DISCLAIMER.....This post may offend people....PLEASE don't let it!!

[hhou812hh]

I'll put this to rest now. I didn't mean to insult or judge anyone with my comments they other day. Sorry about my mean comments. I usually am very fair and balanced. Sometimes big credit card companies are wrong and sometimes us little debtors are wrong.

I just felt that a Trustee overseeing the whole process usually asks a debtor why they filed and a quarter of a million of you will pretty much answer " I just didn't get around to it until now". Kinda like when the judge asks a 17 year old why they didn't pay a parking ticket and the person answers "it blew off the windshield". These people have seen it all and know just what to look for.

I feel unless an event beyond someone's control just occured most of these filings should have been done weeks ago to avoid problems, long lines & it won't look like you did it to beat a deadline.

Good luck to you all!!

[BrokeCh7]

Walk a mile ..........

There is always something and sometimes it would be best not to comment until you have walked the same mile.

I know i have been hounded by the Child support service for the last 15 months and even after i get their case dismissed they still refile something. So my mile of $h*# has been tied up in court fighting lies of an ex. It has distroyed my business and other areas of my life.

On bk i did file in Jan this year so between the above crap I felt i had no option but to find the time. All I want to say is it is not the same for everone.

Good luck to all. Hope you never have to walk the mile i have.

[AAAArt]

Looong Story

I have not responded because I felt that the first question and some of the responses were along the lines of questions like "How are you?" or Geez, can you believe the nerve of some people?" Didn't really want an answer, just wanted to state an opinion, particular the post where the poster wanted to be the Trustee to ask everryone why they waited and give them a hard time.
Well, first of all. Congratulations to all of you people who have your ducks in a row and are past the tension, fear, anxiety and shame that many of us are in the grips of right now. I'm sincerely glad that you made it and also that you stayed around the Forum to help out.
Okay, you asked the question...here's my answer.
I was a Pastor at a very troubled church, where a few (6-10) people wanted me out. In viewing the history of the church, I realized that this was systemic in their nature with every Pastor back through 1948. A 135 year old church, but that's all the further back I could trace this behavior.
6 years ago I was told that my BEST artery to my heart was 80% blocked, I had suffered previous silent heart attacks, that there was severe damage to my heart and that any type of surgery was not worth the risk/reward ratio, 3 years ago I had a massive heart attack, but was told that they could now do the surgery off pump, so it was much safer. I had 6 bypasses and a 7th cleaned out. To this day, I have not had the nerve to ask why they didn't do the 8th.
Two years ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time. Breast cancer...lumpectomy, chemo and radiation..none of which went very smoothly.
On Jan. 30th of this year, I became very emotional during a meeting and the sermon. On Tues., I drove myself to the ER. I was released after a while, but my Dr's and nurses were very concerned. They told my wife that if I didn't quit my job, that I would kill myself. My primary care Dr. wrote me a prescription for 2 weeks off work. When I went to go back they told me that they had decided that I should never set foot in the pulpit again. (I'd bee there for 10 years). We took the next 6 weeks hammering out a severance ackage. I thought at the time that I might have to file BK.
I qualified for Disability from our denomination, but not from SS. Am currently receiving less than 1/2 of what my income was before.
I started interviewing lawyers in the middle of July. Met with the one I chose on Aug. 2 and retained him on Aug. 9th.
Thought we had plenty of time to get in before the rush. Yes, I procrastinated on some things and even though I thought I had everything laid out before I saw them, bur found that there was much more.
In between Aug. 9th and Oct. 13th, I had a broken foot, 2 cataract surgeries, which meant that I couldn't see very well for 3 weeks and threw my back out so that I could barely walk. While this was going on, my wife found another lump in the same place as the last one. Emergency visit with the Oncologist, special tests and a biopsy. Great news, no cancer! But I suggest you try to concentrate on petty little numbers things while something like that is going on.
Until, someone has walked through their house and garage and listed everything down at garage sale prices and gone over it 3 times while they keep coming back and suggesting that perhaps you were too high on something and what would you like to give to the Trustee. Choosing precious personal items to sell and executing those sales so that I could have money to pay estimated taxes, then you can consider yourself very fortunate.
So, yes, I filed late. Why...because it was the best I could do facing several situations at the same time that most people can't envision facing even one of them!
You wanted an answer...that's it. It's not just my sob story. Unfortunately, it's an all too familiar story (with some variations) for many of us who file.
Now, I sit here this week, depressed, angry, sad, crying, sleepless, feeling like the scum of the earth. Knowing that my filing late set my 341 meeting at 2 months rather than one, so I am paying a penalty for filing late.
For those of you who are "sounding smug and deprecating" (I know inflections, etc. do not come across in e-mails, hence the quotes to say how it "sounds" to me, here is one person's "story or reason". Take your choice.
Two years ago, i had good enough credit to buy a car through GMAC at 0% interest. I had paid the IRS down from a $41,000 debt which I stupidly got into for not filing for 3 years after a divorce in 1989. I had paid them over $70,000 in the past 8 years, but still owed them $18,000. I was emotionally and physically a wreck and got late with a few cc payments and my 9% - 12% cards were sold and re-sold until they were at 30%. Now I keep asking everywhere what I can do to keep them from reporting later and later payments while I wait the 4 months for my discharge, and threads like this get filled up.
It is human nature to let go til the last moment things we don't want to do. Just try to remember whether we filed early or late, with an attorney or Pro Se, because of foolishness or circumstances beyond our control, that we all hurt when we file and for those of you who have filed already, been discharged and have stayed around to help the Forum, thanks for being here, but my God, please may none of us ever forget how much it hurt and how much we needed others support as well as their wisdom, or we are all in danger of falling into this Hell again.
Sorry to rant and vent, but I had to get it out of my system somewhere.
Again, sincerely, thanks to all of you regardless of how you feel about last minute filers.

[gmom50]

It is interesting to me how someone who "beat" the deadline by 18 days would have the audacity to initiate a thread like this that would obviously offend many. It seems you don't really have a lot of room to be critical, surely you knew before Sept 29th that you might be filing. I personally am not offended as I did file earlier. However, at the time I filed I certainly was not at all BK savvy, had no idea that there were such things as ch7 or ch13 and certainly had no earthly idea that there would be a change of law coming up.

Just needed to vent as I was surprised that no one else had picked up on this.

Personally I think this thread is completely uncalled for.

[gmom50]

Pink, I know I am new as a registered user but I have been reading for quite some time and have found so much useful information. I decided to register so that I could respond to the fact that you started this nasty thread and I imagine are now sitting back feeling somehow pleased at the bad feelings that it stirred up, your disclaimer is ridiculous, the only way this thread would not have been offensive would be if it had never been written.

[jennga]

I am inclined to agree. Guess we all had our reasons for why we filed when we did.

[pink_amulet]

Get Real!!!!!

Pink, I know I am new as a registered user but I have been reading for quite some time and have found so much useful information. I decided to register so that I could respond to the fact that you started this nasty thread and I imagine are now sitting back feeling somehow pleased at the bad feelings that it stirred up, your disclaimer is ridiculous, the only way this thread would not have been offensive would be if it had never been written.

First and foremost everyone here KNEWthoroughlyjust an observation

Pink_amulet

[hhou812hh]

First and foremost everyone here KNEWthoroughlyjust an observation!

Pink_amulet

I agree. Since this thread seems to be hurting some of your feelings then please just ignor it and it will move to the bottom and we can all move forward.

[Mysocalledlyf]

Filing BK is such a big decision to make. For me, I kind of waited to last minute because I was trying to get all the facts of how much of an impact this was going to be on the rest of my life. It's not something you want to rush into. Now unless some of these people were 1 or 2 days away from being homeless, or having something you need to maintain your day to day activities taken from you, then by all means, they should all try to figure out another solution. BK, I think, is always a last resort for anyone, or it should be. Atleast for me it was. It's like having a criminal record that stays with you for years to come, no escaping it. So yes, the gov't is making people decide. It sucks, but what can you do.

[Genenco]

Filing BK is such a big decision to make. For me, I kind of waited to last minute because I was trying to get all the facts of how much of an impact this was going to be on the rest of my life. It's not something you want to rush into. Now unless some of these people were 1 or 2 days away from being homeless, or having something you need to maintain your day to day activities taken from you, then by all means, they should all try to figure out another solution. BK, I think, is always a last resort for anyone, or it should be. Atleast for me it was. It's like having a criminal record that stays with you for years to come, no escaping it. So yes, the gov't is making people decide. It sucks, but what can you do.

That is probably the best reason a person would have for filing late. I am embarking on a plan which I hope takes the thought of a BK 7 off the table and shelves it again. Though it could happen that I have to take it down, I'll always consider other options until the last point has been reached.

[WhenThePawn]

So yes, the gov't is making people decide. It sucks, but what can you do.

Well said!!!

[sunshine08]

People do things for thier own reasons in their own time frame. I spent almost a year, getting ready to file, we put off filing for almost 3 years prior to that. When the house and senate started voting, I really didn't think it would pass this time either, boy was I wrong. I believe that I did make a remark about waiting until the last minute. I would like to apologize for being so insensitive, bk is not an easy choice, no matter when.

[wednesday]

Well I'll offer one reason for filing at the last minute...literally at 4 pm that final Friday. We were not facing reality, I guess, over this past year, and purchased a home in July. Well, you have to live somewhere, right? And it's better to own than to rent, they say. As long as our credit was stellar (which it was) buying a home was not going to be a problem. Problem was, we didn't really have the income to pay everything (husband laid off a while back) but we just kept thinking things were going to turn around. We were drawing down our savings, getting help from family, you name it. Then we thought, well, as soon as we close on the house, we'll go get credit counseling and work out a debt management plan. We really thought we were going to pay it back. So we closed on the house, went to see a financial counselor the next week, and he actually woke us up to the fact that our situation was hopeless. We had no idea you could file BK but keep your house, so that was actually a huge relief. We still entertained the idea we might somehow settle with the creditors, but then we learned about the tax implications of doing that...and it seemed risky anyway. Long story short...once we started seriously contemplating bankruptcy we learned that any large transactions within the previous 90 days (such as the down payment on our home) would be considered a "preferential transfer" and would be reversed. So we had to wait until 90 days had passed...which put us exactly at the last day to file under the old rules. Which we did, pro se.

I do worry that our case looks "suspicious," like maybe we planned it all in advance, but all I can do is say under oath that things worked out just the way I just described. It was a combination of medical bills and accumulated credit card debt and job loss that just got out of control, especially once we were slammed with 30% interest rates.

We probably could have waited and filed under the new rules--I think we would qualify for the chapter 7 anyway--but there's fewer hoops to jump through under the old rules so we went ahead.