Stages Before Filing... Sound familiar?

[Pizza]

1. Worry/Denial - The credit card bills are growing and the paychecks are not. Move a balance from this card to that hoping to save interest, watch more debt pile up, move it some more... wondering how long this can last, though spending habits overall don't change much. This is probably the longest stage before filing.

2. Apathy - Screw it, sick of worrying. Pay the bills while watching it get worse a little at a time. Some change in spending habits but not much sacificing.

3. Hopelessness - At this point, realization that things are never going to change. Give up most, if not all, bad spending habits while subsequently giving up one the worst of the bills. Research on bankruptcy becomes almost obsessive.

4. Acceptance - Realization that giving up one most bills equates giving up on all of them. Cut spending to the bare bones and stop paying all credit cards. Deciding that it's time to file.

5. Completion - Making consultations, choosing an attorney and completing the bankruptcy process.

Just thought some may relate to this. In my experience, stage one took far longer than all the others, then the further up the ladder the stages go, the quicker they become and easier they are to accept.

[eddiep]

Thoes are the five stages of grief.

[67caprice427]

Sounds sooo familiar, the longest and toughest was the decision to file. I went pretty much from that to "tactical bk" mode directly. obsessive- you bet! Every week-end from Mar-Oct for 12 hrs a day studying both here, on the internet and an assortment of books. I figured out I was going to HAVE to represent myself because I didn't have the $ for an attorney, read the books and saw at the courthouse ahead of time what the attorneys role in a simple chpt 7 was, most important to me was- I got myself into this mess and bygolly I'll get myself out of it. My final feelings were relief that it will now be over and the stress of the schackles of debt are removed, and also pride in the fact that I filed, represented and handled this entire ordeal all by myself (with a LOT of help lurking here studying :-) to a successful conclusion.

[JRScott]

Yep I think we all go through those stages

[Pizza]

They are very similar to the stages of grief, aren't they?

I joined BK forum back during the worry stage (I worried a lot, now I take pills for it) and that was May of LAST YEAR for cryin' out loud. Now I guess I'm in between the 4th and 5th, maybe a stage I left out - waiting for a letter that's tough enough to finish it off. That won't take long now that I actually can't pay ANY of them.

[lookingforward]

Just thought some may relate to this. In my experience, stage one took far longer than all the others, then the further up the ladder the stages go, the quicker they become and easier they are to accept.[/QUOTE]

You're right, the further along in the process, for us, the faster they went and the easier they were. Once you reach acceptance it is a relief!