more questions.....

[tofu4you2]

Thanks to everyone who has answered my bzillion questions. Here are a couple more. We may be able to sell our house soon. It may take a couple months. We have enough equity to pay off our house, $95 cc's and our cars. Things have been tight over the last few years, but the last 6 months everything went south in a hurry (interest rates, late fees, and overlimit fees). My question is if we do sell the house (and it needs to be soon- its been over 6 months since I last paid on cc's) can I go back to the original creditor? Most the the cc's have gone to collections. If I pay the original creditor (if I can) do the third party collections still hold the note (that they bought for pennies on the dollar) and can they come after me too?
I guess I am trying to avoid going chapter 13 (7 isn't an option because of income). The thought of being under a trustee's thumb for 5 years sounds horrible. I guess there just seems to be so many gray areas and it's really hard to find a lawyer you can trust.

I would really like to be able to do this on my own terms if possible.
I don't know how this will all shake out on my credit report if I can pay creditors in full.

Also does interest, late charges, and overlimit charges continue to accrue after cc's have been charged off to a third party collection agency.

Thanks in advance to answers to ALL these questions.

[CindyLou]

what state do you live in? is there a homestead exemption?

[Flamingo]

Thanks to everyone who has answered my bzillion questions. Here are a couple more. We may be able to sell our house soon. It may take a couple months. We have enough equity to pay off our house, $95 cc's and our cars. Things have been tight over the last few years, but the last 6 months everything went south in a hurry (interest rates, late fees, and overlimit fees). My question is if we do sell the house (and it needs to be soon- its been over 6 months since I last paid on cc's) can I go back to the original creditor? Most the the cc's have gone to collections. If I pay the original creditor (if I can) do the third party collections still hold the note (that they bought for pennies on the dollar) and can they come after me too?
I guess I am trying to avoid going chapter 13 (7 isn't an option because of income). The thought of being under a trustee's thumb for 5 years sounds horrible. I guess there just seems to be so many gray areas and it's really hard to find a lawyer you can trust.

I would really like to be able to do this on my own terms if possible.
I don't know how this will all shake out on my credit report if I can pay creditors in full.

Also does interest, late charges, and overlimit charges continue to accrue after cc's have been charged off to a third party collection agency.

Thanks in advance to answers to ALL these questions.

If you don't want to keep your house, there is no need to file Chapter 13 if you have enough equity to pay everything off. The question is, can you sell your house, in this economy, and be able to do that since house values are still falling? Chapter 13s are rough but if one wants to keep their house and get back to normal in one's financial house, it's the best way to go. It appears you have the income but are deluged with debt. There are excellent attorneys out there - all you have to do is pick up the phone and call your State Bar Assoc. for the top BK attorney's in your area. If you go with Joe Schmoe from Discount Legal, you get what you pay for.

Your credit report is already in shambles andn will be so for at least 7 years whether or not you file bankruptcy. Even if you pay them in full, your late payments occurred before that time and will be listed as such on your credit reports for that period of time - same with the chargeoffs.