if you could change ONE thing about your bk..

[RainMoM]

Almost everyone in here says.. "I would file much SOONER..".. Well, I am differently opposite...

I say I would file MUCH MUCH LATER... because I like to rack up & squeze out lemonade of LOTS of CC debts as much as possible BEFORE I file.. Yes, much around.. like 250K$$$ of Visa/MC fraud/charges before file.. LOL (Revenge of CC Nerds)

I bet alot of people think the way you do on that one

[Gerry]

If I could, I'd pay every darned dime I owe. I wasn't screwed by anyone, I wasn't cheated, I wasn't taken advantage of ---- I knew the terms of borrowing the money I did, but I did it anyway. Yes, I did it with the intent of growing my business and the hope that "things will turn around soon", but the fact is, I knew what I was doing. My hopes just didn't live up to reality and here I am.

So... first wish is that I could pay everyone the full amount of what I owe and move on. Short of that, I wish I could go back in time and make MUCH different choices.

[Flowers]

I wish I had filed sooner.
I wish I had know that I could have stopped paying the cc's earlier and used that money to purchase food and medical and my lawyer.

[woeisme]

I can think of 2 things, but if I had done the 1st wouldn't have needed to do the 2nd... so will consider it 1 thing...

Would have filed before the law changed so I could go Ch 7 since all my debt was unsecured.

Failing to do that, the 2nd thing I wish I had done was buy a new car before filing. We were successful getting the trustee to agree to allow us to buy a car 2 years into our Ch 13, and found a place to finance us (although at an outrageous rate and terms!) so that is definitely the thing I would advise anyone going into CH 13 to do prior to filing.

[Ann]

I feel this exact same way!

If I could, I'd pay every darned dime I owe. I wasn't screwed by anyone, I wasn't cheated, I wasn't taken advantage of ---- I knew the terms of borrowing the money I did, but I did it anyway. Yes, I did it with the intent of growing my business and the hope that "things will turn around soon", but the fact is, I knew what I was doing. My hopes just didn't live up to reality and here I am.

So... first wish is that I could pay everyone the full amount of what I owe and move on. Short of that, I wish I could go back in time and make MUCH different choices.

Gerry, those are my words exactly!

[RainMoM]

thank you everyone for sharing with me

[lifeistough]

I would have filed a lot sooner!

Instead of trying to do what I felt was the right thing, by getting a loan on my 401k, I would have filed a couple of years ago. We have struggled for several years and didn't want to feel like we were ripping anyone off, but there is a time and a place for filing bankruptcy and we should have done it sooner.

[curmudgeon]

My husband lost his job, but received a severance package at the time to tide us over. Although we realized that we were going to be in trouble as soon as the severance money ran out and consulted a BK attorney "just in case", we should have taken his advice. He told us that there was no way short of a miracle that we could dig out of our debt without another very high-paying job coming along fast and he advised us to stash the severance pay in a retirement account where a BK couldn't touch it and to use our unemployment income to only pay necessary bills (such as utilities). He said DO NOT make big payments to any creditor, but that is exactly what we did. We started thinking that one of us could probably find a job before the money ran out and that in the meantime we should try really hard to pay off our debt. So, all that wonderful severance pay went to our home equity loan, credit cards, and a $7000 payoff on DH's dirt bike. Now that money is down the drain and we have nothing to show for it. We were trying to do the right thing but just WASTED money that could have been sitting in a retirement account for our future. Our mistake was believing that we could replace the income it had taken him 20 years in his career to achieve. There are no comparable jobs for him out there at his age (46), but we were clueless. We didn't see the train wreck coming and totally ignored the BK lawyer's advice and THAT is what I would do differently. I would hoard that cash and ignore my creditors and go into "save my ass" mode rather than "try to do the right thing" mode.

[Crozier]

I wish I would have taken those dreaded econ classes in college, versus partying and, well, partying. Did I mention partying. Seriously, I hate "realizing" that I fell into the consumer trap; borrowing to get out of debt? How ridiculous is that? I also wish I found this website years ago. Once you see the "truth" about BK, and the game creditors play with our American guilt [aka: EGO], it is no wonder people are ruined prior to filing. When we should, prepare, plan, and then file, with a clearly explained plan, just like Big Business does.

There is "no guilt or shame in filing BK!" Just like, "there is no crying in Baseball!"

[life]

We would have filed alot sooner also. It took me a long time to realize I was sick & not ever going to be able to work again. We would have also interviewed more attorneys. We really got a raw deal paying $1200 a month for 5 yrs!

[life]

My husband lost his job, but received a severance package at the time to tide us over. Although we realized that we were going to be in trouble as soon as the severance money ran out and consulted a BK attorney "just in case", we should have taken his advice. He told us that there was no way short of a miracle that we could dig out of our debt without another very high-paying job coming along fast and he advised us to stash the severance pay in a retirement account where a BK couldn't touch it and to use our unemployment income to only pay necessary bills (such as utilities). He said DO NOT make big payments to any creditor, but that is exactly what we did. We started thinking that one of us could probably find a job before the money ran out and that in the meantime we should try really hard to pay off our debt. So, all that wonderful severance pay went to our home equity loan, credit cards, and a $7000 payoff on DH's dirt bike. Now that money is down the drain and we have nothing to show for it. We were trying to do the right thing but just WASTED money that could have been sitting in a retirement account for our future. Our mistake was believing that we could replace the income it had taken him 20 years in his career to achieve. There are no comparable jobs for him out there at his age (46), but we were clueless. We didn't see the train wreck coming and totally ignored the BK lawyer's advice and THAT is what I would do differently. I would hoard that cash and ignore my creditors and go into "save my ass" mode rather than "try to do the right thing" mode.

We did the same thing as you & are now in the same situation. My husband is 45 & a pilot. We also have nothing to show for it! Good advice!

[Stilltheone]

I would have NEVER signed a reaffirmation agreement for my Escalade because now we are stuck with a vehicle worth so little that we owe so much on. We have no choice but to pay what we owe. Since the SUV market tanked, it's worth nothing.

As for the filing sooner, we filed ASAP. We weren't even late on anything when we filed!

[ForumReader]

I wished I had known about this forum last year when I was trying to figure out what to do with all of my unsecured debt, trying to make payments on them. A debt settlement company had me really convinced that enrolling with them was the right thing to do, they knew how much I earned and how much debt I was in and said you need to stay with us, we will help you be debt-free, blah blah blah. Little did I know, I paid fees to them, one thing after another popped up with this company that got me very nervous and I withdrew last June. As mentioned, wishing I knew about this forum, wishing I did not have to go through a difficult divorce, but then if I knew about this forum, I believe things would have been a lot different for me last year financially. Anyway, thanks RainMom for starting this thread. It helps to think back and how to be financially healthy.

Pro: Starting all over with a clean slate and learning from one's financial mistakes

Con: I do not have a lot of BK experience as I have started my process.