Question keeping house and car?

[munchkn813]

How do they decide if you are able to keep your house and car? We have been in our home for 5 years in March paying our mortgage every month (we are a couple weeks late right now, but I stopped paying our credit cards this weekend so hopefully I can get it paid and a couple missed late fees within this coming month). We got a new van (not new new, but new to us) in April I think it was. Like the house payment we are behind on it, but I will be paying it on Friday and then we will be complelty current on it (until the next payment due the following week anyway, but I should be able to make that payment before it's technically late with no credit cards being made).

I broke the news to my mom today that we were filing (I have my first mtg. with a lawyer on Tues the 22nd) and her first concern was the car. We have to have 2 cars as my husband and I both work and completly different hours, plus we have 2 little ones to take to preschool, etc. Our other car is my pos that my parents bought for me when I was 16 (11 years ago) and was paid for the day they gave it to me.

Do I need to be worried about them taking the hosue or car?

[keepmine]

How much equity does your state allow you to exempt for cars and home?
Also, can you afford to keep the assets. These are secured debts. Post bk, if you fall behind on the payments you can certainly lose them.
If it's gonna be a struggle staying current post bk, do not sign a reaffirmation agreement.

[munchkn813]

I am not sure about the equity...that's something I still need to look into. So far I have just been gathering all of the credit card statements (30 of them!! eek) for the past 6 months along with medical bills, paystubs, etc for the consultation so I have that info for the lawyer. I am in IL. Should the lawyer be able to tell me at this mtg if he thinks the house and car will be safe? I have no clue about equity and all that...what info do I need to take with me for him to figure that out? Do I need to contact our morgtage co? (Sorry to be so clueless about all this!)

Once the credit card debt is gone we will easily be able to afford the house, car, insurance and utilities and still have plenty left over for gas, groceries, diapers etc that are a struggle now. My DH earns commission, so his pay varies from week to week, but right now the minimum payment alone on credit cards is about $1800/month. I had medical problems and had to quit work a couple years ago and then had a baby, so I have just recently been able to find work again and go back part time a few months ago. Unfortunately it's not enough pay to get caught up let alone ahead on this debt that we racked up not expecting me to be out of work for a couple of years.

[coolmom04]

You can contact your mortgage company to find out your current loan payoff. To get an idea of how much equity you have, it was suggested to me that I get a Realtor to run a Comparative Market Analysis - I believe is what it was called (cma). This should give a basic idea of how much your home could sell for right now. For instance, I found out through my mtg company that my payoff is $218K and through the CMA, my home could sell for apx $222K, so I have apx $4K in equity.

People who more experience will chime in and give more advice.. and correct me if I am wrong

[coolmom04]

Oh.. go here and type in your zip code and you can learn all about your state's BK laws and exemptions, etc

http://www.legalconsumer.com/index.php

[munchkn813]

Oh.. go here and type in your zip code and you can learn all about your state's BK laws and exemptions, etc

http://www.legalconsumer.com/index.php

Thank you for this! I just saw it on another thread and just finished scanning through it. Makes me feel better that we should be good for ch.7. I know nothing about any of this really, so this site has been amazing and a huge help as we are trying to get all this going as quickly as possible!
So we need to get the house apraised basically to figure out the equity?

[coolmom04]

Thank you for this! I just saw it on another thread and just finished scanning through it. Makes me feel better that we should be good for ch.7. I know nothing about any of this really, so this site has been amazing and a huge help as we are trying to get all this going as quickly as possible!
So we need to get the house apraised basically to figure out the equity?

I know what you mean about this site. I just joined about a week ago and can't believe how wonderful everyone here is!

I don't know if that is the only way... it's just one way suggested to me and my friend happens to be a Realtor, so it was just the easiest thing for me to do.