Bankruptcy question.

[superrrdaveee]

Hey guys! I'm a total newbie when it comes to this stuff and I wanted to see what you guys think about my situation. I moved from FL back to MA about a year now and haven't send a sent a mortgage payment in over a yr and a half. I owe about 260,000 for the house. I also had my car repo'd. The amount is about 9,000. And a credit card balance of 5,700. I just started to work 3 weeks ago if that matters. Right now the only bill I have is car insurance and rent which is 800 a month leaving me with about 600 - 700 a month. What do you think my chances are of getting ch 7?

[jribe]

Hey guys! I'm a total newbie when it comes to this stuff and I wanted to see what you guys think about my situation. I moved from FL back to MA about a year now and haven't send a sent a mortgage payment in over a yr and a half. I owe about 260,000 for the house. I also had my car repo'd. The amount is about 9,000. And a credit card balance of 5,700. I just started to work 3 weeks ago if that matters. Right now the only bill I have is car insurance and rent which is 800 a month leaving me with about 600 - 700 a month. What do you think my chances are of getting ch 7?

it sounds like you have too much disposable income based on the numbers you've provided. Do a means test, just google something like "legal consumer means test" i think that one is pretty good.
Plug in all your numbers and see where you come in..
Typically you can't have more than $100 DMI to qualify for a chapter 7.

[StartingOver08]

To add a little to jribe's post, there must be other expenses. Things that come to mind immediately are: food, electric, water, cable, gas etc. Details count. Even those expenses you have once per year, add those to the list and divide by 12 to come up with a monthly allocation. Search here for the 'expenses' threads to give you an idea.

[AngelinaCatHub]

A card balance of $5700 isn't bad, and I guess the house will go back and the car did. It depends on the residuals that occur after the car and house is sold. This becomes unsecured debt and can be reduced or in a C7 discharged.

You must have a car since you pay insurance so what do you own? You have not given enough info for good help or advice here, yet. 'Hub

[jadams]

Recent 1st Circuit Ruling posted in another section here suggests *maybe* the OP could use his mortgage payment on the means test to qualify for a CH 7 even though I assume he intends to surrender the property.

In Florida a deficiency judgement (court ruling making you liable for the difference between the mortgage note and what the property sold for) is not automatic. It's possible your lender won't pursue one after the foreclosure sale, or perhaps you could agree to do a deed-in-lieu/short-sale or some other type of arrangement and have the bank write it off and send a 1099-C instead of pursuing a deficiency judgment.

Have you been in contact with the lender? If you can avoid the deficiency judgement, maybe a bankruptcy filing isn't your best option and offering a settlement on the repo balance and credit card would work out better.