I cannot believe it. It took a decision for bankruptcy for us to have hope again! We always thought, as we were stretching it to make our payments every month, that at least we were not forced into bankruptcy....silly us! Wish we had done this sooner. We have been down and out and broke and desperate for so long that we have "survived" life without living it. Now that has all changed and I am so HAPPY!
Many already know our story about how we were Dave Ramsying our way out of debt and had made great progress when my DH lost his good job, we lost our insurance and our son spent a week in the hospital. That was the end of forward progress and that was 7 years ago. Since then, we have been struggling on half the former income, to pay hospital bills, credit card bills etc. We had never been late or short on a payment until June 24 when we got the infamous letter from Chase stating that our minimum payments went from 375 (transferred the hospital debt to 2.99 percent) up to 1023 dollars. OUCH! We were struggling before and now it was impossible. when we went to talk to an attorney to see about settling the debt or something he told us our best option was BK, wish we had seen it SOOOOO much sooner! But anyway, we made the decision and just as we were ready to file my son had an accident that insurance should cover mostly but the attorney said to wait and see how the bills all shake out before we file so we are waiting a bit longer.
Anyway, when we sat down and figured our bills, considering that we had been stretching every penny before, we were shocked to discover that we could afford more for rent and still be able to have money left over to save (previously we had only spent 1/5th of our meager income on rent because everything was put into credit card debt). We have been living in 880 square feet since we got married 14 years ago. Now 2 kids living in the garage and 14 years later, we are finally moving! We will finally have some space! We will have room to turn around! Our kids will have their own rooms.....
AND WE CAN BREATHE AGAIN!!!!!
If you are just considering this step, assuming you have reformed your spending habits (we haven't used a credit card for more than 5 years at all for anything)...this may be just the BEST thing that could happen to you instead of the worst.
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