How much are you in debt?

[debter08]

I don't know if I can ask this, but I was just curious how much credit card debt people are in or were in. I mean personal debt not for a business. I guess I just need to know there are other people like us so I don't feel as bad as I do.
We are about 55K in personal debt 45K is unsecured the other 10K is our car which we need to keep. My DH makes about 50K a year. Is this soo bad or is there anyone else in this deep?

[lrprn]

Truthfully there have been many members here with far more debt than yours. Our personal unsecured debt when we filed was over $80,000. We've had many members with personal unsecured debts over $100,000 and were still able to file Ch 7 and discharge it all.

When filing bankruptcy, the amount of debt isn't the only thing that matters. It's how the total amount of secured and unsecured debt plus living expenses compares to total income that really makes the difference when filing.

For example, I could make $75,000/yr and file with your $45K unsecured debt amount - I'd likely be in Ch 13. But if I make $50,000/yr and have your $45K unsecured debt, with a good lawyer to help me set trustee-acceptable expense figures when I file, I'm likely in Ch 7. So knowing how much debt folks have when they file isn't a good indicator of what will happen in your case if you file.

[keepmine]

Yep, you're behind the curve. I discharged $71K in cc debt with a salary of $30K at the time I filed.

[Flamingo]

Most people are in the situation you are and don't realize how much debt they are in until something bad happens like a job loss or medical situation which brings them back to reality and they add up the amounts they owe and can't believe it. It's the typical American way of using credit to purchase everything and it getting out of hand and also living beyond one's means. Someone did a thread several months ago where everyone responsding totaled their debts listed in BK and ranged from under $50,000 to the millions. Debt causes bankruptcy; there is no reason to feel bad about it but you know something has to be done about it and you will learn from the process and hopefully learn how not to get yourself back in the situation that got you where you are now. Most Americans have had a big wake up call with all the job losses and loss of income taking place and the amount of the bills they have...

[Trixie007]

177.5k in cc debt as of December, and rising every month by over 3k! Won't be filing until some time between April and July, so I expect it to be around 190-200k by the time we file. Then add 170k plus of newly unsecured second mortgages after the foreclosures are done... We currently have about 740k in first mortgages that are being foreclosed on (two homes). Current income is about 78k per year - down a LOT from previous years.

[HHM]

Yeah, I don't like this type of question because the total debt is irrelevant.

I generally recommend using a metric of Unsecured Debt to Gross Annual Income. Thus, if your unsecured debt is 35-40% or more of your gross annual income and you have typical assets, then you are a BK candidate.

With that ratio of debt, you simply cannot service that debt, achieve long term financial goals, and pay your living expenses.

Thus, if you make $50,000 per year gross, and you have $20,000 in credit card debt, you really are a BK candidate (unless you have significant equity in assets).

If your debt to income is below 40%, review the self-help plan in this thread and see if it would work.

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=11328

[bk4sky]

i am 40 k in unsecured debt, nothing in secured debt. reason: lost a great paying job and only make half of what i did and got in the whole just trying to survive.

[Andyman]

I gross around $60-$70K a year in my biz and expenses eat up about $48K and I end up taking home about $1000 a month. In the end, that's what the trustee eventually looked at. I had about $18K in cc debt and about $9700 in an auto loan. Oh and about $2K in an equipment lease. I tried like hell to pay off the cc but one month I didn't mke very much money and was late by one day. The cc's jacked my rate to over 28%. There was just no way I could make the payment...so off to Ch13 I went. Ya gotta wonder what the cc companies think will happen to folks when they run the interest rate up like that. At 58, I'd never get out of debt!

[CatsInTrouble]

100K is cc here, cc being the only debt we're trying to get out of... I had no idea of the total until we went to debt counselor trying to work a plan.

[deadbroke99]

I don't know if I can ask this, but I was just curious how much credit card debt people are in or were in. I mean personal debt not for a business. I guess I just need to know there are other people like us so I don't feel as bad as I do.
We are about 55K in personal debt 45K is unsecured the other 10K is our car which we need to keep. My DH makes about 50K a year. Is this soo bad or is there anyone else in this deep?

Around 88K Income from dh and myself.
40K CC debt
Mortgage is 1430
Auto Debt is 15,000 for two cars.
No assets except household goods, furniture, computers, etc.
Student loan debt of 10,000 and climbing (in school currently)

I am filing chapter 13 and want to surrender old house that an investor is leasing to own and to rid of cc debt within 5 years which is better than I could do myself.

[magyar123]

Back in 2004 I filed on about $65,000 in credit card debts, one car loan balanced on $5000, and 2 personal loans totalling about $5000.
So altogether $75,000 - give or take.

[liz417]

$72K (last calculated in May '08, who knows what it is now!) in cc debt with approx. $90k income

Cars/Mortgage will all be paid outside of a ch 13 plan.

[DaisysMom]

I am 25K in CC and an unsecured revolving loan plus 25K in my mortgage. I will be keeping the house ( payment is only $225) ...so I hope to discharge all of the unsecured debt.

My unsecured payments are over $600 a month and we have income of about $2000 a month. Since I finally decided to file and found this site, my anxiety attacks have ceased. Imagine that.

D...

[StartingOver08]

I was CH7, recently discharged (1/5/09) the following: $850k secured plus $145k unsecured plus $7.5 priority. The priority debt I am paying (IRS).

[Flamingo]

100K is cc here, cc being the only debt we're trying to get out of... I had no idea of the total until we went to debt counselor trying to work a plan.

It's amazing finally seeing it all on paper, huh? Big reality check when you cannot deny it anymore and the situation can actually make one physically ill figuring out what to do.