We have our signing appointment tomorrow with our attorney and, hopefully, things will go somewhat smoothly from here on...

[blackmopar]

very bad mortgage loan/gamble on housing market and large amount of credit card debt as a result

[LittleDoe]

combination of factors, like so many of us

I had a very good job so plenty of money and that's when I was given four credit cards, Discover and three MCs. Lost that job (office was eventually closed); had another job that didn't pay half as much, but was laid off from that one, too. (Only two jobs I've ever lost, btw.) Since then have been self-employed.

Sister got sick (cancer) and was paralyzed/bedridden for about a year before she passed away. I didn't work very well during that time; I used to get phone calls from her--when was I coming over? She couldn't reach her husband, could I see if I could? She wanted out of the convalescent facility, could I call her doctor for her? I went over every other day at least and fed her dinner--about the time I realized she could feed herself and just wanted to make sure she had company/attention, she stopped eating and I would have given anything if I could have fed her. In addition to losing her, in the past five years or so I've lost three other friends to cancer.

So . . . had a mortgage so sold my house to move somewhere cheaper, paid off mortgage and bought house outright. Time for a new start . . . nine months in the new house and then the flood; spent 11 months in a FEMA trailer (not fun in upstate NY in the winter). Yes, I did get aid from FEMA and the state and some other agencies, but I also had a ton of expenses because of this. Like the $400 electric bill one month for running the air conditioner and a dehumidifier full time to try to dry the house out. And replacing the tank of heating oil I lost (not to mention the tank itself).

When it got to be a choice between paying the credit cards and getting my walls/floors/cabinets/furniture/furnace/water heater/electrical box replaced, what decision do you suppose I made?

I'm good at cutting corners and getting creative with whatever is left in the fridge and pantry and doing without entertainment (can't remember the last time I went to a movie theater), but it has become clear that I can make enough to pay basic expenses but I was never, never, never ever going to get caught up with the credit cards. And so I've just filed Chapter 13 and realized I can't go to my family reunion in two months and I'm freaking about the fact that I have an 11-year-old car and I doubt it will last through five years of the plan. Yes, I know people can buy another car in Chapter 13, but it just sounds like another huge struggle to be able to do that and I'm so, so, so tired of struggling already. But giving up is not an option, either.

Good luck to everyone.

[jpdude]

psychological reasons played a role, in my case...

My wife of 10 years left me in 2001...we had 2 houses (one was a rental), 3 cars and all the trappings..including positive net worth.

7 years later I am renting a very modest home (2BR, 25-yr old TH), have over $140K in credit card debt, and a zero balance in my savings and 401K accounts. And have earned a steady income during the whole time period.

?? What the heck happened ??

My reaction to the loss of my marriage was to overspend to make me feel better...not just a little, but fanatically. I got INTENSE gratification from going to Macy's at lunch and spending $500 on some clothes (most of which I would never wear). Any woman I happened to be dating was sure to receive MANY gifts. Leaving a $20 tip on a $25 lunch bill gave me a thrill I never before needed. Real big man.

And isn't it my right to drive a $50,000 car?

When finally (after a couple of slow payments about a year ago) all of the CC companies jacked my rates from 7.5, 9.9 and 11.9 to 29.99, 31.49, etc.) my minimum payments went from $1500/mo to $3300/mo. I finally was forced to address the issue.

When I tried to figure out what I had done with the money, I was distraught---other than some nice clothes and some memories of good meals I couldn't recall where it had all gone!!

Started causing major depression, so my doctor referred me to a psychiatrist, where I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar 2 (similar to Bi-Polar 1 but less dramatic), have been taking 600mg of Lithium daily and seeing a shrink 2x a month--also, some Debtor's Anonymous classes every other month or so. It is all working really well, except for the utter humiliation that the past few years have left me with.

[jtamay3]

I've heard this too...

Similar story, utilized credit to afford court awarded alimony and child support, as ex-wife pleaded with the court for add'l funds so that she could return/finish college so as to support our two children as a single mother. Court so awarded it.

Two weeks after divorce final, she remarried a fairly wealthy friend of mine, which happened to be her boss. Rec'd her degree, and then decided she didn't want to work full time, using our/his children as the reason.

After my son's Christmas visit, she decided I had become too successful and filed for a modification to child support.

Despite the evidence provided, courts allowed her an increase in child support and granted her my son's tax exemption.

In order to keep my house and vehicle I am more or less forced to clean my debts to afford this new order and subsequently, the accumulated attorney fees..

Thx for allowing me to vent..

Stuff like that would make me not want to get married.

[No Gravy]

I had a very good job so plenty of money and that's when I was given four credit cards, Discover and three MCs. Lost that job (office was eventually closed); had another job that didn't pay half as much, but was laid off from that one, too. (Only two jobs I've ever lost, btw.) Since then have been self-employed.

Sister got sick (cancer) and was paralyzed/bedridden for about a year before she passed away. I didn't work very well during that time; I used to get phone calls from her--when was I coming over? She couldn't reach her husband, could I see if I could? She wanted out of the convalescent facility, could I call her doctor for her? I went over every other day at least and fed her dinner--about the time I realized she could feed herself and just wanted to make sure she had company/attention, she stopped eating and I would have given anything if I could have fed her. In addition to losing her, in the past five years or so I've lost three other friends to cancer.

So . . . had a mortgage so sold my house to move somewhere cheaper, paid off mortgage and bought house outright. Time for a new start . . . nine months in the new house and then the flood; spent 11 months in a FEMA trailer (not fun in upstate NY in the winter). Yes, I did get aid from FEMA and the state and some other agencies, but I also had a ton of expenses because of this. Like the $400 electric bill one month for running the air conditioner and a dehumidifier full time to try to dry the house out. And replacing the tank of heating oil I lost (not to mention the tank itself).

When it got to be a choice between paying the credit cards and getting my walls/floors/cabinets/furniture/furnace/water heater/electrical box replaced, what decision do you suppose I made?

I'm good at cutting corners and getting creative with whatever is left in the fridge and pantry and doing without entertainment (can't remember the last time I went to a movie theater), but it has become clear that I can make enough to pay basic expenses but I was never, never, never ever going to get caught up with the credit cards. And so I've just filed Chapter 13 and realized I can't go to my family reunion in two months and I'm freaking about the fact that I have an 11-year-old car and I doubt it will last through five years of the plan. Yes, I know people can buy another car in Chapter 13, but it just sounds like another huge struggle to be able to do that and I'm so, so, so tired of struggling already. But giving up is not an option, either.

Good luck to everyone.

Wow. So many parts of your story I relate to, and others I can't even imagine how you got through it. I can really relate to being tired of struggling. Amen to that!

I'm glad you're here.

[Reddrocket07]

Eh my wife and I are considering filing Bankruptcy for a number of reasons, but mainly because of credit card debt.

I was married once before and accumilated some debt from that marriage, like $6,000 worth. On top of that, I used my credit card to survive when I couldnt find a job after college, which was a HUGE mistake. My current wife and I rushed into buying a house and our economic hardship deferrment period on our student loans ends in december. As of right now, we have..

$130,000 Mortgage
$86,614 in Student Loans
$56,993 in unsecured debt including car loan.

My wife and I spoke to a lawyer once before, but we do not qualify for Chp.7 because we fail the means test. We make about $1600 about the median income poverty line.

With the housing market the way it is, we would never be able to sell the house and the only job I have been able to find is over an hour away from where I live. I spend about $400.00 in fuel a month.

It is just frustrating that we live paycheck to paycheck, we have no savings, cant afford to have children, and we cant afford new clothes for work.

Tomorrow is our appointment with the lawyer, I am dreading what they will say about how much it will cost to file bankruptcy!

[kileyj]

My husband is filing, I am not. And I hope to never have to. Fingers crossed.

I married into some of the debt. Husbands student loans (not 'student' but borrowed for school) are $75,000.

Then there's about $150,000 of other debt. My husband started a business, did well with it but he did too much too soon. Then the rest is credit card debt - living outside our means, he bought a nice car, we were eating out A LOT, etc. MY share is about $35k worth and I am working on knocking that out. My husband has a spending problem and now that he has admitted it and is seeking help for that, things are getting a lot better with other aspects of our lives, most importantly our marriage.

Can't wait to see positive numbers on our credit report!

[blftx]

Lost job,ex and a nasty mortgage company who im not finished with yet. Got behind on my mortgage payments. Mortgage company says I have no rights,loans in ex's name and "I only signed the deed of trust." So they wouldnt let me do a forebearance,or modification without ex's signature. Ex wanted them to take the house and foreclose. So I wasnt allowed to modify the loan but when it came time to foreclose they held me just as liable and was foreclosing on me too.I filed bankruptcy 2 days before the foreclosure sale......Im not thru with the mortgage company yet.....Since I didnt get the paperwork on the house in the divorce im researching. I found the deed of trust online and on every paper I initialled and signed as "borrower". This companys so nasty(along with ex) that they refused to send me statements,tell me where they were going. They we're late on my insurance and taxes after bankruptcy and refused to talk to me.Even tho ex gave permission and i've spoke to them for the last 5yrs now they,"dont have permission to speak to me." I also filed the quit claim deed from ex. Researching seems Ever*Home is notorious for nastiness............but again,im not thru with them.

[subxisting]

Credit

I haven't filed yet just in the process, but my husband told me the day after we got married that he was $80,000 alone in credit card debt

[stargazer]

I don't yet know about filing, but mine was due to everything but divorce.

I had about 30K I had to take out for necessary surgery. I couldn't do that except through student loans -- they were more than happy to throw that money at me, and I was desperate. I robbed Peter to pay Paul alot. Actually, I tend to refer to it as "robbing the mob to pay grandma" because I borrowed from the WORST possible place to pay off the debts of least concern. And I'm having to do it again with using tax money to fund emergencies so I can still pay credit cards -- it's all just to a FAR lesser extent. Yes, I've learned my lesson but when you have an aching cavity or two, you will fork over any cash you have to get better.

Anyway, the credit card debt has been on-going for 6 years. Moving to a new state, job losses, pay cuts, school costs, surprise costs, emergencies, bad planning and budgeting, basic youthful stupidity, ignorance, medical costs because of a lack of insurance combined with ongoing health issues, untreated Bipolar disorder,... it all tends to blur together into this one giant wrench that wrecks your financial vehicle. I don't even know anymore what all constituted for 65K. I do know the least of it was simply living above our means. But we did that too, especially when I was unmedicated and I'm incredibly "persuasive" with my partner when manic.

For those who have relationship issues, I'd like to offer a little consolation because BK doesn't always have to mean the ruins to a relationship too. Yes, the stress doesn't help the relationship and we are not perfect. But in the face of this kind of stuff, we always ultimately wind up strengthening our bond. We've been through alot of hell together, and as long as we're together, we can deal with it. We are each others strength. I don't think either of us would have been able to get through this alone -- although I feel if it weren't for me, this would have never been a problem.

[biggomez777]

Let's see. I'm 25. I got my first credit card at 20. By the time I was 22 I had $20,000 in credit, most of which I hadn't used. Bought a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have bought, my wife was unemployed for a spell, and that slowly jacked my balances near $22,000(had 30k in credit at this point). THEN the medical stuff hit. I had 4 surgeries in 2 years, one suicide attempt(bipolar), and ALL of the medical bills associated with all of that shit. Even with insurance my pills were running $300/month, plus doctors at $300/month, and we(me and DW) didn't have enough to pay for it. So onto the CC's it went. Didn't even think about it. We came to a point where I looked at all of our balances and went "shit, we're out of credit, how did that happen" and it took 2 weeks to go from "la-de-da, everything is fine" to "we need to declare BK, now." Another month to find a good lawyer. And here we are now.

[jas256]

What to do?

Hello all! I'm brand new to this forum and find it comforting. Here's my story: I have a very good job and make a very comfortable income. The problem is not with me - it's with my wife. I only have my mortgage and school loan for debt and make well into 6 figures.

My wife has about 35K in consumer debt that she cannot seem to get ahead of. I have already bailed her out NUMEROUS times and figured I have spent about 80K of my own money to help her out in the past 3 years! I didn't mind doing it at first, as long as she was able to start fresh. However, every time I paid off her credit cards, she would rack a couple thousand on each of them and be right back to where we were before. After doing this over and over, I have had it. It's really to a point where it's affecting our marriage. I have never, and never will share accounts. I'm tired of living poor because she can't manage her money! My name is not on any of her credit cards, debt and her name is not on our house or cars.

She is so overwhelmed that she wants to consider BK. Iowa is not a community property state, but an equitable distribution state. My question: If she files for BK, and my name is not on any of her debt, will I be responsible for any of it?

[momof3inSD]

I am new here, so any advice would work. Heres my story; We were living in Iowa we then moved to SD and put our house on the market not a bite so we are making a house payment and a rent payment.(we have had our house on the market since april of last year) We also have a contract for the house we are renting that we buy it when our other house sells, but we did look at the contract and it says we will lease this premise until we are able to purchase it. Well we won't be able to if we file if, it goes that way. Just recently we started talking about the B word we were living off my hubbys 401k and well now its credit cards he took a few cash advances a few months ago to try to get some sort of cushion but it didn't work. I have a daycare and my daycare kids eat better than us. By the time we pay all of our bills we have between 250 and 300 left thats for groceries gas and ect for the month.My hubby is on his way for jury duty so we have to see how that goes today, so hopefully we can get an appt with an attorney next week. It just kills me not knowing if we would even qualify or how any of this works. Sorry for babbaling it just makes me sick. It's like how did we get here and so quickly? Thanks for reading this.