I have enough $ to make cc payments but want to stop paying prior to filing.

[nicole1969]

We plan on filing Chapter 7 in six months. We were hoping to only make very small credit card payments until the filing in order to save the money for post BK (we have no late payments to date, good credit history.) We are most likely going to be approved for the Home Affordability Unemployment program starting next month - our mortgage payment will be deferred for up to six months. During that time we would have the money to pay the full cc amounts - but again, we would rather not, and save the $.

Is this something that raises a red flag with the trustee? The money would go into our bank account and be less than the $7500 allowable amount in Oregon at the time of filing.

[dealingsdone]

If you know you are toast, i'd do the same thing and start saving a bit for your new life post bk. I stopped paying my cc's for months and months before the bk. I could have made some token payments but I did not see the point and it would be like flushing the money down the old crapper.

[oregonpilot]

We plan on filing Chapter 7 in six months. We were hoping to only make very small credit card payments until the filing in order to save the money for post BK (we have no late payments to date, good credit history.) We are most likely going to be approved for the Home Affordability Unemployment program starting next month - our mortgage payment will be deferred for up to six months. During that time we would have the money to pay the full cc amounts - but again, we would rather not, and save the $.

Is this something that raises a red flag with the trustee? The money would go into our bank account and be less than the $7500 allowable amount in Oregon at the time of filing.

Nicole...when i saw that we had $7500. allowable in checking/savings for exemption i thought i was gonna be ok to have a couple k in savings to live on for the months when my income was almost nil.
Well...when i filed my attorney said that i needed to have not more than around 700. Have not been able to figure out how that $7500. comes into play.

Now. a month after filing and having 2 months with income less than $100. I'm down to $30. in checking with no income prospects in sight. So that made it kinda tough for me.

[tobee43]

Nicole...when i saw that we had $7500. allowable in checking/savings for exemption i thought i was gonna be ok to have a couple k in savings to live on for the months when my income was almost nil.
Well...when i filed my attorney said that i needed to have not more than around 700. Have not been able to figure out how that $7500. comes into play.

Now. a month after filing and having 2 months with income less than $100. I'm down to $30. in checking with no income prospects in sight. So that made it kinda tough for me.

in the state we filed we could not have more than $150 in the bank at the time of filing....according to our district...that's crazy when you have to pay bills out of your checking account!! i have a feeling the trustees in this area don't even look at that since that is totally unrealistic if you pay your household expenses by checking account.

we made certain we had no savings at all....and removed all money from anywhere...spent it on our moving expenses ...etcl.

now...as far as the cc's....we chose...and may i add against atty advise, to continue paying up until the actually hiring of the atty...why?...for me it was a personal choice that i didn't want to deal with collection calls and be hounded etc....additionally, we were moving out of state and leaving no forwarding number or address...so i wanted to confuse them as much as possible.

i did have to deal with some calls prior to the move....and during that "waiting" time of filing period...but it wasn't bad, but again the atty told us to stop paying MONTHS before we actually filed.

personally looking back, i most likely shouldn't have paid them a dime....but our situation was a bit different and i just wanted to keep everyone at bay as long as i could, and that's just the way we chose to handle it. so it's really up to you.

[andy158]

Like the previous poster said the cc companies will start hounding you from your first missed payment. If you can deal with that I would by all means stop paying them. It will get you nowhere in just six months. However, keep your bank accounts as low as possible. The court will do a six month look back so be careful on what you spend money on. I know it is unwise to keep cash in your home, but for the six months start saving a little each month and keep it out of the bank. We started to do this three months before filing and had enough to pay the inital lawyer fees.

[ryan]

Nicole...when i saw that we had $7500. allowable in checking/savings for exemption i thought i was gonna be ok to have a couple k in savings to live on for the months when my income was almost nil.
Well...when i filed my attorney said that i needed to have not more than around 700. Have not been able to figure out how that $7500. comes into play.

I think you may have misunderstood Oregon's BK rules and exemptions. The $7500 cash exemption refers to having sold an EXEMPTED ASSET and then put THAT money in a bank acct. Then, it would be exempt up to $7500, otherwise the bank acct exempted amount is much lower.

[oregonpilot]

AHHHH....that makes more sense.
Thanks Ryan

Man, i could have sold my sole then. LOL

[nicole1969]

Thank you all so much for these responses. It makes a ton of sense and really helps. Really appreciate it all.