Why Are/Have You Filed BK?

[user33]

You cannot be a victim unless you give somebody permission to take advantage of you!

You got that right. Unfortunately, most victims blame others for their failures , they refused to accept that they themselves are responsible for whatever outcomes they are having in life.

[moe]

It's not the greatest poll.

Our excessive debt is the reason but the reason for the excessive debt are long periods of unemployment/underemployment!

[bebebroke]

I was engaged to this same man. He had absolutely nothing until he met and "fell" for me......Ruined my credit and is still trying to ruin my life....He walks away free of charge.

[tigergem]

I was engaged to this same man. He had absolutely nothing until he met and "fell" for me......Ruined my credit and is still trying to ruin my life....He walks away free of charge.

Sounds like a story for lovefraud.org

I have had one... or two... try that with me. And then concrete happened.

(JUST KIDDING!)

[AbbeyA]

DH had a small business that failed in early 2009. The business had 2 different business loans that dh personally guaranteed. With the business failure, there was no way the business debt could be repaid, it is a significant amount of money -- we filed ch. 7 We also had cc debt that had been slowly increasing over the years in spite of making the minimum payments on time until our attorney advised us to stop paying.

Small business owners -- don't EVER personally guarantee a business loan! We also had to sign our home as collateral for the loan, so the house is going too. Pathetic situation that needs to be over soon!

[Exployer1234]

I had a couple of reasons for filing BK. I lost my job when the company I was with closed. I now make 65% less then what I was making. I had 2 surgeries in a year and a half and no insurance. When I lost my job I lost my car, because I needed what little money I had for food and healthcare. I only had 5K in credit card debt total, but I had about 65-75K in medical and car loans. So needless to say I had to file BK.

[freeatlast98]

Being ripped off by ex

My reasons are:
1. January 08- refinanced home to give ex 150k in home equity prior to our divorce so he could purchase new home in Texas. We lived in California.
2. Divorced 9/08 from my then husband who said since we were both good people, we didn't need to involve an attorney. Anyway on the day we were divorced he left $605.33 in our only account.
3. We owned a telecommunications company which provided us a comfortable living for the past 23 years. Almost as soon as my ex left the company started failing because of the economy. I had to start using credit cards just to survive.
4. June 09- discovered ex had been taking money and stashing it for the past 10+ yrs. The total of that was over 247K. Hired an attorney to represent me and paid him over 18K on two credit cards. I had all the bank statements to prove the "ATM" withdrawals some months over 45 visits to
the ATM. Bottom line my case was dismissed "without" prejudice. I couldn't afford to file suit again. The case that had been worked on for over 5 months was dismissed without prejudice in less than 5 minutes. Lazy judge.
5. Business continues to have very little business.
6. I'm 59 years old and now have no health insurance and a daughter in college. Ex now lives in Texas with new wife which he married 10 days after the divorce. Oh by the way he doesn't work because new wife supports him and he has the cash he took.
Anyway these are the many reasons I'm in this financial position of having to file.

[LeelaSeville]

I haven't filed for bankruptcy yet, but I definitely plan on doing so. Every since my husband lost his job due to his condition, the medical bills have been piling up along with our credit card debt. We just can't take it anymore and it's just getting impossible to keep up! It has him and I both to the point of tears. I just want him to get better -- not have to worry about bills.

[freeatlast98]

I haven't filed for bankruptcy yet, but I definitely plan on doing so. Every since my husband lost his job due to his condition, the medical bills have been piling up along with our credit card debt. We just can't take it anymore and it's just getting impossible to keep up! It has him and I both to the point of tears. I just want him to get better -- not have to worry about bills.

I know how you feel. I have to believe all things happen for a reason and we'll all come out of this bad time. Hang in there and I'm sending you a hug. Just remember to breathe and get rest. You'll get through this and so will I.
We just have to have faith this will all work out. Take Care of yourself so you don't end up sick from all this. Try and focus on the good things in your life. That's what keeps me going.

[currerbell]

It's so hard to give a succinct synopsis of why I have to file. Effectively, I have made several "good, responsible" decisions when I first became a parent, made based on the information and stats available at the time (97% of grads have jobs making x $ on graduation! low-paying clerkships are good for your CV! etc), then was faced with tanking economy, made some risky decisions (use the credit cards - things will pick up!), had some medical issues, horrible work situation (effectively fired while pregnant), can't find work, some more medical fun, and, well, here we are.

Honestly, I think the last bout of medical fun was the eye-opener. My family matters more to me than being "successful," and my health is more important to my family than the negative income I am making while trying to work. And facing reality and accepting defeat - and stopping the financial bleeding - is more important than any pride I might have invested in not going bankrupt. The fact of the matter is that I *am* bankrupt and I have to do something about it.

Accrued debt aside, I am frugal and self-reliant. We live modestly and work our butts off. I am proud of my family. I know that filing (which I haven't done yet, see my post on 7 or 13) is the only solution.

[longhaul]

Loss of 1 income in 2-income household was the final breaking point. Before that, we were never late on any payments, but we lived beyond our means, and tried to help children when they needed money - which recently was a lot because of their lost jobs. We had been through several payoffs & charge ups of CC's, so we "sort of" managed our balances. With the 2 incomes we could always make the payments but they weren't much over the mins, and we weren't good savers - especially with "reserving" monies for maintenance on house, cars, etc.

[freakout]

I haven't filed yet as I'm not sure what to do...I'm in the research phase right now and am overwhelmed as to where to start - what to read, where to go for the best info.
I have been living in California and am finishing a divorce. Our home is now up for sale.
I'm unemployed and depressed, so unable to work currently.

My reasons for filing: credit card balances, taxes owed from 401-K cash-out and IRA cash-out.
I am earning no money at all and currently staying with my parents - outside of Ca.

[contest]

Filed chapter 7. I received my case number July 8. The main reason we filed was a wage garnishment, and two bank account levys by Beneficial, and when the second one also nullified a home loan mod, it just finally broke our backs.

We had been slowly bleeding for a couple of years, but I always kept thinking that things would get better, but they didn't. When I started looking into BK, I found that we were in way worse shape than I originally thought. After the second bank levy, and losing our loan mod, it was finally time to do what I should have done a year ago.

The stress, emotional turmoil, and everything these last couple of years has really had a big negative affect on my family, and it just has to stop. I have a wife and three children, ages 14, 12, and 8. We have had some health issues that only compounded other issues, but at least I stil have a job, and our marriage is strong.

[em96]

Fell behind on our mortgage. Now we face foreclosure. Also $40k in credit card debt, and not very good at saving $$.

[minan]

Owe IRS and State of CA taxes. IRS levied bank account and now have issued another levy already. Filing Chapter 13 so I can get automatic stay protection otherwise I'll never be catch up on the back taxes and payoff my unsecured debt within a short amount of time. One cc amount will take me over 10 years to pay back if I only pay the minimum. I'll be 52 years old and still paying.

If I didn't have the tax issues, I'd be able to pay more than minimum on the cc, however I can't do both.