Hello! New here - Trying to climb out of the sandpit...
Hi,
I won't go into a lot of ugly details here (just enough), but I was here to research my options for bankruptcy.
It appears that I am a classic case for a bankruptcy story: In the last five-plus years, I have suffered health issues (involving a sudden and involuntary hospitalization), sudden and involuntary job loss and then subsequent new job paying far less than old one, and a subsequent divorce (actually was also rather sudden. at least to me, and definately involuntary, as I didn't want it), after my wife chose to leave me basically for another man and take our kids with her. Now, I have to pay child support (which is OK, because I have two little boys who are my world), but it is about 20 percent of my net pay that I no longer have to pay other bills with. I have no real assets. The only secured debt that I have is a car payment to GMAC and some time-share property. Those two items are happen to be signed by both me and the now-ex-wife. She is making the payments on the time-share, while I am (barely now) making the payments to GMAC. I got a roomate to supposedly help split living expenses, but now that roomate has proven to be unreliable, and I am worse off than before. I have been slowly falling further and further behind. I am now behind on all of my regular bills, and have now fallen behind on the car payment. The only thing I am able to pay on time is the rent (again barely). I am getting no less than twenty creditor/collection calls a day, and that is just on my cellphone (I turned the ringer and answering machine on my home phone off long ago). They are even now calling my work and I am afraid that I am about to get in trouble for that from my employer if it doesn't stop, as it is disruptive to my job and the business of my employer in general.
After resisting for a long time (I am an honest and honorable person and really really wanted to keep my obligations and pay my debts the best that I could, but as they say, the writing was on the wall), I was finally considering bankruptcy this past fall, but I erroneously thought that I had to wait until my divorce was final before I could really do anything about it and not have it affect my now-ex-wife as well. I received a notice this past November that one of the agents acting as a collector for a creditor had filed a suit against me. I foolishly did nothing, again thinking I had to wait until the divorce was final before I should act. The divorce became final in March. Just as I started to research bankruptcy attorneys in the area, I got another notice from the court. Said creditor that had served me in Novemeber was now pursuing a default judgement against me.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally had a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney. She was very helpful and compassionate and answered all of my questions at the time (and since then I have more to ask). I really need to keep the car, and if I can get everything else settled, I will still be able to make the payments. So, besides the car, the attorney was confident that I could file Chapter 7 and wipe the slate clean. I will have the money to pay her to start the process by the end of this week (which I had to borrow from my mother, God bless her, as I know she can't really afford it either). And not a moment too soon, as it needs to be done to prevent any further movement on the default judgment.
In the meantime, I am moving at the end of May (I cannot afford the rent on my own, since said roommate has not been found to be reliable) to something I can afford (which is not really much of a place, but it is a place to sleep). The gas is now cut off because of this as well. Yes, I have had to make some very difficult if not impossible choices...do I pay the car payment to get to work or the gas bill? Do I pay the rent or the phone bill? Needless to say I am not eating much, between the nerves and the fact that I am trying to squeeze every dime I have to cover my bills now. I can typically now afford to eat one decent meal a day, and either snack on something or not eat at all for other mealtimes. I was overweight and need to lose a few pounds anyway.
Once I am relocated and the bankruptcy is all behind me, I can then hope to look at my next steps. In the short term I am probably going to have to get a second job so that I can pay off the debts I have with those that won't be covered by the bankruptcy (the regular monthly bills I am behind on, like the utilities, phone, etc.) as quickly as possible; hopefully no more than a couple of months. Then I am in desperate need of new glasses. I should then be able to focus on finding a better-paying regular job, which is another story entirely, given the current state of the economy.
Anyways, that's the story in a nutshell...this site so far has been very helpful to me in answering a lot of questions I would have had. I feel that I will be better prepared to deal with my bankruptcy, and to get past all of this.
Cheers
I won't go into a lot of ugly details here (just enough), but I was here to research my options for bankruptcy.
It appears that I am a classic case for a bankruptcy story: In the last five-plus years, I have suffered health issues (involving a sudden and involuntary hospitalization), sudden and involuntary job loss and then subsequent new job paying far less than old one, and a subsequent divorce (actually was also rather sudden. at least to me, and definately involuntary, as I didn't want it), after my wife chose to leave me basically for another man and take our kids with her. Now, I have to pay child support (which is OK, because I have two little boys who are my world), but it is about 20 percent of my net pay that I no longer have to pay other bills with. I have no real assets. The only secured debt that I have is a car payment to GMAC and some time-share property. Those two items are happen to be signed by both me and the now-ex-wife. She is making the payments on the time-share, while I am (barely now) making the payments to GMAC. I got a roomate to supposedly help split living expenses, but now that roomate has proven to be unreliable, and I am worse off than before. I have been slowly falling further and further behind. I am now behind on all of my regular bills, and have now fallen behind on the car payment. The only thing I am able to pay on time is the rent (again barely). I am getting no less than twenty creditor/collection calls a day, and that is just on my cellphone (I turned the ringer and answering machine on my home phone off long ago). They are even now calling my work and I am afraid that I am about to get in trouble for that from my employer if it doesn't stop, as it is disruptive to my job and the business of my employer in general.
After resisting for a long time (I am an honest and honorable person and really really wanted to keep my obligations and pay my debts the best that I could, but as they say, the writing was on the wall), I was finally considering bankruptcy this past fall, but I erroneously thought that I had to wait until my divorce was final before I could really do anything about it and not have it affect my now-ex-wife as well. I received a notice this past November that one of the agents acting as a collector for a creditor had filed a suit against me. I foolishly did nothing, again thinking I had to wait until the divorce was final before I should act. The divorce became final in March. Just as I started to research bankruptcy attorneys in the area, I got another notice from the court. Said creditor that had served me in Novemeber was now pursuing a default judgement against me.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally had a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney. She was very helpful and compassionate and answered all of my questions at the time (and since then I have more to ask). I really need to keep the car, and if I can get everything else settled, I will still be able to make the payments. So, besides the car, the attorney was confident that I could file Chapter 7 and wipe the slate clean. I will have the money to pay her to start the process by the end of this week (which I had to borrow from my mother, God bless her, as I know she can't really afford it either). And not a moment too soon, as it needs to be done to prevent any further movement on the default judgment.
In the meantime, I am moving at the end of May (I cannot afford the rent on my own, since said roommate has not been found to be reliable) to something I can afford (which is not really much of a place, but it is a place to sleep). The gas is now cut off because of this as well. Yes, I have had to make some very difficult if not impossible choices...do I pay the car payment to get to work or the gas bill? Do I pay the rent or the phone bill? Needless to say I am not eating much, between the nerves and the fact that I am trying to squeeze every dime I have to cover my bills now. I can typically now afford to eat one decent meal a day, and either snack on something or not eat at all for other mealtimes. I was overweight and need to lose a few pounds anyway.
Once I am relocated and the bankruptcy is all behind me, I can then hope to look at my next steps. In the short term I am probably going to have to get a second job so that I can pay off the debts I have with those that won't be covered by the bankruptcy (the regular monthly bills I am behind on, like the utilities, phone, etc.) as quickly as possible; hopefully no more than a couple of months. Then I am in desperate need of new glasses. I should then be able to focus on finding a better-paying regular job, which is another story entirely, given the current state of the economy.
Anyways, that's the story in a nutshell...this site so far has been very helpful to me in answering a lot of questions I would have had. I feel that I will be better prepared to deal with my bankruptcy, and to get past all of this.
Cheers
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