What to do ?

[fugazzi]

So here's my situation:

Married, I have income and my wife is a stay at home mom.
We own together a house with about 25K in equity
A peice of land that we are upside down on
a vehicle worth about 3k with nothing owed.

My wife has 60K in cc debt that i have just paid for for the last 5yrs while she's been a stay at home mom with 3 kids. They are in her name only, but when she signed up for them we put down my income. the minimum payments on this card are 1200 a month

I have 25K in credit cards that are in my name. the minimum payments on this is 600 a month.

It's gotten to the point that I'm having to live off the credit cards month to month and I don't see anyway to get out so i'm considering bankruptcy.

So here's my question, can she just go bankrupt? I know they can eventually get a judgment against her and put a lien on our house, but can they do anything else? Our thinking is that if she goes bankrupt, that my credit will still be intact and since i'm the only one with an income for the foreseeable future (till the kids are grown up) then we will be fine. And her credit will be fine after 7yrs.

My concern is that somehow it would effect my credit rating or they could garnish my wages? Can that happen? Also we are worried that they will say was fraudulent since put down my employer and my income.

The cards were opened about 5yrs ago and have a perfect payment history. I'm going to talk to a laywer tomorrow, but wondered if anyone had any input.

Thanks!!!!

[daleintampa]

If you have a 25k cc on your own, it would make more sence for you and your wife to file together. If you want to retain the other property. I think you would have to do a Chapter 13. I could be wrong. but if you dont care about the other Property. You may be able to do a chapter 7 depending on what you make. someone else with more knowledge will chime in. Keeping a CC with a 25k balance is crazy.

[fugazzi]

Thanks for the input, my main reason for just her filing is that with the 1200 a month from her cc's gone then i can easily pay my cc payment and not disrupt my credit. I make 5800 a month net salary.

[shark66]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation...and what I initially did was just stopped paying my wife's CC's altogether.

Your wife has no income, the house is in both of your names, the way I see it she's collection proof. Why pay anyone anything at all? That $1200/month could be put to a lot better use, I'm certain of that...

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

[daleintampa]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation...and what I initially did was just stopped paying my wife's CC's altogether.

Your wife has no income, the house is in both of your names, the way I see it she's collection proof. Why pay anyone anything at all? That $1200/month could be put to a lot better use, I'm certain of that...

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

I totally agree. I bet Dave Ramsey would also agree. Very good point here.

[fugazzi]

So since i own the house with her, they can't put a lien on it?

[shark66]

So since i own the house with her, they can't put a lien on it?

No.

In a non-community state, to the best of my experience, this is a huge "no-no".

Put it this way: both my wife and myself had judgments against both of us separately. Not a lien to be found.

Good luck.

[fugazzi]

Talked with an attorney today and she can't file on her own because they will look at household income and i make way too much above the means test for chapter 7, and she can't do chapter 13, because she has no income, so i would have to file 13 with her. Also, they can put a lien on the house because she is a co-owner of the house. The non-community issue only comes into play with a house that she wouldn't be on and only i would. So if we just stop paying her cc's they will get a judgement and put a lien on the house.

[shark66]

It's fairly obvious that she can't do a 13 on her own.

Still a bit confused about the lien business...but if that's what a competent local attorney told you, I wouldn't dare argue differently, not from a different state anyway.

Well, worst case scenario, you file a 13 together and you're debt-free five years from now, even if you end up in a 100% plan...

I understand that you want to save your credit, but sometimes it comes down to picking the lesser of two evils...

Good luck.